By Carol Wilson, Inter@ctive Week
June 7, 1999 4:29 AM PT
SuperComm '99, the annual gathering of telecommunications service providers and their growing vendor community, traditionally has been the place where "bits per second" rules - it's all about building the biggest, fastest networks with the most horsepower.
In Atlanta this week, however, the focus has shifted to a different kind of speed - speed to market with new services. The competitive nature of the telecommunications industry is forcing carriers and vendors alike to focus on the practical, not the flashy. And so it is that even in high-speed Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) access technology, the biggest bandwidth braggarts instead will be touting the ease with which their systems can be installed in the network and operated.
Among the trends:
DSL vendors are focused primarily on ease-of-use tools for carrier networks, but a lot of High-Speed DSL2 equipment will be unveiled at SuperComm. HDSL2 is an emerging standard that delivers 1.5 megabits per second symmetrically on a single copper pair; more important, because it is a standard, it can enable interoperability between network and customer equipment. ADC Telecom-munications, Adtran, Alcatel and PairGain Technologies are among those showing this gear.
SCRAPPY, Besides Alcatel, Isn't PairGain an Awre licensee? |
