XDSL
DSL in a nutshell June/July 2001

Contributed by Alcatel

Since its beginnings in 1992, Alcatel's Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology has developed from an engineer's fantasy to a fully mature, end-to-end solution that is now enjoying worldwide commercial success.

The Alcatel DSL success story started in 1992 when the company's R&D team took the strategic decision to make broadband connection speeds available to users over existing telephone lines, ie conventional copper wires. To this end, a research project aimed at developing ADSL technology for the mass market was launched in Belgium.

"The first DSL applications appeared in 1994, catching the wave of hype surrounding video-on-demand at that time," recalls Martin De Prycker, Chief Technology Officer. "However, the market wasn't ready for it, for two reasons: the technology was still too expensive, and there was a lack of interesting video content at an attractive enough price (ie free). Subsequently, the explosive growth of the Internet during the second half of the 1990s and the increasing 'greed for speed' pushed us in the new direction of broadband Internet access by DSL.

In 1996 Alcatel created an internal start-up for all its Internet access products, offering customers solutions for broadband Internet access based on Alcatel's own ADSL technology and solutions for analogue modems based on an OEM agreement with the former Ascend company. The resulting cross-fertilisation between Alcatel's IP know-how and Ascend's experience with analogue modems enabled us to tailor our broadband products to the market requirements."

Setting the standard

In parallel with these technological developments, Alcatel fought a desperate battle over DSL standards, ie the protocol that governs communication between the telecoms operator and the user's modem.

"For us it was vital to get our DMT (Discrete Multi-Tone) standard adopted," says Martin de Prycker. "To do this, we had to generate world-wide demand for our solutions. The most logical way to achieve this was to push sales of Alcatel DSL products to the telecoms operators, with 28 operators in 19 countries by 1999. However, we went a step farther, offering our basic technology to other manufacturers. This was a radical step for us, but our attitude was 'rather a big player in a billion-dollar market than a 100 per cent share of a zero-dollar market.'

"Any telecoms manufacturer was free to incorporate our DSL chip in its applications. We eventually sold our IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) licence to four companies (ST, AMD, Toshiba and ITEX), enabling them to use our chip know-how in their own chips. The strategy has paid off. Thanks to this approach, we were able to get 60 per cent of the industry behind us, and the Alcatel DMT standard was adopted worldwide in 1996-97."

From pure DSL to a network solution

In order to acquire a strong position on the DSL market, Alcatel initially concentrated on the USA. "The first reason for this was that America had the highest Internet penetration. Also, the demand for broadband Internet was greatest there, with strong competition from cable modems. Our big breakthrough came at the end of 1996 when we landed contracts for several large operators there. This was quickly followed by successes in Asia and Europe." Alcatel now has a 51 per cent share of the world DSL market for network equipment, while for customer premises equipment the figure is 26 per cent (source: Dell'Oro).

To remain competitive, Alcatel has continued to develop improved, more highly integrated products. "We are already shipping our 4th-generation DSL products, and the 5th generation is being developed rapidly," says Martin De Prycker." By the end of 2000, Alcatel had supplied a cumulative total of more than 7.5 million ADSL lines to operators around the world.

"With our strong culture of DSL innovation, we have also designed solutions such as the Alcatel Broadband Remote Access Server, which enables the operator to connect all DSL subscribers to the ISP or to a corporate network backbone. We also offer solutions for operators to maximise the added value of their DSL service. These include software that enables operators to offer value-added services such as VPN, Voice-over-IP and network optimisation. Alcatel has already gained a market share of around 15 per cent in these innovative sectors. Finally, in early 2001 we are bringing out a terabit IP core router (Alcatel 7770 router). With that, our network solution will be complete."

The internal start-up has enjoyed exponential growth, from a few tens of millions of euros in 1996 to more than 1.5 billion euros in 2000.

ADSL, SHDSL and VDSL

ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) transforms an operator's existing copper wire infrastructure into a multimedia broadband distribution system. Always online and fast, ADSL provides easy and quick Internet access by a simple mouse click. Working on an existing copper telephone line, ADSL transmission speeds are some 200 times faster than today's analogue modems, up to 8 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream. ADSL supports high-speed broadband data communications as well as traditional telephone services, on a single telephone line.

The Speed Touch family of Alcatel ADSL modems for end users offers solutions both residential and business applications. The main advantages of the complete portfolio are 'plug and play' functionality, user-friendliness and speed. Alcatel is now developing various optional software packages to ensure security of communication, making it possible for users to eg set up their own VPN (virtual private network) applications using ADSL.

Residential

The Speed Touch USB modem is Alcatels flagship product for residential users (See news item, this feature, sale of modem business to Thomson), with its eye-catching design and plug-and-play functionality. It offers data transmission speeds up to 4 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream for PC users, with the telephone line remaining available for normal voice communication at the same time. Since the modem is connected to the USB port, it does not require an external supply.

The Alcatel Speed Touch PC modem is a plug-in modem card for the PC, offering data speeds up to 8 Mbps downstream and 1Mb/s upstream, with the telephone line similarly remaining available.

The Alcatel Speed Touch Home modem is suitable for SOHO (small office/home office) users, carrying speech and data simultaneously on the same telephone line at speeds up to 8 Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream.

Business

The Alcatel Speed Touch Pro modem connects multiple PCs to a single ADSL line, via the built-in router. Speed: 8 Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream.
The Alcatel Speed Touch IAD modem offers four speech ports (IAD model with eight ports scheduled for introduction in early 2001) plus a broadband data line, all on a single ADSL connection. Ideal for small businesses.

The Alcatel Speed Touch Wireless modem (due to be launched in Belgium in mid-2001) offers wireless connection of PCs within a radius of 60 to 80 metres.

SHDSL (Symmetric High data rate DSL), based on the latest G.SHDSL standard, has been developed for business broadband applications (small businesses, website hosting, VPN etc), all one more twisted copper pairs. The symmetrical data transmission speed is up to 2.3 Mbps in both directions (upstream and downstream). SHDSL enables operators to offer T1 (1.544 Mbps), E1 (2.048 Mbps) and ISDN services.

VDSL (Very High bit rate DSL), finally, represents the next generation of DSL, with speeds of up to 50 Mbps in both directions. Alcatel aims to offer VDSL functionality for its entire DSL portfolio within the foreseeable future.

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