|
Boosting broadband
|
23/09/2005
|
| |
Well known names such as Infineon, Conexant and Broadcom, as well as specialist start ups, such as Ikanos and Metalink, are readying for a battle royal in the emerging VDSL2 business.
VDSL2 – the latest flavour of broadband access – supports emerging triple play services, such as voice, video, high definition tv and interactive gaming. It also enables operators and carriers to gradually upgrade existing copper based DSL infrastructure.
The trigger for the next round in DSL chip competition – which has already seen some bitter infighting for earlier iterations of the technology – came in May, when a crowd of engineers and standards setters agreed a specification for the latest broadband access technology.
As with all standards set under the auspices of the International Telecommunication Union, compromises had to be made. And the breakthrough, according to insiders, was to accept three different designs (or ‘profiles’).
The glamorous, ‘high profile’ version of the very high bit rate digital subscriber line specification will allow carriers to deliver 100Mbit/s in both directions over existing copper infrastructure. But this only has a theoretical limit of some 350m. This is because the 30MHz frequency required falls off fairly rapidly with distance. Nevertheless, for a host of carriers in the Far East and in some European markets, this is exactly what they need.
A more practical perspective for some carriers, mainly in the US, is the ‘low profile’ 8MHz version. Early tests have achieved download rates of about 25Mbit/s over 900m.
The most popular version in the early stages of VDSL2 is likely to be the ‘medium profile’, which operates in the 12MHz spectrum and can provide 30Mbit/s downloads over a 1.8km loop.
|
| |
Author
John Walko
|
| |
| |
|
This material is protected by Findlay Publications copyright 2008.
See Terms and Conditions.
One-off usage is permitted but bulk copying is not.
For multiple copies contact the sales team.
|
| |
|
| Email this article |
| |
|
|
|
|