A passport for DSL

(Telephony) When the going gets tough, the tough focus on the positive. At the DSLCon Global Summit this week in Honolulu, the DSL Forum reiterated the progress of the technology and the forum itself.

Consider this: the DSL Forum projects more than 7 million DSL lines will be installed in North America by the end of 2001. Last year, it was only 700,000.

The reasons are many, said Jim Southworth, chief technical officer of AdEvia and a board member of the DSL Forum. ISPs are offering DSL, and vertical sectors, such as the multidwelling unit market--are increasingly interested in DSL offerings.

“There is increased awareness,” Southworth said. “It was 2%, then it was 8%. Now it’s 20% and in some areas, it’s 50% or 60%.”

Internationally, Asia--particularly in Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan--and Europe show huge potential, Southworth said. Eighty-five percent of the local loops in the U.K. and 80% to 90% of the loops in Germany are about 12,000 feet from the central office.

With short loops, clean lines--no load coils or bridged taps--few digital loop carriers, and a relatively mature technology, “DSL is the optimal technology in Europe,” Southworth said.

The DSL Forum is preparing to support the projected uptick. The group’s operating budget has ballooned from $1 million to $7 million, and in the last year, the group’s membership jumped from 275 to 408. Many of the newcomers are service providers, Southworth said.

Still, the DSL Forum has some work to do. Standards are not fully fleshed out, particularly the much-awaited G.shdsl. Security issues must be resolved, and voice over DSL (VoDSL) is improperly marketed as a service to end users rather than a technology for service providers.

“What will it take to get [VoDSL] big? Economics,” Southworth said. “Regular digital voice is still relatively cheap. It doesn’t justify the hardware [for voice over DSL].”