DSL

The VDSL Experience —Continued

A spokesperson for Covad Communications Group, the largest DLEC in the nation, said that VDSL "is not an option at this time, mainly because of the distance limitations."

Gotta beware all along the watchtower
Costs didn't stop telcos and equipment makers from leaping to get a standard off the ground and in the field, so to speak, when the possibilities of VDSL were first revealed.

Texas Instruments developed its own chipset in 1998 and put out the Piccolo module, which combined the digital interface, digital signal processing, and SDMT engine with an analog front end that met both European Telecommunications Standards and American National Standards institutional requirements for VDSL services.

The Texas Instruments TNETD8000 VDSL Chipset
(Source: Texas Instruments)

Later that year TI and NEC Corp. came out with an updated VDSL offering and started shipping out modules in the second quarter of 1999.

Qwest Communications, France Telecom and British Telecommunications joined forces, giddy with the thought of cutting into cable's television market with VDSL technology.

And then—the bubble burst.

Rather than go into the same, tired old story you've so heard many times over the past year about venture capital disappearing, capital investment being reprioritized, and the subsequent DSL wholesale nosedive, suffice it to say, VDSL never really got out of the field test phase of deployment.

Companies that only a year ago would've jumped at the chance to show off this shiny new VDSL service to consumers and businesses alike were putting it on the back burner.

The hour is getting late
But in 1999, if you were a high-tech company with a business plan, you didn't have to work hard to get venture capital firms knocking on your door.

VDSL Systems, Inc., a startup headquartered in Espoo, Finland, was the beneficiary of Finnish investment company SFK Finance, an equity buy that financed the company's plans for international expansion.

Flush with money and an end-to-end VDSL solution dubbed Ivalo Rapid, the company quickly set up shop in California and looked for U.S. executives to get its product line moving.

They found Chris Britton, a sales and marketing type who got his feet wet in the industry as an executive director at U.S. West (now Qwest) who was tapped as president of North American operations.

Britton admitted that the road to VDSL acceptance will be an uphill climb and that there are many challenges to getting providers to sign up for the company's services. With only five European customers, he knows he has a tough sell in the States, too.

"You've got the incumbents all having to grapple with the DSL deployment schedule, but their numbers of installed DSL lines to subscribers have been growing month over month at quite a good growth rate," Britton said. "The DLEC folks and the DSL specialty companies—their revenue-generating business model is where the pressure is right now and they are trying to rebuild their business model."