Broadband DSL in the current marketplace

Critical improvements in broadband digital subscriber line (DSL) technology, standards and efficiencies have led to global adoption of this high-speed access technology. At Supercomm, DSL Forum and industry analyst firm Frost & Sullivan announced 23.3 million DSL users as of the first quarter this year, revealing significant 207% growth of the global broadband DSL market (see figure). The DSL growth trend is continuing, with even more potential turning into reality as broadband DSL industry stimulus stirs in several key areas.

The trend of overall data spending growth every quarter for the past several years continues to rise, and the DSL global installed base that exploded to 18.7 million consumers at the end of 2001, according to industry analyst firm Point Topic, is now fodder for the history books as the numbers mount by leaps and bounds. The question today is what conditions will take us to the next step, that DSL Forum defines as a benchmark challenge for a truly global mass market at 200 million DSL broadband users by 2005 -- 20% of all the world's copper telephone lines.

Key developments to deployment advancements

To create a mass market for broadband services, the end user must be offered products and services that meet their personal needs. Only fully interoperable equipment can create a real broadband DSL mass market with low consumer prices and effortless availability of high-speed broadband access. With so many DSL products on the market, it is critical for customer premises equipment (CPE) manufacturers to insure that baseline; their products are interoperable and remain competitive with alternative solutions. This leads to "mass customization" whereby a user can confidently select the equipment that best matches their needs, knowing it will interwork with a wide range of services and network providers.

Furthermore, an installation process that once took a couple of weeks now on average is completed within three days, and the equipment is self-installed by the consumer. This is a critical change, because the installation that primarily depended on a site visit by a specially trained engineer in most parts of the world, delayed deployment and added to service providers' costs. With equipment interoperability and CPE auto-configuration advancements, plug-n-play CPE is quickly being adopted around the world.

The next DSL industry step of approved testing suites is a key vehicle by which broadband DSL vendors will verify that their products are interoperable and service providers can reduce their in-house testing expenses. For the long term, this means better prices and selection for the consumer, and the emergence of a true retail model for DSL. DSL Forum recently announced the newly approved Technical Report (TR)- 48 "ADSL Interoperability Test Plan," that specifies ADSL bit-rate and distance requirements well beyond the previous ADSL Recommendations, a milestone achievement toward the goal of widespread retail availability. TR-48 defines technical criteria for interoperability and will be the basis for the DSL Forum Independent Testing Laboratory (ITL) program, offered to qualify facilities that agree to comply. ITL will administer the test suites for CPE manufacturers that can then confidently market their products to service providers that benefit from reduced testing expense and greater selection. Ultimately, this may lead to an active retail market, where both the service provider and user will benefit from extensive selection and price competition.

This broadband DSL streamlined interoperability testing plan is important progress in the quest to meet the ever-evolving business and consumer needs on a global basis. For broadband DSL network operators and service providers, widespread interoperability will pave the way to less costly operation, deployment and maintenance. Most equipment vendors also view interoperability as beneficial because it helps reduce the product development and production time, as well as lessen the associated testing costs.

With interoperability concerns aside, the consumer's choice of equipment may then be dictated by many factors including:

• Functionality (modem, router, VPN/firewall/voice capability)

• Interface (USB, Ethernet, HPNA, wireless LAN, etc.)

• Ease of use (configuration changes, diagnostics)

• Form factor

• Vendor

• Price

• Color!

The secret for service and network providers is to be able to meet these requirements without overly complicating the network delivery (and hence resulting cost base of the service), by taking a layered approach to interoperable standards in order to offer a limited number of options at each layer (thus keeping the provisioning and network issues tractable) whilst the total number of combinations offers at least one permutation that will meet the end users personal requirements.

Therefore global interoperable standards are vital to create the environment from which a healthy broadband DSL mass market will emerge. Working up the protocol stacks, some of the layers and options for product differentiation are:

• PHY Layer: ADSL vs. SHDSL (choice depends on upstream bandwidth needs and need for base band POTS)

• ATM Layer: choice of traffic class (CBR vs. UBR or rtVBR, etc.) and overbooking ratio

• IP Layer: choice of static or dynamically allocated IP address, NAT or no NAT

• PPP Layer: choice of PAP or CHAP for authentication.

These are just some examples at the network/connectivity layers. More service-focused examples can include voice and IP VPN options. Internationally agreed upon standards and technical recommendations are in place for all of the above. Many bodies including the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), The ATM Forum, IETF, DSL Forum and others develop the standards. As illustrated, within this structured framework a huge range of combinations exists which enables product and service differentiation within a bounded space, in order to avoid an infinite number of testing options but to strive for an optimal balance between customer choice and manageable network engineering. Many current initiatives are focused on progressing interoperability of CPE with network architectures and service models across these layers.

For instance, the second-generation ITU Recommendation for ADSL (ADSL2) reached tentative ITU approval of ITU Study Group 15 at the most recent ITU meeting in May, and final approval of the specification is expected within three months. In addition to the improved performance requirements, the ITU ADSL2 Recommendation contains specifications for additional line diagnostics, improved transmission robustness and reduced power consumption. Additionally, the ITU recently released plans to make DSL Forum's TR-48 part of the requirements in the updated ITU ADSL2 (G.992.3/4, also G.dmt.bis) Recommendations.

