[RS8973]
hi MB,
thought the orctf cc was pretty interesting and will post some notes when i have a little more time... in the broadest sense, as has been discussed, the good news was the chip announcement and the bad news was that profitability has been bumped back another 6 months...
until orctf gets into the black believe price is gonna be news driven: hope and fear... it doesn't sound like there will be any deployment news til the 2nd qtr at the earliest, so
my guess for next interesting news will hdsl2 silicon...
would think we must be very close, and am somewhat surprised there hasn't been an official announcement yet... as the conexant (rok spinoff) site has a pretty complete description up now:
"RS8973
High Speed, Low Power Single-Chip SDSL/HDSL Transceiver
The RS8973 is Rockwell's latest addition to the ZipWire family of DSL modems. It offers 2.32 Mbps operation, ultra-low power consumption and an integrated frequency synthesizer, while maintaining pin-for-pin compatibility with the Bt8970. The integrated frequency synthesizer is ideal for variable rate SDSL applications. Via software control, the RS8973 can be programmed to operate at data rates from 144 Kbps to 2320 Kbps, while requiring only a single crystal as a clock reference. The transmission distance will increase as the data rate decreases — reaching as far as 25,000 feet at 144 Kbps and 11,000 feet at 2.32 Mbps (over 26AWG wire). In addition, power consumption has been significantly reduced, allowing the RS8973 to consume less than 850mW even when operating at 2.3 Mbps. And because power consumption decreases with the data rate, it is only 550mW at 1.168 Mbps operation..."
conexant.com
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i believe the RS8973 is the hdsl2 silicon refered to in the rok/orctf press release from nov 97:
conexant.com
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an interesting angle is that asnd, coppermountain, and coms (among others) will in all likelihood be using this rok/(orctf) silicon for their sdsl... believe asnd and coppermountain are currently using older generation brooktree/rok/(orctf) silicon in their current sdsl product..
you may have noticed that asnd just announced 2.3 Mbps sdsl (and the rok zipwire connection is clearly spelled out- and this must be the new silicon) :
Ascend First to Ship SDSL With 2.3 Mbps For Increased Performance and Enhanced
Service Delivery Capabilities
biz.yahoo.com
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the coppermountain connection is a little more obscure, but the coppermountain's FAQ shows who supplies their sdsl silicon:
"Q: How can Copper Mountain achieve the distances it touts using SDSL?
A: Copper Mountain uses state-of-the-art ZipWire™ technology from Rockwell International and has developed a DSL networking system that optimizes the embedded functionality of these chips. Copper Mountain's SDSL products are the first to enable carriers to optimize the trade-off between SDSL line speed and loop reach. This functionality allows carriers to deliver a range of DSL services, starting at 128 kbps, to meet the varied needs of the market while maximizing service revenues and profits. End-users get the bandwidth they need to optimize performance at highly competitive prices, and they can migrate to higher speeds as their application needs change. "
coppermountain.com
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mci/worldcom is using copper mountain for their dsl rollout..
usa.uu.net
and
3Com, Copper Mountain Networks Announce Strategic Alliance
3com.com
and
Lucent Signs OEM Agreement with Copper Mountain Networks for DSL Equipment
lucent.com
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there is a video on the coppermountain site which is pretty interesting too, including intel... will post a transcription... and if you dig around you will notice that one of the cofounders of coppermountain, mark handzel, used to be a marketing guy for orctf...
am not really expecting this hdsl2 news to give orctf much of a pop, unless orctf is directly mentioned... the big unknown is the orctf percentage royalty on the silicon... expect it is more than a little, but far less than their take on the fujitsu adsl or harris vdsl
expect the fujitsu/orctf sdsl product to be similar to asnd spec's... and we'll probably get a little pop when that is announced..
another interesting angle is if and how fujitsu/(orctf) will approach the hdsl market in the usa..
til later
s
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