Alcatel this week is doing what many critics claimed it never would--introducing an IP-based DSLAM. Using the Broadband World Forum in Venice, Italy, as its platform, the vendor introduced the 7302 Intelligent Services Access Manager and announced that China Telecom is it first customer to test and deploy the platform.

Aimed specifically at the European and Asian markets, the ISAM can support high enough access speeds that carriers will be able to deploy multicast video in both standard and high-definition formats. The platform also will include several varieties of line cards including reach-extended ADSL2, ADSL2plus and VDSL2.

Though initially created for the European and Asian market, Jay Fausch, senior director of marketing for Alcatel’s Fixed Communications Group, said the company is looking at an ANSI-compliant version for the North American market.

"This isn’t the end of the story. There are remote versions of this too," he said.

Alcatel has plenty of incentive to target RBOCs with the ISAM. Because it has dominated the ATM-based DSLAM market in the U.S., the company is probably better positioned than any other to push RBOCs toward an IP-based solution that could form the basis of future video services.

"The launch of Alcatel's IP DSLAM is one of the most important events of the year, if not the last few," said Erik Keith, senior analyst for Current Analysis. "For the last year or more Alcatel’s been criticized; competitors said, 'Alcatel doesn’t have an IP DSLAM.' We all knew it was coming. It’s a fairly comprehensive platform. It’s a major launch for them."