No VDSL consensus at ITU (from DSL Prime News)
A well-informed service provider writes "An exhausting effort was made to reach an agreement for the ITU VDSL standard with no success. Various compromises were tried, but the hard-core folks on the both the QAM and DMT sides preferred no ITU VDSL standard over letting the other side get a clear win. The issue will be discussed again at the August meeting, and there is a fair chance that an agreement might be reached then." This DMT supporter believes "it is clear what the standard for VDSL is and I feel the ITU will come the same conclusion in time." Others cite the most popular proposals at the meeting, which in one way or another included both line codes, as part of the standard or as annexes.
Now providers get to choose
DMT looks strong in North America, where SBC, Verizon, and BellSouth presumably will deploy it as part of FTTP. Qwest wanted for a dual standard, because they have the largest VDSL build in the U.S. and it's not clear whether they (or Bell Canada) will switch to DMT. The big Asian carriers made clear they didn't want the Americans or the vendors to choose for them, but may decide to go with DMT for their own reasons. That's a big market, so chip vendors like Broadcom, TI, and Globespan will be smart to bring advanced chips to market.
Similarly, QAM vendors will need to deliver better chips on an accelerated schedule. They lost the first round of competitive testing, and know some excellent engineers are working hard to reverse the later results that were better for them.
Carriers and their customers will likely benefit, as the chip vendors invest heavily to develop a true competitive edge in a market kept open. DSL Prime may possibly benefit, as I can now reverse my informal halt on taking new ads from the parties involved.
The wildcard is DSM, Cioffi's methodology of adapting DSL transmission based on actual, not theoretical, conditions in the field. The research has been exclusively done using DMT, and if products come quickly to market that could be a decisive advance. QAM put out a paper suggesting they could achieve similar benefits, but now needs to prove that quickly in the field. The Japanese and Koreans want the speed, and the West will want it as well.
Improving the process
Many dedicated people work on the committees, but the public interest require more.
"Reasonable royalties" must become enforceable.
China born Houlin Zhao is the director of ITU-T, but companies like China Telecom, China Netcom, Huawei, Datung, and ZTE are not playing the role their importance in the world industry would call for. ITU Study group 15 leaders, for example, are from Nortel, Telecom Italia, Corning, and Lucent. They've earned their positions by hard work for the industry, but the organization will be stronger with a broader membership. A good first step would be personal invitations from ITU leadership.
Corporations looking to make some influential friends might give a small grant for translation services to make visitors welcome. All major vendors are actively courting China Telecom and Netcom, and this would be a small but honorable way to show them respect.
While the ITU itself is an NGO, members include few, if any, non-profits. Again, leadership should reach out to university faculty and other independents more likely to put consumer interests above corporate ones.
The cost of involvement in ITU groups is much too high. People shouldn't need to pay over $20,000 just to get access to the papers submitted.
Side comment from DSL Prime News on Globespan - "Globespan hit a new high of 9.88, a 500% increase in less than nine months. That's still down 90% from 2000, but encouraging. I hope the optimism this time is more rational - DSL is growing rapidly, but competition is fierce. "
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