Rim Semiconductor Company (fka RSMI)

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NVEI ARTICLE:

Firm pushes DSL over longer distances Prototype shown to support multimegabit connections out to nearly 9,000 feet.

By Michael Martin
Network World, 03/12/01


SAN DIEGO - New Visual Entertainment, a developer of 3-D products, has completed a third-party test of DSL technology it says can deliver 54M bit/sec downstream, across almost twice the distance typically supported by very-high bit rate DSL.

VDSL may not be standardized yet, but that doesn't mean there aren't companies such as New Visual trying to bring proprietary VDSL systems to market. The reason is obvious - VDSL provides much more bandwidth than existing broadband access technology, making it ideal for combining voice, video and data over one copper connection. Even relatively slow 10M bit/sec VDSL is faster than existing asymmetric DSL or symmetric DSL.

But VDSL also has a major drawback - distance. The technology seldom works well beyond 4,500 feet from a central office.

That's why New Visual's Cu@OCx technology, which the company has shown to work over a distance of 8,900 feet, would be a significant step up. It would let potential VDSL providers reach more subscribers.

At present though, New Visual's technology is in its infancy.

"All we have at this point is a proof-of-concept prototype," a company spokesman says.

He adds that New Visual's prototype conforms to most available VDSL specifications, and that the company has so far filed two patents on the technology.

New Visual won't be entering the equipment market itself, perhaps beyond delivering integrated circuits and possibly line cards. The company is speaking to DSL equipment providers and service providers about using the technology, which could be ready this year.

Greg Mycio, an analyst with New Paradigm Resources Group, says 54M bit/sec is an impressive amount of bandwidth, but may be overkill for many businesses.

"At 20M bit/sec to 25M bit/sec you should be good to go with streaming video," he says. "So I'm not sure who the extra bandwidth would appeal to."

Source: http://www.nwfusion.com/archive/2001/118123_03-12-2001.html


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