Move over DSL. The Yankee Group reports that T-1s are the best technology to address the 685,000 small-to-medium-sized businesses in the U.S.
While the promise of integrated service over DSL has been much touted by vendors and providers alike, both have yet to deliver on that promise in the form of available services. As T-1 prices continue to fall, integrated services over a T-1 are likely to be more economical and timely for businesses with between 20 and 200 employees, according to Mike Lauricella, analyst for the Yankee Group. Instead DSL will be curbed to serving the lower end of the small-business market, he says.
“For larger companies, the consistent under-deliverability of DSL and a greater need for a robust connection and flexibility made T-1s are better offering,” says Lauricella. “DSL is a perfect technology thats fast and cheap, but once a firm gets more serious about connectivity they need to look at a truly dedicated offering.”
However all is not doom and gloom for DSL, notes Lauricella. “Serving smaller businesses is not a bad thing,” he says. “There are millions and millions of them vs. thousands.”
Allegiance Telecom is taking steps to ensure it will have a chance at winning some of that market by announcing it will roll out new integrated access devices from Vina Technologies. While details of the deal have not been revealed, Allegiance will use Vinas eLink and Integrator TDM-based IADs to offer integrated voice and data services to its target market of small-to-medium-sized businesses, says Jerry Ostergaard, spokesman for Allegiance. “Small businesses have gotten a lot more sophisticated over the last year.”
Whereas many of Allegiances small-business customers may have bought dial-up access in the past, those same businesses are switching over to integrated access, says Ostergaard. “More and more customers want all their services over one pipe,” he says. “They want a good, fast connection for multiple people.”