Meeting of the minds Forum issues guideline on ATM over ADSL

Just a few years ago, the ADSL Forum consisted of three enthusiastic founding companies leaning on each other for moral support. Last week, the forum concluded its first ADSL Forum Summit in Amsterdam with 250 attendees, including many representatives of its 200 member companies.

A member ballot-approved guideline on how to run asynchronous transfer mode over asymmetrical digital subscriber line modem links was the first of several to be published this year.

The next specification probably will be the Internet protocol over ADSL, due around the time of the next summit, said Bill Rodey, vice chairman and treasurer of the forum. Rodey is also the vice president of strategic planning for Westell Technologies.

The ATM issue needs to be addressed so that the pieces of the ADSL puzzle can fall together, said Beth Gage, broadband consultant for TeleChoice Inc. "Just because a standard has been decided on doesn't mean service providers are going to go out and build Cadillac ATM networks for ADSL," she added.

Rodey agreed that it would be going a bit far to say that ADSL alone will spur ATM deployment. "To the extent that we migrate to an ATM switching fabric as the world seems to be doing, this would have a significant impact," he said.

The ADSL Forum is also working on testing, network management, network architectures and migration strategies, as well as specifications for ATM, IP and premises network access.