One example of excellence is Lucent's new broadband modem, WildCard, which has nothing to do with company problems over switches. It's a product with a great deal of promise.
Analysts predict that the G922.2 G.lite standard will see widespread deployment as it moves down in price. So serious gadget hounds will appreciate WildCard, which represents the first round of that deployment. The product is based on Lucent's WildWire DSP1690 chip, whose claim to fame is that sends and receives data nearly 25 times faster than today's analog modems. Tony Grewe, director of business strategy and development for the Microelectronics Group, emphasizes that the chip is user friendly.
“We were driving hard to make G.lite easier and more plug-and-play,” said Grewe. “We're not selling chip sets as data pumps. We're selling software that makes it easy on the end user.”
WildCard allows client-side connections with a majority of U.S. central offices equipped with standards-based ADSL. It lifts some of the traditional barriers to DSL installation. The modem is flexible, with the ability to talk in both lite rates to deployed G.lite head ends and full rates to standard head ends.
What makes this modem such an effective trump card is its ability to “lower its voice.” When sending out a G.lite handshake, WildCard negotiates a series of heavy tones to provide lite rates. Grewe said WildCard “tricks” the Central Office switch into dropping down to a lower data rate, eliminating the need for further CO configurations.
Grewe said his team wanted to design something that would get away from the “inherent problems with plumbing,” such as bickering with the phone company about the copper lines. “WildCard represents a discussion shift from having to do constant technical troubleshooting with the consumer and endless negotiations with the ILEC.”
By filtering out higher band frequencies, WildCard effectively stretches G.lite's geographical coverage from the CO switch. Grewe said the modem extends G.lite's outer limits of 20,000 feet. (G.lite's target is 18,000 feet). The modem also has increased throughput, with an upstream/downstream of 600 Kbps/2 Mbps. G.lite's target speeds are 512 Kbps/1.5 Mbps.
WildCard eliminates the need for installing splitters, the generally-hated customer premise equipment that replaces a demarc box on the side of the house and splits voice and data into the home. Customers can use the same phone line to make and receive phone calls while on line with their G.lite connection.
WildCard works with a wide range of non-Lucent silicon. It inter-operates with a variety of DSLAMs, or multiplexer boxes that concentrate ADSL traffic. Grewe points out that WildCard communicates with the head ends of 12 Lucent rivals/partners, including Cisco, Siemens, Ericsson and Samsung. However, the modem does require microfilters on some phones.
WildCard is also compatible with current analog cards, so ISPs will be able to swap out analog with digital modems.
“It's low power, too,” said Grewe. “Each port uses about a watt of power. So there are no racks to buy. This is a simple swap out.”
So the public will soon enjoy laptops, PCs and modems with nearly T-1 capacity. According to Grewe, Lucent DSL chips are already being built into Compaq Presarios, while the vendor has shipped nearly 250,000 DSL modems overall.
With WildCard, the two-year industry headache to build up ADSL head ends won't have to be repeated. The great advantage is that these G.lite modems can make use of non-G.lite ADSL equipment which may already be in place in the CO.
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