The Bear hasn't struck ADTRAN as hard, and I'd argue that the Bull is leaning more towards ADTRAN. Here's why.ADTRAN has presence in both the carrier space and on customer premises. Their products are known more for quality and "they just work," and the company is recognized as being a viable competitor offering cost effective solutions.
In 2005, we implemented ADTRAN's converged product in our office that reduced heat, energy consumption, rack space, maintenance and improved our network performance while reducing our utility bills. I need to add that since we've moved, the same gear is doing the same thing only more. We removed a Sonicwall firewall from service at our new offices and turned on the stateful firewall in the ADTRAN 1224 STR PoE. Since then, we have also reduced our licensing costs, removed another appliance (Sonicwall) and reduced our energy footprint. Our web throughput also improved measurably. During VoiceCon 2006, ADTRAN introduced the IPT 7100 converged router, firewall, PoE switch and IP-PBX.
During the 4Q of 2008, ADTRAN released more magic in their Netvanta 450 and n-Command offering for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) that makes remote management nearly painless. Little known to many was their Voice Quality Monitoring (VQM) residing in their operating software that empowers any converged network with enough tools without breaking the bank. Still, some may question: Why ADTRAN?
For the past several years we've used and experienced the ADTRAN wares, services and support from a vendor and customer perspective. One of their best-kept secrets is ACES or ADTRAN Custom Extended Services. It's a wonderful thing to have affordable factory resources configure gear and back the solution with the support they bring. Why should we beat our heads against the wall when we have such an affordable and sensible solution?
Even more interesting is the fact that I can qualify and sell a customer a solution such as a distributed enterprise on the ADTRAN IPT7100. Through the Value Added Distribution program, ADTRAN opens up installation and support resources I wouldn't normally have. Then, to start 2009 right, ADTRAN is providing new tools in their LAN switches to isolate bad cabling and minimize energy consumption. Switches will have a matrix similar to an auto attendant tree with time and date scheduling to power down PoE ports/devices. So why drive a Cadillac only to discover you can't afford to keep up the maintenance?
What's that secret sauce? That's easy--it's the people ADTRAN employs.
