DSL Prime News Weekly: The Inside Source  September 4, 2001

Dave Burstein
DSL Prime

DSL Prime decries the regulatory neglect that allowed Covad to go into Chapter 11, examines the Bells' attempts to monopolize video on demand, and covers other urgent, breaking news.

Sony and the rest of Hollywood plan to distribute movies on the net. SBC plans to block anyone distributing movies without giving SBC a major cut. SBC's "Contract Killer" is circulating, keeping ISPs off of SBC's video speed channel to the home. Verizon is taking the opposite approach, with Tom Tauke promising "If you're a content provider or ISP, you'll have open access to our network, with non-discriminatory treatment, terms and conditions."

Hollywood now has extraordinary incentive to bring their lobbying power into play, starting by blocking the Bells' move to eliminate all regulation in D.C., Tauzin-Dingell.

Mike Powell can immediately take two actions:

• Enforce ordinary truth-in-advertising and anti-fraud laws, requiring SBC (and the other providers) to reliably deliver the 1.5 meg speeds promised.
• Make sure ISPs and content providers can connect at those advertised speeds, without unreasonable tolls. This open access at the edge is the only practical way to have a network running at 1.5 meg. Full-screen video requires about 1 meg, and that's the real definition of advanced services.

Who controls the fast Internet will be a leading freedom of speech issue for the next decade. Our report on SBC, Verizon, and how to ensure the future is below.

Meanwhile, enjoy New Orleans and the DSL Forum meeting. Wish we were there, but Jennie and I plan Washington twice, ISPCon Vegas in October, London for Streaming Media and IEC Broadband in late October, Paris in November for publisher meetings. Hope to meet more of you.

Paradyne's Plum—Yahoo Japan
Softbank doesn't want to turn away customers
UBS Warburg broke the story, and we confirmed it independently, although Paradyne refuses to comment. Yahoo Japan has ordered several hundred thousand lines from Paradyne of Reach DSL. Yahoo's main equipment suppliers will be Medialincs for DSLAMs (TI chips, confirmed. Unconfirmed that Virata also made a sale) and Ambit/Acer for modems (Virata, Alcatel?) running world standard Annex A equipment. Annex A gear has short reach (less than 8,000 feet) when in the same binder as Japan's version of ISDN, and the low-power Paradyne DSLAMs will be used to serve customers further away.

Broadband Gateways downed
Evolo looked great, but market isn't there
Rashid Skaf and Greg Jones have been wowing the industry with a gorgeous unit with interesting features, but the market for consumer VoDSL just isn't there yet. Everyone has been facing the same bind: the telcos don't want to invest until the price comes down, but the price can't come down until there is volume. Soon, with a bill of materials cost between $75 (HPNA) and about $130 (802.11 wireless), pricing should come down to create a market, but many will fail in the meantime.

Alcatel plugs in voice
7300 VoDSL board a tough competitor
DSL Prime made a significant mistake in our reporting, attributing the software for the Alcatel 5.2 gateway to partner TdSoft. In fact, the development was done by Alcatel, as Marc Verhoeyen explains "We began work in early 2000, deciding we wanted our own product. To get to market quickly we used partners, including TI for DSP and TI/Telogy for voice handling software. The main processor is from Motorola and supports 64kbit and 32 kbit ADPCM. Further compression is possible, but will need new home gateways and additional signaling." It's currently in trials with a dozen customers, with European CLECs expected to be among early adopters. "For the CLECs, voice is a no-brainer for extra revenue. The ILECs are moving more slowly, but want to be ready for competition."

We are journalists, not investment advisers; invest at your own risk and do further research.

Copyright 2001 Dave Burstein.
The DSL Prime Newsletter is reprinted with permission.

1. DSL Prime News
2. DSL Prime on Covad and Rhythms
3. Prime News Briefs: Technology
4. Prime News Briefs: People
5. SBC's Nefarious Plan
6. DSL Prime Editorial