UAWG hits G.lite interoperability milestone

With asymmetrical digital subscriber line technology and interoperability heating up the scene at Supercomm last week, the Universal ADSL Working Group's announcement of the new G.lite interoperability standard could not have been timed more perfectly.

The standard, known interchangeably as Universal ADSL or G.lite, details how products and services based on the G.lite ADSL specification can work together. It is intended to reduce costs by lessening the need for a splitter box outside the home or new wiring to the home.

"There has been need for interoperability [for ADSL] and now we have delivered it in a remarkably short period of time," said Mark Peden, a senior DSL technologist for Intel and vice president of marketing for UAWG. "Never in the history of the [International Telecommunication Union] has a standard been pushed through so quickly," he added.

Equipment vendors helped expedite the process. At the show, several vendors demonstrated their equipment's ability to interoperate with G.lite.

"G.lite standardization is very important to carriers and to us as well," said Martin Rist, vice president of marketing for access and carrier packet networks at Nortel Networks. Nortel is focused on expanding availability of high-speed access to the consumer market, he said.

But after the standards achievement, which is expected to be ratified this month, the UAWG is passing the remaining work on to the ADSL Forum. "The UAWG was formed to accelerate a standards-based version of ADSL suited for the consumer environment and the Interoperability showcase demonstrates that we have completed our task," said Kevin Kahn, co-chair of the UAWG and director of communications architecture for the Intel Architecture Labs.

* At the end of 1998 more than 25 million households had access to the Internet from home or work

* By 2003, the home-office population will swell to 29.8 million, or 28.1% of households