Team Eisodus

The new kid on the block at the business incubator in the Kanwal Rekhi School of Information technology (KReSIT) is Eisodus Networks. Though a fledgling with less than two months of experience, the technologists at this start-up aspire to develop a technology for enhancing the capabilities of Ethernet-based access networks that would interface with legacy as well as next generation metro networks. Currently, Ethernet is used only for data access. But the young IITians at Eisodus envision unique innovations for Ethernet-based access networks in converged voice, video and data services. To transform this into reality Eisodus is developing semiconductor and software solutions.

Says Sunil Mehta, co-founder and chief promoter of Eisodus, “Eisodus will be a fabless semiconductor company and will build a range of products in this space. The primary idea is to provide cheap access networks to the homes and offices of subscribers.” The company’s obsession with developing a low cost access network also gave the company its name. Eisodus is Greek for ‘way-in’ or ‘access’.

Mehta sees huge potential for the product in the global market as currently over 90 percent of packets begin and end their journey as Ethernet frames. Owing to the technology’s wide acceptance in enterprise networks, Ethernet seems all set to be a precursor to the broadband access market. Adds Mehta, “Offering converged services over Ethernet in access networks will be cost effective for carriers. And since our solution will enable enterprises to do this it fits well in this application space.” The company is focusing on unique ways of carrying voice and data over Ethernet in a highly optimised manner than is currently possible. The technology developed is expected to be a significant value addition to voice-over-IP as well.

The new architecture that Eisodus has developed is expected to add robustness and carrier class characteristics to access solutions. The new architecture will not only provide interfaces to legacy and new technology deployments but is also highly scalable and flexible. This, according to Mehta, will enable it in replacing these with higher bandwidth solutions in the future. The key USP is the ability to carry TDM CBR services over Ethernet, which makes Eisodus’s solution one of its kind in the market. This solution would be able to replace ATM over xDSL, which is the transport mode in the DSL-based broadband access networks.

The marketing strategy is built in the key USP of the technology. It will offer OEMs with a technology using which they can offer the best performance and lowest cost access network solutions. The technology also has extensions for use in enterprise networking and communications.

The five-member team at Eisodus is currently focusing on proving itself and its technology in the short run. In the long run, Eisodus plans to be a leading technology provider for broadband access and metro core networks. Says Mehta, “We would like to gear up our technology to enable emerging applications in metro areas like Storage Area Networks (SAN) in a cost effective manner.”
The key focus for Eisodus is broadband access networks in telecommunication networks. Beyond this the technology is also expected to come in handy in enterprise/campus LANs that are running on Ethernet today.

Unlike other start-ups at KReSIT, Eisodus has the added advantage of having academicians and industry experts on its team. This is expected to significantly reduce time-to-market. In fact, the proof of concept will be demonstrated in January. The company is also in talks with venture capitalists for the development of chips.