To ensure success, the broadband DSL industry must complete the work that has been facilitated by the DSL Forum, to insure that broadband DSL is available to ALL who want it. For example, guidelines on flow-through provisioning assist multiple players in the value chain to interact in a consistent manner such that a service can be provisioned across all the network layers when multiple business entities are involved in the delivery. In other words, the guidelines define the hand off from an ISP to an Access Aggregator, to a DLEC or ILEC, while providing automated flow-through of DSL orders, and order visibility by all entities throughout the process. This work also includes recommendations for CPE dynamic configuration advancements.

As DSL Forum's Technical Report (TR)-37 "DSL CPE Auto-Configuration" lays out the specifications for interoperability, TR-46 "Auto-Configuration: Architecture & Framework," now provides the framework for the complete auto-configuration process. Together, interoperability and auto-configuration in multi-vendor products will pave the way to a consumer mass market at the retail level. The results of these broadband DSL technological advancements are demonstrated at "DSL Global Solutions SUPERCOMM Showcase" (Booth#30216, Hall A).

The broadband DSL industry is at the point of fine-tuning performance, which requires a higher level of interoperability, including capacity to accommodate future DSL technology developments, and today both the end user and the service provider are benefiting. At the same time, the technology itself is sufficiently mature to allow specification of equipment with built-in capability to upgrade services from, for example, ADSL to SHDSL, without having to change core equipment at the customer premises.

Broadband regulatory climate

While there has been growth in every sector, the deployment of broadband DSL has not been evenly distributed around the world. Certain countries with providers such as Korea Telecom in the Asia-Pacific region and Deutsche Telekom in Germany have leapt far ahead of friends and neighbors, which leaves providers and businesses alike to ponder what it takes to become successful on the broadband bandwagon. Several factors have affected this growth, such as loop length, content usage and not least of all, the regulatory climate in which the technology is deployed.

Governments and regulators need to provide a climate in which broadband DSL deployment is encouraged, such as has occurred in Korea and other areas. Increasingly, evidence is mounting that governments are seeing broadband connectivity as a competitive imperative for their populations. This outlook needs to prevail and become ubiquitous around the world, backed by government initiatives to encourage deployment of broadband DSL-based services.

Clearly, the ability to secure multimedia broadband access provides a competitive advantage in the pursuit of commerce and education services. Those that have it will conduct business more seamlessly and will have a distinct advantage in gaining access to the world's best educations. Broadband multimedia access also transforms entertainment services into compelling interactive experiences.

To stimulate increased usage of broadband over DSL, regulators need to remove the roadblocks to their deployment. At the very least, a level playing field needs to be established between broadband DSL based services and competing access technologies such as cable modems, satellite, and broadband wireless access. Such a level playing field will undoubtedly accelerate the rollout of broadband. DSL technology applied to the existing copper loops of the world represents the quickest, most reliable and the most cost-effective means of getting broadband services to people who want and need them. Governments and regulators hold the keys to unleashing the carriers and allowing providers to meet these needs.

Pioneering the uses

Faced with a number of challenges today, content and service providers are tackling a number of decisions such as determining what types of content are best suited to drive revenue and subscriptions, and how to cost-effectively create content that is unique and has demand in the market to ensure positive returns. New content and applications need to be developed that use the broadband connections to their full potential. Today, most of the more than 25 million global broadband DSL users are using their broadband DSL service to download and send e-mail, execute file transfers and surf the Web. Broadband DSL provides more than enough bandwidth to perform these functions in an efficient manner. However, the technology has much greater potential.

Content and service providers are making strides. Leading-edge companies are on the table that have determined and established some best practice methodology to show a hungry global market is waiting for others to follow suit. But like the pioneers that first arrived in America, the vast possibilities available to those willing to forage into the unknown may be as yet incomprehensible.

DSL meets the need for speed

Whether at home, at work, at school or on the move, everybody wants more speed and easier access from every service whenever and wherever it is needed. The reality is that if you can get what you need done on the Net faster, whether it be grocery shopping, information communication or entertainment - then more leisure time can be created. As more bandwidth intensive applications and more demanding end users covet better real-time experiences on the net, DSL broadband is rapidly progressing from luxury status, to rank as a necessity.

Service provider adoption and deployment of the various automation tools and network extension options is the final step in making universal availability a reality. It is not enough to have solutions and standards available, service providers must commit to these improvement implementations in order to extend the reach. The tools are at hand, and with regulatory support, broadband DSL will become the flagship product and a strategic imperative for service providers worldwide.

Clearly we are just at the beginning of broadband DSL deployment. In fact, the DSL industry has set its sights on a target penetration of 20% of the world's loops by 2005. To reach 200 million consumers, the DSL industry will need to continue fast tracking the technological advancement and facilitating the industrywide cooperation that is making DSL the leading global broadband option today.

Bill Rodey is Chairman and President of the DSL Forum. He is also Sr. Vice President of Marketing and Engineering at HyperEdge Corp.

Technical Reports and more information are available publicly at www.dslforum.org.