ADSL reference design in progress
Motorola Semiconductor and major internetworking firm Sourcecom are offering a standard for high-speed Internet connectivity.
The design standard is based on ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) technology. ADSL, originally developed to help telephone companies deliver movies to the home, can use ordinary telephone lines to achieve a high-speed connection of 1.5 mbps and higher. Telcos have high hopes for ADSL as a new high-speed connection technology.
The two companies are creating a hardware and software reference design for ADSL. Goals of the joint project include giving ADSL equipment manufacturers a faster and cheaper way to make ADSL equipment and to assure that equipment from one vendor will work with that of other manufacturers. The architecture will allow vendors to customize their offerings without jeopardizing interoperability.
The reference design will be based on Motorola's CopperGold ADSL chips and Sourcecom's InnerWare internetworking circuit board, or "module." Sourcecom will license its InnerWare technology customized for the reference design. The reference design will be called ADSL Transmission Unit for the Remote End (ATU-R).
Sourcecom claims its InnerWare G3 series internetworking board holds 90 percent market share and has enabled virtually all xDSL data trials in the world. Motorola's CopperGold Transceiver can deliver up to 600 times the data rate of a 14.4-kbps modem over existing copper phone lines, the company said.
The reference design is due to be released by the end of June and will be free to manufacturers.