Guaranteed classes of service help SMBs get T-1 quality for less

New Edge Networks is keeping its promise to bring a better quality ADSL service to small to mid-sized businesses, announcing today it will introduce class-of-service offerings that allow customers to tag and prioritize services over ADSL lines.

New Edge said it has completed the infrastructure buildout to offer the service, using Redback Networks’ SmartEdge 800 gateway switches, and will begin doing live testing of class of service next month, expecting to roll out the service in April. The announcement was made at the National Retail Federation meeting in New York this morning.

“This type of solution could be game-changing for the industry,” said Brian Washburn, analyst for Current Analysis, in a prepared statement. “It's one of those few offers that really does make headway in the industry and does something new that hasn't been out there before.”

The New Edge service will enable businesses to use lower cost DSL lines and still get the kind of traffic prioritization associated with higher cost T-1 lines. That will enable more SMBs to integrate voice into their data service offering and also to prioritize mission-critical data traffic.

“DSL access clearly has become a mainstream business network access technology,” said Erin Dunne, director of research services for the Vertical Systems Group, in a prepared statement. “As latency-sensitive business applications proliferate, the need for prioritizing data traffic over DSL is obvious. New Edge is offering businesses an opportunity to extend MPLS CoS over lower priced DSL.”

New Edge will offer the DSL CoS as an upgrade option for its private managed network customers, although the company didn’t disclose pricing.