Hoping to unify standards for universal digital subscription lines, Texas Instruments unwrapped a high-bandwidth DSL technology that aims to put video services, including high-definition television, out to consumers by way of telephone lines.
TI calls their Uni-DSL (UDSL) technology "backwards compatible" with current operators' infrastructures, making it possible to put competitive video service revenue into those operators' present data and voice services.
The technology, TI said, raises DSL bandwidth to a level necessary to deliver HDTV and other advanced video services plus voice and data through limited fiber deployment. Their hope is to resolve the overcapacity of fiberoptic networks that are spread around the U.S. but stalled the last few miles' worth because it's too expensive to put into consumers' homes, the company said.
"The backwards compatibility of UDSL-based equipment will allow operators to affordably deploy a flexible menu of services using ADSL and VDSL standards from a single line card design in the central office or residential gateway in the home," TI said in a company statement. "TI plans to take its vision of a universal DSL technology before the various standards organizations around the world to gain support for Uni-DSL technology."
TI plans to roll its first UDSL solutions out next year, with the company saying they expect a wider rollout in 2006. They think it might catch on faster in Europe and Asia than in the U.S. because European and Asian short-loop transmission can be fitted for UDSL more easily, according to one published analysis.
