Through an intelligent piece of equipment, the "residential gateway", FastWeb customers can use broadband integrated services for telephony, Internet and Internet Video
Milan, 26 March 2001 - FastWeb (the first Italian company to offer both business and residential customers integrated broadband telecommunication services for the fast, single transmission of voice, data, Internet and Internet Video) chose Telsey technology for efficient, economic and sure arrival in the single dwellings. Telsey is an innovative telecommunications company situated in Treviso.
Telsey provides FastWeb with the residential gateway - equipment to be installed c/o the residential customer who interfaces with new generation fibre-optic networks designed to support broadband communications (10 Mb/s two-way).
The agreement provides for the supply of devices designed and made by Telsey for the connection of at least 100 thousand residential users by 2002.
The residential gateway - a box the size of a modem, installed in each single dwelling and fitted with a series of ports for interconnection of the traditional domestic appliances (telephone, fax, personal computer) - acts as adaptor for the conversion and management of all the necessary protocols for using the advanced multimedia services offered by FastWeb to residential customers:
- Low cost telephony on internet protocol (VoIP)
- Fast navigation in internet
- Video on demand
- Gaming on demand
- Interactive services (remote tutor, videoconferences, etc.).
The piece of equipment has:
- one 10BaseT or BaseFL Ethernet input
- three Ethernet outputs for connecting user equipment (pc, printer, etc.)
- two VoIP outputs for connecting two telephones or faxes
- possibility of remote control through the local network system.
The residential gateway may be customised according to operator requirements and is therefore subject to continuous evolution. At the moment high-speed fax services are available (32kbp/s) in multi-page mode, as well as a modem for connections of POS terminals (for the management of purchases) and Video On Demand services.
It will soon be possible to implement advanced telephony services such as call transfer, call waiting, call sign, alarm call service, etc.
FastWeb's technology, which makes use of optical fibres integrated with IP (Internet Protocol), allows residential customers to have access for the first time to Internet at a speed of 10 Mb/s, guaranteeing the possibility of networking 24 hours out of 24 without having to pay for traffic by time, while keeping the telephone line free.
FastWeb is also offering the first service in the world of Video on Demand on Internet Video, which makes it possible to watch television programmes without worrying about programme schedules and to use with the utmost simplicity the most traditional family electrical appliance also for navigating on second-generation internet.
With Internet Video, the television combines the function of a normal appliance with those of a computer, allowing the viewer to network directly and, upon request, to access a full and continuously developing archive of films, information, news, sporting events, theatre performances, cartoons and musical videos with digital quality of sound and image, without any time or space limits.
"We have chosen Telsey first of all for its fast response - commented the manager of the FastWeb network, Alberto Trondoli. - Within the normal times of a design presentation, Telsey offered us the first operating prototype of residential gateway meeting our specifications. We also appreciated the willingness of the company to keep pace with our requirements, which are in fast and continual evolution. Lastly, - concluded Trondoli - it is for us a great satisfaction to have given a concrete possibility of growth to such an innovative business concern on the Italian scene."
"Recognising the innovative potential accumulated by our company, it was almost taken for granted to think of Fastweb as an outstanding interlocutor to whom our technological proposal should be submitted - added Andrea Bosio and Mauro Fantin, founder partners of Telsey. - Fastweb has a series of characteristics that are strongly bound up with ours, in other words, innovation, speed and future applicability. Having been able to sound out these peculiarities directly, added to the versatility of an up-and-coming company such as ours, has given FastWeb the necessary confidence in us. All this has led to the agreement that is for us a great source of pride."
Telsey
Although Telsey, a company established in 1993, is relatively young, it operates in the field of telecommunications with great professionalism. Over the years it has provided its services to leading concerns in the sector such as Telecom Italia, Infostrada, Pirelli Cable, Tektronix. The company has gradually consolidated its experience in the world of digital communications and can now boast considerable know-how regarding both new-concept networks and the relative measuring instruments.
The family of products that has been set up, called @LINK, allows broadband signals to be distributed, exploiting any existing infrastructure or network inside the building in a non-intrusive way. The @LINK system is obviously compatible with the residential gateway - the true domestic terminal and manager of band traffic.
FastWeb
FastWeb (56.5% e.Biscom, 37.7% Aem, 5.8% employees) is the first IItalian company to offer both business and residential clients integrated broadband telecommunication services for fast, unified transmission of voice, data, video and internet, thanks to a state-of-the-art fibre-optic network which uses IP technology. With FastWeb technology residential clients are being offered, for the first time at an international level, access to Internet at a speed of 10 Mb/s, far superior to that of the traditional telephone pair, guaranteeing the possibility of networking 24 hours out of 24 without having to pay for the traffic by time and keeping the telephone line free.
FastWeb's access network, as an alternative to the ex-monopolist infrastructure, brings second-generation Internet directly into Italian homes and offices. With Internet Video, for the first time the viewer may connect the television directly to the network and access a continually evolving archive containing programmes, films, information, sports events, cartoons and musical videos with high definition. After Milan and the neighbouring municipalities, FastWeb is extending its activity nationwide, with an expansion plan that envisages the intense penetration of the network in more than 500 town centres, 46 of which with over 100,000 inhabitants.
The company has opened branches in Genoa, Turin, Rome and Naples and has commenced the relative cabling plans. By 2009 the overall network infrastructure on a national scale will have reached approximately 15,000 km of metropolitan connections. It is anticipated that by this date there will be 2.5 million clients, including telephone operators, small, medium and large companies, as well as families.