ADSL Lite..........................................
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Computer Giants Ready ADSL Boost
By FRED DAWSON
The self-proclaimed bandwidth agnostics of the computer industry plan to shower their blessings on telco data technology this week, hoping to do for ADSL modems what they've already done for cable modems in calling attention to the benefits of high-speed online access.
Sources said Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp. and Compaq Computer Corp. were working out the final details last week of a "consortium," the goal of which would be to ensure that easy-to-install modems delivering 1-megabit-per-second-plus data service over telephone lines become as ubiquitous as today's dial-up modems.
The initiative is based on a version of asymmetrical digital subscriber line technology that its backers claim will allow anyone to plug the modem into a telephone jack and begin getting high-speed service without interrupting standard analog voice service.
"If they're able to deliver modems in huge quantities that meet these performance standards, it will put the telephone companies in a position to offer really significant competition to the cable industry," said Bob Rusak, senior vice president of business development at Time Warner Cable's Road Runner Group. "But we've always expected that we would have competition from DSL."
The consortium's founders declined to discuss details of their plans until contracts were firmly in place. But sources within these companies and among entities involved in talks with them made it clear that the campaign had broad support from telcos and their vendors. Still, lingering doubts remained as to whether it was feasible to meet the goal of making so-called ADSL Lite modems available in retail stores by the Christmas buying season.
"We're interested in ADSL Lite and in anything that will make this technology simpler to use in delivering services to the customer," said BellSouth Corp. spokesman John Goldman. "If Microsoft is going to include software in Windows 98 that will allow customers to plug and play ADSL, that's great."
BellSouth, which is now in a market trial of DSL in Birmingham, Ala., plans to introduce the technology in all of its major metropolitan regions during the second half of the year, Goldman said.
But, he acknowledged, "we have problems to work out" when it comes to making the technology a mass-consumer product.
Microsoft has already gone a long way toward developing this type of software in projects with GTE Corp. in its DSL trial near Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Wash., and with Ameritech Corp., which has begun commercial service in Ann Arbor, Mich., said Bill Anderson, director of marketing for Microsoft's Internet customers unit.
"The code built into our operating system will allow users to configure DSL services in a fairly straightforward manner," he said.
Mackall said the availability of DSL modems off the shelf would pose a major challenge to the cable industry, because telcos don't have to perform expensive upgrades of their lines to begin offering high-speed services.
"For the telcos, it's a variable-cost factor, based on user demand, where they equip their central offices with the DSL gear as demand requires," he said. "Even if the cable industry is able to push ahead with distribution of their modems in retail stores, availability of the service will depend on whether the local operator has upgraded his plant to hybrid fiber-coax."
But the realization that DSL was coming has been a primary motivation behind the upgrade and market-rollout pace scheduled by Time Warner and MediaOne, soon to be partnered in their high-speed-data operations, Rusak said.
As a result, he added, the head start that cable has had in getting service off the ground puts companies that have been aggressively upgrading their systems in a good position to go to mass-market offerings by the time ADSL Lite is a market reality.
"Over time, high-speed access over various platforms will become commoditized, so the competitive challenge will be to provide services that add value," Rusak said. "People want simple-to-use interfaces and innovative content, which are the benefits that companies like ours can provide, in contrast to what pure commodity-transport sellers can offer."
Sources said the consortium will also announce a specific modulation approach to ADSL Lite as its choice for modems to be installed in personal computers, in hopes of overcoming the endless bickering within the standards-setting groups over competing techniques.
"We've been working for several months with companies in the industry to help find solutions," said Compaq spokeswoman Angela Goodwin.
The telephone industry, after years of tinkering, has begun moving more aggressively with DSL technology, with commercial rollouts underway in small segments of territories served by GTE, SBC Communications Inc. and U S West Communications, in addition to those of Ameritech and BellSouth. Bell Atlantic Corp. has said that it intends to begin commercial deployments by midyear.
The concept behind ADSL Lite, promoted by several telecommunications vendors over the past few months, involves the use of advanced modulation technology to help defeat the noise and interference problems associated with DSL, rather than merely boosting line speeds to ever higher levels.
While standards specifications for the latest version of DSL supported by most telcos call for data speeds of up to 8 mbps over standard telephone wires, the emerging standard for ADSL Lite, also known as "G.Lite," will set the upper limit at about 1.5 mbps, leaving ample "headroom" to address interference.
"One benefit that makes G.Lite so compelling is that it is splitterless," said Vern Mackall, senior analyst for International Data Corp., a leading tracker of trends in data communications.
The term "splitterless" refers to the fact that while today's ADSL systems require that a separate line be split off at the customer premises to carry the data signal to the PC, so as to avoid noisy line conditions of home wiring, G.Lite is designed to allow direct connection of the PC modem into existing wiring.
But while the splitterless option would do away with the need for installers, eliminating the protection afforded by a second in-home line makes the whole idea of high-speed data over telephone lines vulnerable to the unknowns of the home-wiring environment.
"When you say that you're going to remove the isolator, you're subjecting yourself to conditions that vary widely from one house to the next, which makes it difficult to say what the ultimate performance parameters are going to be," said Steve Makgill, director of ADSL product management at Alcatel Telecom, which is supplying gear in the rollouts by BellSouth, SBC and Ameritech.
But, he added, the involvement of the computer consortium should help to focus the industry on getting answers to such questions and on reaching a standardized approach to G.Lite.
"Their sense of urgency will help to move the industry from resolutions involving various approaches to a single approach," Makgill said.
No matter what, data rates for the vast majority of users will be well in excess of any rates available today, outside of cable modems, said Steve Edwards, vice president for high-speed-data services at Nortel, which was the first vendor to propose a Lite solution.
"We believe that the real sweet spot for giving consumers a superior online experience over what they have today is at about 200 to 300 kilobits per second," Edwards said. "So operating at 1 mbps leaves you a lot of bandwidth to work with without worrying about disappointing the customer." |
