Motorola Debuts SoftDSL At WinHEC As DSL Adoption Rates Lag.At WinHEC in late April, Motorola demonstrated technology that will allow OEMs to integrate high-speed Internet See broadband. access on motherboards, potentially eliminating dedicated DSL DSL in full Digital Subscriber Line Broadband digital communications connection that operates over standard copper telephone wires. It requires a DSL modem, which splits transmissions into two frequency bands: the lower frequencies for voice (ordinary chipsets. The company's SoftDSL technology uses the CPU CPU in full central processing unit Principal component of a digital computer, composed of a control unit, an instruction-decoding unit, and an arithmetic-logic unit. and software for processing instructions, eliminating the need for a modem card and a dedicated DSL chipset. Motorola showed SoftDSL running on an AMD (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, www.amd.com) A major manufacturer of semiconductor devices including x86-compatible CPUs, embedded processors, flash memories, programmable logic devices and networking chips. Athlon processor. "Advances in processor technology [enable] SoftDSL solutions to emerge rapidly as a cost-effective, high-speed broadband communications solution," Mike Tramontano, marketing director of Motorola's Software Products Division, said in a statement. "PC OEMs can incorporate the latest communications technology Noun 1. communications technology - the activity of designing and constructing and maintaining communication systems engineering, technology - the practical application of science to commerce or industry into more of their PCs, encouraging faster deployment of DSL services." Motorola says that SoftDSL modems will eliminate the need for DSL service providers to visit customers (known in the industry as a "truck roll") to add cards to PCs, and will simplify support. The technology is also Internet-upgradeable. The Yankee Group (the Yankee Group, Boston, MA, www.yankeegroup.com) A major market research, analysis and consulting firm founded in 1970 by Howard Anderson. It provides general consulting and strategic planning in the computer and communications field. has estimated that DSL will be available to 25 percent of U.S. homes by the end of this year. However, availability does not necessarily correlate to adoption. Bell Atlantic, one of the nation's most aggressive DSL service providers, announced on April 25 that the company will likely miss its target of 500,000 DSL subscribers by year end, perhaps by as many as 200,000 customers. The company hopes new discounts and promotions will spur DSL demand in the second and third quarters. While the company did not speculate on the reasons for the disappointing adoption rates, it's a safe bet that the combination of the limited availability When customers of the PSTN make telephone calls, they commonly make use of a telecommunications network called a switched-circuit network. In a switched-circuit network, devices known as switches are used to connect the caller to the callee. of DSL service, the need for an Ethernet card, and the pricey service itself (as much as $50 a month, plus installation) may be helping to limit the spread of DSL. Motorola hopes to eliminate at least the second problem with SoftDSL, but it will be several quarters before systems with the technology will be widely available. |
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