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News Archive

Broadband gets a boost with VDSL

Advanced TV services on top of your network are just around the corner as the industry gears up for the next step of the DSL evolution: VDSL2. While ADSL2+ is being deployed worldwide as the new mainstream broadband technology for residential and business customers, its successor VDSL2 received final approval from the ITU in February 2006.

May 4, 2006

Combining the best qualities of VDSL1 and ADSL2+ into one new and improved standard, VDSL2 brings the ability to provide enhanced services while simplifying network architecture; it is expected to be deployed in significant volumes over the coming years.

 

The market should prepare for the opportunities made possible by VDSL2’s greater bandwidth, enabled by true end-to-end Ethernet architecture, says Ericsson's Björn Odenhammar, product management director, Ethernet Access.

 

"Higher bandwidth makes it possible to deliver advanced TV services on top of the network," he says. "This includes multiple streams of interactive standard and high-definition TV-over-IP over the existing copper pipe."

 

Telecommunications operators will therefore have an avenue to provide the latest, enriched TV services, which consumers are queuing up for. In turn, they can then compete with cable-TV companies that are using voice-over-IP and high-speed internet access to break in to the traditional telecoms market.

 

Analyzing VDSL2 from the network architecture perspective means a shift in deployment model for operators. Key criteria include the handling of scalability, quality of service and the ability to manage the increased bandwidth made possible by VDSL2.

 

Performance is enhanced by using short loops with high bandwidth (an evolution from VDSL1) with the ability to work similarly to ADSL2+ on longer loops. But perhaps the most important aspect of the VDSL2 standard is that it uses Ethernet as multiplexing technology in the first mile.

 

By eliminating ATM, currently used in the first mile, the access architecture is simplified into an end-to-end Ethernet access architecture that uses VLANs as the service-delivery mechanism across the entire access network. Among the direct benefits are reduced overheads and performance improved by up to 10 percent.

 

Since VDSL2 is based on both VDSL1-DMT and ADSL2/ADSL2+ recommendations, it is spectrally compatible with existing services and enables multi-mode operability with ADSL2/+.

 

As with any new technology, interoperability is necessary for mass-market success. A lack of industry agreement on VDSL prevented its widespread uptake, so broad industry consensus and interoperability testing for VDSL2 is therefore at the top of vendor agendas. 

 

Odenhammar says operators are eagerly waiting for and ready to invest in VDSL2. "Several operators in Europe as well as North America are planning major investments in this technology this year," he says. "And it is likely that we will see mass-market breakthrough in 2007."

 

In 2005, to show operators how the technology behaves and what services it supports, Ericsson deployed EDA with VDSL2 in live networks. These early deployments were used to verify VDSL2’s performance advantages in real network conditions and to enable an early start on VDSL2 interoperability activities.