BT VDSL

["Dr John Tankard" <john@xxxxxxx>]

Keith are you hooked up at home ;-)

>from

"BT is already evaluating super-high-speed broadband technologies at
its
Ipswich research labs in a bid to kick-start the next generation of
high-bandwidth data communications.
Despite the fact BT's slow roll-out of first-generation broadband
technologies has been widely panned, it's already looking at the next
stage.=20


silicon.com has discovered the telco is evaluating a system called VDSL,
or Very high-speed Digital Subscriber Line, a cousin of the DSL
technology used by most broadband subscribers in the UK today.=20
It has been around since the late eighties and in its fastest
configuration can deliver downstream speeds of 52Mbps - nearly a
thousand times faster than a conventional modem, over existing copper
telephone wires.=20

A spokesman said BT will announce a strategy for the future of broadband
"shortly".

He said: "When we announce our strategy it will by definition include
VDSL and other similar next generation DSL technologies."

A source suggested BT Wholesale is likely to start full-scale trials of
VDSL next year, with a view to a commercial launch in 2006.

BT is currently evaluating several VDSL solutions at its Adastral Park
labs, the source suggested.

At the moment VDSL is extremely expensive, and likely to be restricted
to business customers only. Currently it is only deployed in a few
locations across the world, including Australia, where the cost per
subscriber is in excess of Aus$5000 (=A31,850), more than three times
standard ADSL, according to an analyst familiar with the project.=20

However, if the technology becomes more widely adopted costs will come
down and the technology could become viable in other applications.=20

BT is known to have ambitions to expand its broadcasting business, and
it may view VDSL as a way to do this.

Earlier this month, a press release from BT's legendary Adastral Park
research facility in Martlesham Heath near Ipswich, detailed trials that
the company has been undertaking with a US company, Myrio.

Myrio makes software for IP-based television systems, and BTexact
demonstrated a solution delivering IP video over three different VDSL
platforms to three different set-top boxes.=20

http://www.silicon.com/bin/bladerunner?30REQEVENT=3D&REQAUTH=3D21046&14001R=
E
QSUB=3DREQINT1=3D52281

jOHN