This is what MSFT, INTL and CPQ are talking about in todays New York Times
Tuesday, Jan 20 1998
Is this what all the buzz is about!! AWARE is mentioned at the very bottom.
Nation/World - Stories from the latest print edition
PC-PHONE ALLIANCE MAY SPEED
UP WEB
COMPUTER GIANTS AND 4 BABY BELLS
WORKING ON TECHNICAL STANDARDS TO
IMPROVE
By New York Times News Service
Web-posted Tuesday, January 20, 1998; 6:27 a.m. CST
Three titans of the personal computer industry have joined with most
of the nation's largest local telephone companies to enable consumers
to receive Internet data over regular telephone lines at speeds much
higher than are currently possible, according to executives involved
with the alliance.
Compaq Computer Corp., Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. intend to
announce the venture next week at a communications conference in
Washington, the executives said.
The formation of the group is one of the most significant moves in
what promises to be a yearslong battle between telephone companies
and cable-television companies for control over how consumers get
high-speed access to the Internet.
The executives said the three companies, which set much of the
agenda in the computer industry, have teamed with GTE Corp. and
with four of the five Baby Bell telephone companies, including
Ameritech, to set technical standards for the next generation of
access to cyberspace.
The group wants to have modems and software based on the
standards on store shelves by Christmas, the executives said. If the
group succeeds in popularizing the technology, consumers could get
data such as World Wide Web pages from the Internet and other
advanced services at speeds up to 30 times faster than today's fastest
modems. Pages that take minutes to view would appear on a
computer's screen almost instantly.
The products envisioned by the consortium would essentially be new
modems either installed in a computer or sitting next to one. Most
important, perhaps, they would plug into normal telephone lines but
would remain connected to the outside world at all times without the
need to dial a service and without interfering with normal voice
conversations over the same line.
Such lightning-quick access to cyberspace has traditionally been
possible only in offices or over cable modems, which are available in
few parts of the U.S. Giving home users such a fast on-ramp to the
information superhighway could open the door to new sorts of
services, including video over the Internet that approaches television
quality.
"Once you get this stuff, you will sell your first-born before you go
back to a normal modem," said Howard Anderson, managing
director of the Yankee Group, a technology consulting firm in Boston.
The technology embraced by the consortium, known as digital
subscriber line, or DSL, has been under development in the
telecommunications industry for years but has been held back by a
lack of agreement on technical standards.
Bell Atlantic Corp., which serves local telephone customers from
Virginia to Maine, is the one regional Bell that has shied away from
the Compaq-Intel-Microsoft consortium. People close to the talks
between the company and the consortium said Bell Atlantic was
leaning toward a different sort of DSL. While the company has left
the door open to join the group, it also has reservations about how
the consortium is run.
The consortium is strongly influenced by its founding partners, said
executives who have dealt with it. Compaq is the world's largest
maker of personal computers. Intel is the largest maker of the
microprocessors, the brains of personal computers. Microsoft is the
largest maker of operating systems, the software that acts as the
central nervous system of personal computers.
As computer users have become more sophisticated and as the
Internet has become loaded with data-heavy graphics, traditional
modems, the devices that enable computers to communicate over
telephone lines, have not kept pace.
The result is often long on-line delays. The cable-television industry is
pinning some of its hopes for growth on cable modems, which allow
users to access the Internet using the cable network. Only about
100,000 people have signed up for cable modems, according to
analysts, and the service is available to only about 10 percent of the
nation's homes.
People with a need for on-line speed often can order high-speed data
lines from their local telephone company. But many of those options,
such as the lines known as ISDN connections, can be cumbersome
and expensive.
Microsoft has been particularly expert at playing on each side of the
cable-telephone fence. Last year, it invested $1 billion in Comcast
Corp., the No. 4 cable company and a part owner of At Home, a
new company that provides Internet access over cable lines.
For many years, engineers and programmers believed the copper
wires that carry voice conversations could not compete with
dedicated data networks in their ability to carry large amounts of
digital information.
In recent years, advances in electrical engineering have challenged
that assumption. Some engineers think standard copper telephone
wires can carry as many as 8 million bits of information a second,
though the consortium is initially developing standards for modems
that can carry 1.5 million bits a second. Today's fastest standard
modems are rated at 56,000 bits a second but are actually limited to
52,000.
There are dozens of companies developing DSL products, but few
follow the same standards. The Compaq-Intel-Microsoft consortium
is relying in part on technology developed by a small Massachusetts
company called Aware Inc.
Several local telephone companies have deployed DSL in limited
areas around the country.
-------------------
Tuesday November 4 10:59 AM EST
Company Press Release
Aware is First to Demonstrate a Splitterless Version of DMT DSL
Technology Suitable for PC Modem Applications
BEDFORD, Mass., Nov. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Aware, Inc. (Nasdaq:AWRE), a
worldwide leader in xDSL (digital subscriber line)
technology, has demonstrated the first ''splitterless'' version of its DMT (discrete
multitone) technology suitable for PC modem
applications. Delivering downstream speeds of up to 1.5 Mbps over CSA loops without
the need for POTS splitters at the
customer premises, Aware's DSL Lite technology is an important stepping stone
between the voice band modems available today
and full-rate ADSL, which provides downstream data transfer of over 8 Mbps.
Removing the POTS splitter will significantly accelerate the wide-scale deployment and
acceptance of xDSL. Eliminating the need
for service providers to install a POTS splitter -- the device that physically separates the
ADSL signal from the regular phone
signal -- makes installation at every home as easy as that of today's voice band modems.
No modification to the home's internal
wiring is required. A DSL Lite modem can be plugged into any existing phone jack. In
addition, DSL Lite's lower speeds require
less complexity than full speed ADSL and allow digital subscriber line implementations
using today's DSPs (digital signal
processors). Leveraging PC modem hardware greatly reduces the cost of DSL modems.
This will enable local exchange carriers
to offer high-speed Internet access at prices attractive to consumers.
Because it utilizes DMT technology, the ANSI standard for ADSL modulation, Aware's
DSL Lite can easily be made
interoperable with standard-compliant ADSL central office equipment. This permits a
local exchange carrier to cost- effectively
install a single access termination system for both full-rate ADSL and the new
splitterless version. Aware's DSL Lite also
provides an upward migration path to full-rate ADSL, protecting customer investments,
and reducing the threat of a fractured
xDSL industry.
DSL Lite is a robust technology that can achieve high-speed data transfer over local
loops of up to 22,000 feet, with a wide variety
of home-wiring configurations and multiple bridged taps. Enabling either asymmetric or
symmetric data services simultaneously
over standard telephone lines using existing home wiring, DSL Lite provides consumers
with a high-speed Internet connection
while giving them full use of phone lines for voice or fax calls.
At the ITU Study Group Meeting 15 in Red Bank, New Jersey earlier this month, Aware
presented system design and
performance measurements for a DSL Lite system. In addition, Aware showed
extensive evidence that a ''lite'' version of DMT
ADSL works well in a splitterless installation and can maintain full interoperability with
standards-based T1.413ADSL central
office equipment.
Jim Bender, president and chief executive officer of Aware noted: ''Our DSL Lite
technology clearly moves DSL beyond the
realm of a telecommunications transmission system toward that of a PC modem, while
still allowing an easy upgrade path to
standard compliant DMT ADSL. DSL Lite is a stepping stone that will enhance the
entire xDSL industry.''
About Aware
Headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts, Aware, Inc., a worldwide leader in xDSL
technology with products that enable new
broadband services over the existing telephone network. Aware's products include xDSL
technology, software modules and
modems for high-speed, interactive broadband network applications.
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