G.lite Consumer Rollout Under Way

ISP-Planet Staff
[May 9, 2000]

Residential customers in Dallas, Chicago, San Jose, and New York are currently testing a new G.lite Internet service offering from NorthPoint Communications, using equipment developed by Copper Mountain Networks, Inc..

NorthPoint yesterday announced that it would deploy Copper Mountain's G.lite solution as part of its full-scale expansion into the broadband consumer marketplace.

The high-density solution from Copper Mountain (CMTN) supports a 24-port line card, which makes it more cost-effective for NorthPoint (NPNT) to deploy services to the high-volume Digital Subscriber Line consumer market.

Dense but smart
The G.lite card supports high Internet Protocol intelligence, which guarantees Quality of Service standards for mission critical applications including voice, multimedia, and entertainment applications in large-scale DSL networks.

NorthPoint plans to use Copper Mountain's G.lite solution to support a wide variety of services for the consumer market, including high-speed Internet access, voice, and consumer content for special events, popular portals, MP3 music, and video.

Liz Fetter, NorthPoint president and chief executive officer, said the Copper Mountain deal is much more than a milestone for the national DSL service provider.

"We're very pleased with the results of our trials of Copper Mountain's G.lite solution and look forward to expanding our presence in the consumer market," Fetter said. "This is not only a corporate milestone for NorthPoint, but a true milestone for DSL services and the delivery of groundbreaking Internet-based services to the consumer marketplace,"

"Our technology partnership with Copper Mountain is a key aspect of NorthPoint's consumer initiative," Fetter added.

Putting line-sharing into practice
NorthPoint is moving aggressively to take advantage of recent regulatory advancements allowing line sharing with incumbent carriers to roll out its DSL services.

The line sharing order by the Federal Communication Commission in October of 1999, enables Competitive Local Exchange Carriers like NorthPoint to offer DSL service on the same physical line, or copper loop, that the incumbent uses to deliver Plain Old Telephone Service.

Prior to the line sharing order, ILECs had a clear advantage over CLECs in providing DSL services to the consumer marketplace. The FCC's line sharing order makes it affordable for DLS providers like NorthPoint to offer competitive broadband services to the consumer marketplace.

Rick Gilbert, Copper Mountain president and chief executive officer said NorthPoint has seized the day by quickly responding to line sharing regulatory changes.

The DSL standard
G.lite, also known as G.992.2, is an International Telecommunication Union standard ratified in October 1999. Use of the G.lite standard enables Copper Mountain to support concurrent data and analog voice over the local copper loop at downstream speeds ranging from 64 KBPS to 1.536 MBPS in 32 KBPS steps, and upstream speeds ranging from 32 KBPS to 512 KBPS, also in 32 KBPS steps.

G.lite also extends to a maximum distance of 19,000 feet from a central office over 26-gauge wire and 26,200 feet over 24-gauge wire. In compliance with the G.lite standard, Copper Mountain's DSL concentrators enable end-to-end ATM on the DSL line from the subscriber's premise to the provider's point-of-presence (POP).

—End

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