As Internet users demand more and more bandwidth, telecommunications companies are readying their networks to support digital subscriber line (DSL), a high-speed transmission technology that promises data transfer speeds of up to 8M bits per second (bps).
Two telecom equipment manufacturers yesterdayday announced the selection of DSL chip sets, while Telia, the Swedish telecom provider, announced plans to buy DSL equipment from Ericsson.
Japan's NEC says it plans to use a DSL chip set from Centillium Technology . The two companies signed a four-year agreement this week that will see NEC incorporating Centillium's CopperLite chip set into DSL equipment destined for telecom companies worldwide, the companies said in a statement. NEC expects to release G.lite DSL multiplexers (used to split data and voice traffic) based on Centillium's chip in the first half of 1999, they said. G.Lite is a slower-rate DSL offering data transmission rates of up to 1.5Mbit/s.
In other news, the UK's Virata signed an agreement yesterday with Italian telecom equipment manufacturer IPM Datacom to help the company develop its upcoming DSL products, Virata said in a statement. Virata offers an integrated software and silicon DSL chip to hardware vendors. The two companies will work together to develop DSL products aimed at telecommunications providers, they said.
Meanwhile, Swedish telephone company Telia has already selected a hardware provider for its upcoming DSL rollout. Ericsson yesterday signed an agreement with Telia to provide DSL infrastructure equipment over the next two years, Ericsson said in a statement. Telia will implement Ericsson's ANx-DSL platform, which includes back-end equipment installed at a carrier's central office as well as DSL multiplexers, in its upcoming rollout of DSL services.
NEC can be reached in Tokyo at +81-3-3798-6511 or at http://www.nec.co.jp/. Centillium Technology Corp., in Fremont, California, can be reached at http://www.centillium.com/. Virata, in Cambridge, England, can be reached on +44-1223-566-919, or via the World Wide Web at http://www.virata.com/. Ericsson, in Stockholm, can be reached at +46-8-719-00-00 or on the World Wide Web at http://www.ericsson.com/.