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To: PeterR1700 who wrote (10339)	4/24/1998 11:24:00 AM
From: Chemsync	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 21342

[ G.Lite Plug & Play News] Broadband Chipmaker Joins G.Lite-set Virata Corporation, the integrated silicon and software design house formerly known as ATM Ltd. (ATML), has joined the Universal ADSL Working Group, and claims its next generation products will be "G.Lite-ready" when they ship this summer. The Cambridge, UK-based company claims to be the leader in development of integrated software on silicon (ISOS) for broadband local loop applications, and has now licensed its chipset designs to more than 15 companies. It had originally stayed on the sidelines of the UAWG, a group driven by the PC industry triumvirate of Compaq, Intel and Microsoft, but now senior VO of sales and marketing, Tom Cooper, said the time was ripe to join. "With the market looking for faster deployment of ADSL, this new specification will bring simple, plug-and-play high speed Internet access to all types of users." However, although Virata's new range of Helium products is claimed to support a "host of new features designed to help licensees implement ADSL Lite in their products", the company is still cautious about the wisdom pushing ADSL into consumer markets. Chris Williams, Virata's vice president of strategic marketing, believes industry efforts to make G.Lite a plug-and-play technology geared to residential customers says more about the interests of the UAWG's three founding members, than the real interests of the public network operators who will have to support the new high-speed home links. "G.Lite, if it happens and it really can be made to be plug-and-play, will accelerate the market, but it could also distort it," said Williams. With G.Lite-like services already being touted by local exchange carriers in the US, Williams believes a window of opportunity is opening for those who want to turn G.Lite into a commodity sold by the box. However, in Europe, he said, carriers are moving more slowly, and are keener to offer ADSL is a properly managed, and higher quality service. Ultimately, the European approach could prove the most sensible. Williams said he saw problems ahead for G.Lite customers who might want to migrate to fuller-featured versions of ADSL in the future. The first generation of G.Lite terminal devices are likely to be comparatively "dumb", making it difficult to field upgrade them to offer enhanced services in the future.