Ascom seeks public sector business, packet technology
Among other technologies that include power source and last-mile telecom equipment, the local subsidiary is also gearing up to provide the country's institutions with the latest packet-switching technologies. Packet technologies allow operators to break up voice and data transmissions into individual digital 'packets' for easy transport.
"We are going to get in touch with the representatives of the gminas to aid in providing communications products to offices, schools and homes," says Jacek Miotke, Warsaw-based director of sales and marketing.
"This is mainly because we are entering the EU and there are certain technological standards the whole country will have to meet, such as fast access to Internet," he adds.
Miotke explains that while officials in Polish cities and towns have been well aware of the need to upgrade communications networks, it is only via EU accession funds that the cash-strapped government institutions will be able to afford technological renovation.
"The gminas may have some financial problems but with EU help they will have a greater chance to do it," he says.
Miotke explains that the European Council's Lisbon Strategy, a 10-year plan to make the EU the world's most dynamic economy, places significant emphasis on technological development.
"The Lisbon Strategy is a great opportunity for Poland," he says.
In Poland in particular the company expects that communication concerns in the area of policing and border control would be most important.
"There are some standards we need to introduce about safety within the country," he says. "And Poland is one of the last places ranking in terms of security: and a lot of institutions that want to comply will spend a lot of money to meet these security standards."
Ascom executives expect to be able to capitalize on the country's anticipated growth, owing to its own experience. At present, it counts TP SA, Netia, Telefonia Dialog and Tel-Energo as its key clients. Its core business centers on access networks, or the last mile of a network.
At last week's trade fair Intertelecom: 14th International Fair of Telecommunications, Krzysztof Puczko, chief technology officer, offered more insight into the company's expanding product range.
He explains that ascom is trying to capitalize on the global telecom market's migration toward the use of packet-based technologies over telecom networks.
"Now you have to have packet switching," says Puczko.
He explains that across the globe, telecom carriers as well as other institutions have shifted their technology to a "packet switching network."
For instance, in the middle of last year major U.S. long-distance operator Sprint announced that it was beginning to provide its services over a packet network, which would allow it to send voice messages similarly to the way in which data messages are sent. Sending information in packets allows for the efficient transport of information - and its growing importance is evidenced by the recent popularity of inexpensive voice-over-IP networks.
Packet-switching networks differ from the longer-standing circuit-switch networks by not creating a physical connection between two communication parties. Instead, packet technology separates the signals into fixed-sized packets that are labelled with destination and details of order for arrival at endpoint.
This technology has already been used in local-area networks (LAN) and is now spreading throughout entire networks.
Ascom expects to be well-positioned to take advantage of the trend, especially as it is now working on sealing an equipment contract with U.S. based broadband communications provider Jedai. Jedai executives were in Poland last week to work on an original equipment manufacturing (OEM) contract.
"Ethernet technologies of packet switching are going to move more and more toward the core of Polish networks," says Puczko.
"In my opinion, this is the future," he said.
Ascom employs 27 people in Poland and records some zł.48.3 million (E10 million) in revenues; its parent employs 5,000 in total on zł.6.1 billion (2 billion swiss francs) in revenue.
"We are going to get in touch with the representatives of the gminas to aid in providing communications products to offices, schools and homes," says Jacek Miotke, Warsaw-based director of sales and marketing.
"This is mainly because we are entering the EU and there are certain technological standards the whole country will have to meet, such as fast access to Internet," he adds.
Miotke explains that while officials in Polish cities and towns have been well aware of the need to upgrade communications networks, it is only via EU accession funds that the cash-strapped government institutions will be able to afford technological renovation.
"The gminas may have some financial problems but with EU help they will have a greater chance to do it," he says.
Miotke explains that the European Council's Lisbon Strategy, a 10-year plan to make the EU the world's most dynamic economy, places significant emphasis on technological development.
"The Lisbon Strategy is a great opportunity for Poland," he says.
In Poland in particular the company expects that communication concerns in the area of policing and border control would be most important.
"There are some standards we need to introduce about safety within the country," he says. "And Poland is one of the last places ranking in terms of security: and a lot of institutions that want to comply will spend a lot of money to meet these security standards."
Ascom executives expect to be able to capitalize on the country's anticipated growth, owing to its own experience. At present, it counts TP SA, Netia, Telefonia Dialog and Tel-Energo as its key clients. Its core business centers on access networks, or the last mile of a network.
At last week's trade fair Intertelecom: 14th International Fair of Telecommunications, Krzysztof Puczko, chief technology officer, offered more insight into the company's expanding product range.
He explains that ascom is trying to capitalize on the global telecom market's migration toward the use of packet-based technologies over telecom networks.
"Now you have to have packet switching," says Puczko.
He explains that across the globe, telecom carriers as well as other institutions have shifted their technology to a "packet switching network."
For instance, in the middle of last year major U.S. long-distance operator Sprint announced that it was beginning to provide its services over a packet network, which would allow it to send voice messages similarly to the way in which data messages are sent. Sending information in packets allows for the efficient transport of information - and its growing importance is evidenced by the recent popularity of inexpensive voice-over-IP networks.
Packet-switching networks differ from the longer-standing circuit-switch networks by not creating a physical connection between two communication parties. Instead, packet technology separates the signals into fixed-sized packets that are labelled with destination and details of order for arrival at endpoint.
This technology has already been used in local-area networks (LAN) and is now spreading throughout entire networks.
Ascom expects to be well-positioned to take advantage of the trend, especially as it is now working on sealing an equipment contract with U.S. based broadband communications provider Jedai. Jedai executives were in Poland last week to work on an original equipment manufacturing (OEM) contract.
"Ethernet technologies of packet switching are going to move more and more toward the core of Polish networks," says Puczko.
"In my opinion, this is the future," he said.
Ascom employs 27 people in Poland and records some zł.48.3 million (E10 million) in revenues; its parent employs 5,000 in total on zł.6.1 billion (2 billion swiss francs) in revenue.
