NEWS OF THE WEEK Internet feeds DSL rebirth Access technology dominates Supercomm '96 >BY Denise Pappalardo, East Coast Bureau Chief

Asymmetrical digital subscriber line technology, once believed to be in a drought, has found its thirst for life again behind the ever-powerful force of the Internet.

Products unveiled at Supercomm '96 in Dallas last week take advantage of ADSL's high speeds over copper to make access to the Internet faster and easier.

Vendors also revealed plans to integrate asynchronous transfer mode and ADSL onto the same product platform to offer carriers end-to-end high-speed network support. Others announced DSL-based plans that will further increase carriers' high-speed service offerings.

"This is the first time we are seeing an end-to-end ATM solution that offers service providers a quicker path to high-speed services," said Kieran Taylor, broadband consultant at TeleChoice, Verona, N.J.

The 1000ADSL from Richardson, Texas-based Alcatel Telecom is one example. It includes an ATM multiplexer device that connects to 1000ADSL modems where the ATM traffic is encapsulated and transmitted over traditional copper wire to an end user. The ATM multiplexer will be able to connect to an OC-3c 155 Mb/s Sonet connection, an ATM switch or network.

Alcatel's ADSL chipset is a three-chip design based on the ANSI-standard discrete multitone ADSL technology scheme. The modems will support 5 to 8 Mb/s transmission speeds ideal for Internet access and video applications, said Stephen Makgill, business development at Alcatel. VDSL technology is expected to be added.

The 1000ADSL, being tested in Belgium, will be available in October. Two domestic carriers and an Internet service provider have also committed to testing the product.

Carriers are recognizing the need to offer their customers a variety of high-speed access means to the Internet-hence the increased number of ADSL trials. Two more were announced last week by Bell Canada and Citizens Telecom (see related story on page 20).

"The Internet is the number one driver behind ADSL, and the lack of success ISDN has experienced is another," said Lisa Pelgrim, an analyst at Dataquest, San Jose.

Joining the end-to-end systems front is Integrated Network Corp., Bridgewater, N.J. The company's Allendale multimedia service network products also incorporate ATM and ADSL capabilities onto the same platform. Integrated Network's system architecture includes an ATM switch, ADSL modem and a PC card. StrataCom, Cisco Systems and PairGain demonstrated their existing product capabilities to support Internet protocol traffic on an HDSL-to-ATM network. The products displayed were StrataCom's BPX ATM switch, Cisco's 4000 router and PairGain's HDSL megabit modems.

Although StrataCom has not announced DSL support in its product line, the switch manufacturer is expected to integrate the technology onto its BPX ATM switch soon. The DSL support would be added to the switch as a shelf, similar to StrataCom's Axis shelf, which supports lower-speed traffic on the BPX switch, said Peter Alexander, executive director of marketing at StrataCom.

Other vendors displayed the latest DSL wares that follow the technology's more traditional lines. Amati Communications announced its Overture 8 ADSL modem that will support transmission speeds at 8 Mb/s downstream and 640 kb/s upstream. The company also signed a memorandum of understanding with NEC, enabling the two to work together to develop VDSL products.

Ericsson revealed its Cobra Web line of ADSL products, prototypes of which were shown at CommunicAsia '96 in Singapore last month. Cobra is slated for general availability in the third quarter.

Orckit Communications developed its own Internet access product line that will support HDSL, ADSL, SDSL and VDSL. FastInternet Broadband Access System is available for carrier trials today.

Performance Telecom launched a rate adaptive version of its CopperAccel DSL product. Data rates can be varied per services or dynamically per network conditions, said Jim Gulley, vice president of marketing and sales. The new version will be available this fall. Teltrend also announced its entry into the ADSL arena with a product based on the discrete multitone technology scheme.