[NetSpeed] Telcos in no hurry.
The host of the Austin meeting had some news today:
Start-up readies ADSL router for infant market
Source: InfoWorld
InfoWorld via Individual Inc. : An initial trickle of Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) products that will enable telephone companies to offer ADSL services will begin rolling out this month.
Among the first companies to deliver ADSL products will be start-up NetSpeed. NetSpeed officials plan to unveil the company's first offering, an ADSL router, late this month. Other products will follow by midyear, the officials said.
NetSpeed was founded by former executives from NetWorth, a Dallas-based company that Compaq bought last November. NetSpeed said that it will aim its products at regional telephone companies.
Phone companies have been criticized for being slow on the uptake of ADSL, but NetSpeed president John McHale said the foot-dragging is due to a dearth of affordable equipment.
That situation is about to change, McHale added.
"In the first half of 1997, I would except more [ADSL] trials and announcements. In the second half of 1997 we will see vendors offer economically viable ADSL systems," McHale said. "Then I believe in 1998 we will see the market really expand."
ADSL is one of a handful of technologies that aim to broaden network pipes for users trying to reach corporate LANs and the Internet using existing wiring, including ISDN and cable modems.
But ADSL is still in its early development stages. (See "ADSL barely out of the gate for packet-based networking," Jan. 6, page 38.)
And at least one analyst expects further inertia from the telephone companies.
"With the speed that the telcos typically deploy new technologies, I just don't have that type of blind faith in them at this point," said Marlo Kosanovich, a research analyst in the Meta Group's Reston, Va., office.
NetSpeed Inc., in Austin, Texas, can be reached at (512) 249-8055.
* Still-elusive ADSL services are expected to cost between $40 and $100 per month.
[01-13-97 at 13:49 EST, Copyright 1997, InfoWorld] |
