Rim races to deliver a faster DSL

Rim Semiconductor has given few clues about how it claims to have sent 40 Mb/s of data over 5500 feet of 26-gauge copper in recent tests on a rural telco's network. The company has promised to introduce a chip later this year that reallocates the upstream and downstream bandwidth allotments dictated by discrete multitone encoding to make more efficient use of existing copper access networks. Rim is working to establish industry standards for its new approach, dubbed IP subscriber line (IPSL), enlisting Embarq in the effort. But although the company has raised some $90 million over the years, it recently said in regulatory filings that it needs to secure more funds “immediately,” leaving “substantial doubt about [its] ability to continue as a going concern.”