Faster Internet Access Made Possible Over Ordinary Phone Lines
The Internet has become a daily communications, education, and research tool for millions of users worldwide. Yet for many of these users, Internet access is a slow and frustrating experience because of low-speed analog modems and telephone lines. As use of the Internet increases and as the Web offers more multimedia-rich content, higher-speed access over the ordinary copper telephone lines in homes and businesses will help alleviate that frustration.
No More Waiting
Although current technologies for 56 Kbps modems and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN, up to 128 Kbps) offer some improvement in access performance, a better solution is delivered by new Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) services. ADSL is one of a family of technologies that deliver high-speed digital communications over analog lines. ADSL provides Internet access at speeds more than 100 times faster than today's modems, meaning a file that takes 10 minutes to download today will do so in only 10 seconds with ADSL.
ADSL services will give home and business subscribers the high access speeds necessary to make using the Internet more enjoyable and productive. And with access products built upon TI's superior digital and analog technology, both consumers and service providers will benefit from flexible and high-performance ADSL service delivery.
Delivering ADSL Services
ADSL service delivery requires products for both consumers and service providers. Consumers need PC modems to translate an analog voiceband signal to a digital ADSL data stream. Service providers need flexible equipment for the central office/service point to connect multiple subscribers and deliver ADSL services efficiently.
To develop these solutions, networking equipment vendors need a technology architecture that enables service providers to grow and customize their services as well as to adopt new features and standards while maintaining a low ownership cost. This technology architecture is delivered by semiconductors that supply advanced processing, upgradability, and features for digital and analog communications --
the type of semiconductor solutions offered by Texas Instruments.
Blending Digital and Analog Technologies
Both analog and digital technology are required in the consumer products that access ADSL services and the service provider products that deliver them. At the heart of digital communications capabilities is Digital Signal Processing (DSP) technology such as the TMS320C6x core from TI. Capable of performing 1600 million instructions per second (MIPS), the 'C6x core DSPs offer higher performance than any other DSP on the market today.
The 'C6x core also supports a high level of programmability that gives equipment vendors a time-to-market advantage over a hard-wired approach, as well as the flexibility to upgrade installed products with software. This upgradability in turn protects the equipment investments made by consumers and service providers as ADSL standards evolve.
Digital data communications technology also drives demand for more advanced mixed-signal and analog technology. Every digital ADSL chip requires analog interfaces to accept input from ordinary telephone lines. TI's analog solutions include precision analog devices, data converters, CODECs, data transmission devices, 3D graphics controllers, power management devices, analog interface circuits, and bus interfaces. This wide range of analog options enables networking equipment vendors to develop a wide range of access products that bridge the gap between analog and digital communications.
TI's strengths in precision mixed-signal components and application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) technologies complement its depth in DSPs and networking chipsets. In addition to ADSL, TI offers other networking technologies for integration in access chipsets including the most widely used protocols in local-area and wide-area networks. These offerings assure product interoperability in service provider solutions that link many types of networks. TI also bundles the appropriate software to deliver a complete, system-level solution.
TI's Industry-Leading Expertise
TI offers an attractive solution for ADSL with its expertise and and market leadership in several areas:
- TI holds the #1 market share position in digital signal processing according to 1996 Forward Concepts figures. TI is also #1 in the mixed-signal IC portion of the analog market according to Dataquest 1996 figures.
- Amati Communications, recently acquired by TI, is the pioneer and world leader in ADSL Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT) technology.
- To date, one in three modems shipped worldwide is built upon a TI DSP. 3Com Corporation (formerly U.S. Robotics) selected a TI DSP solution as the foundation of its 56 Kbps x2 (TM) modems, with 40.6
million TI chipsets shipped.
TI's leadership in these areas translates into significant synergy among products and processes that cut across analog and digital development.
TI's ADSL products are designed and developed by the Network Access Products organization, part of TI's Networking Business Unit (NBU). The group focuses TI's technological leadership in DSPs, mixed-signal components, and integration of networking hardware and software to create system-level solutions for a wide range of access equipment. These solutions are tested for interoperability with other network equipment at TI's Network Technology Center. All TI ADSL solutions are backed by a full range of technical support, evaluation kits, and information services accessible via the Internet, a customer hotline, and TI distributors.
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