A new age of networking and global communications

By Jim Adams, Member of the Board of Directors and Former Chairman

Imagine a 200-lane expressway being built over a one-lane, heavily traveled road. It's every commuter's dream but practically impossible, unless you're talking about the information superhighway.

The limited, often-bottlenecked route to the Internet is about to undergo major construction, thanks to new technology called Digital Subscriber Line (DSL). Asymmetric DSL -- the first version likely to hit the market -- will give consumers up to 100 times the download speeds of current modems over existing phone lines and add a new dimension of functionality to the PC. That graphic that takes more than three minutes to download with today's fastest modem will happen in a blink with ADSL.

This technology will present tremendous opportunities for consumers and equipment makers, and it will help telephone companies, or telcos, open new avenues for data communications. It is cost effective and can become a showcase service in any company's package of communications services. ADSL is a competitive advantage in the rapidly growing demand for greater bandwidth, and TI will help deliver it to a world entering a new age of networking and global communications. (See ADSL chipset article)

Ideas to realities

Broadband is changing data communications to information communications. Once broadband is in the home, a whole new class of information services will become available. Incredible applications like real-time video will move beyond ideas to realities.

TI is committed to being an ADSL technology provider. The recent acquisition of Amati Communications -- a world leader in DSL -- underscores that commitment. TI's goal is to combine its industry-leading TMS320 digital signal processors (DSPs) and mixed-signal products with Amati's expertise to provide the world's best and most flexible DSL technology.

Digital signal processing, the technology best suited to developing ADSL, is an area dominated by TI, and programmable DSPs offer valuable flexibility for the emerging market. One factor that will help accelerate the rollout of ADSL is the ability to upgrade first-generation ADSL when improvements or code features are developed. For that, software -- not just a silicon hardware solution -- is needed. That points to a strength only DSPs can deliver.

Window of opportunity

The window of opportunity for ADSL is opening more quickly than anticipated, and telcos are in prime position to benefit. Customer demand and competition are driving the need for this technology.

The number of people using the Internet is exploding. About 40 million customers will have Internet access by the year 2000, according to one estimate. Telecommuting is growing, and thus far, has attracted more than 30 million people.

Telcos are operating in a new competitive environment. They have new freedoms and will be able to package services they once were prohibited from providing. On the flip side, the local loop is now open to competition from cable companies, long distance providers and others -- all of whom will be pursuing the premium customers.

Cable is out of the gate fast, but telcos with ADSL will have advantages, one of which is the ubiquity of the copper network and being able to use the established network for data. It goes everywhere; cable doesn't. Cable has coaxial or fiber, neither of which is inferior to copper, but ADSL is faster. Telephony is designed for two-way service, cable isn't. And as more cable users come on-line in a neighborhood, everyone's throughput will be lower -- several users on a cable system would have to compete for the same bandwidth, potentially diminishing data rates for each user. That's not a problem with ADSL.

Market forces

But what drives the market is not just technology -- it's economics. Customers don't buy a product because of the technology. They buy it because of the applications. They buy it because it adds value for them. And the hot application today is the Internet.

Internet content providers know that narrow bandwidth is their Achilles heel. As the World Wide Web becomes the World Wide Wait, customers become frustrated and the promises of the information superhighway grow dim. Users are growing tired of watching the hourglass icon on their screens as they wait for data to be downloaded. Service providers are rushing to find a cost-effective way to meet this demand.

ADSL is the answer. It provides the bandwidth needs customers crave over the already-built copper network. Capital requirements -- a digital modem in the central office and one more on the customer's end -- are minimal. Plus, the software programmability of DSPs eliminates some of the telco concern about investing in this technology. The threat of technical obsolescence, a big telco concern, is lessened.

TI plans to work closely with telcos to remove risks and speed implementation. TI's already established Networking Lab is just one way we can bring laboratory solutions to real-world applications much faster than before.

The recent formation of a DSL industry group, in which TI participates as a technology provider, should speed adoption of industry standards. The lineup of companies involved in this program is impressive, but it will be up to technology providers such as TI to make it happen -- and we are prepared for that challenge.