ADSL2 creeps closer to market

ADSL2, the next generation of DSL that promises a slight increase in throughput speeds and greater diagnostic capability, took another step closer to market reality after the multi-vendor “plugfest” was completed at the University of New Hampshire’s InterOperability Laboratory.

The DSL Forum, which sponsored the event, said today that seven ADSL silicon vendors participated in interoperability test, which was based on the DSL Forum's internal "Proposed Draft 013 - Interoperability Test Plan for ADSL2 Plugfests." The document includes a series of physical layer tests.

“What this tells you is that we’ve got a large number of vendors who have gotten to the stage where they’ve got developmental units,” said Tom Starr, president of the DSL Forum. “We’re getting pretty far down the product life now.”

Among those participating in the plugfest were: Analog Devices, Aware, Broadcom, Centillium Communications, Infineon Technologies, Samsung Electronics and Texas Instruments.

ADSL2-based products, which should be hitting the market later this year, will be quickly followed by ADSL2+-based units, which will offer a significant jump in capabilities.