Making DSL plug and play: Aware moves POTS splitter function inside modem

Efforts to make asymmetrical digital subscriber line as easy as plug and play took center stage last week when Aware demonstrated a "splitterless" version of its discrete multitone technology.

Aware has removed the POTS splitter from the customer premises and made the splitter's functions an integral, internal part of the modem, which can be configured and installed in a PC. The splitter separates the ADSL signal from the phone signal. The change aims to save carriers the cost of sending workers to install the splitter.

Aware's version of the technology, which it dubbed "DSL Lite," can send downstream speeds up to 1.5 Mb/s and upstream to 500 kb/s. DSL Lite requires less power, can transfer high-speed data over local loops up to 22,000 feet, interoperates with standards-based ADSL central office equipment, and can be upgraded to higher-rate ADSL through remote network configuration commands.

DSL Lite also can be implemented using PCMCIA cards rather than external modems. PC manufacturers are clamoring for this capability so they can incorporate the card into their equipment. One "very influential customer" is insisting that megabit modems be available by Christmas 1998, said Jim Bender, president and CEO of Aware, Bedford, Mass.

John Hunter, broadband analyst at TeleChoice, speculated that Microsoft will be "bullish on DSL in 1998" and is working to make the technology as consumer-friendly as possible.

Aware is partnering with Analog Devices for the modem chip set but expects to attract other chip set makers. The company also is talking with leading PC manufacturers, Bender said.