MUNICH — In what is expected to cause a major battle in the VDSL market, Infineon Technologies AG and Metalink Ltd. said Wednesday (June 11) they are co-developing what the companies call a "fifth-band extension" of this high-speed broadband technology.
The technology, dubbed VDSLPlus, is a QAM-based scheme that enables service providers to offer short-range VDSL services at data rates up to 150 Mbps. The technology also provides 4-Mbps data rates over distances of 4 kilometers using the same line-card and customer premise equipment.
The scheme proposed by Infineon of Germany and Metalink of Israel appears to be a competitive technology for VDSL. Eleven leading DSL semiconductor and system vendors used the recent Supercomm show to drum up support for the rival discrete multi-tone (DMT) modulation as the line code for VDSL.
The 11 companies now pushing seamless migration to VDSL broadband access include the dominant players in shipping ADSL ports. They include Alcatel, Analog Devices Inc., Ikanos Communications, Texas Instruments, ST Microelectronics, Broadcom Corporation, Ericsson, Intel Corp., LSI Logic, Thomson Multimedia and Nokia (see June 3 story ).
But some are backing QAM, including Infineon Technologies, Cisco and Metalink. VDSLPlus will use a new frequency "band" above the current 12 MHz limit, as defined by international VDSL standards, to achieve the highest speeds ever reached in data transmission over standard twisted-pair copper wire.
"VDSLPlus is an extension to field-proven QAM-VDSL technology, incorporating enhanced integration levels, higher bandwidth capacity, and greater reach capabilities," Christian Wolff, vice president of Infineon's Communications Business Group and general manager of the Access Business Unit, said in a statement.
"The inherent simplicity of the QAM line code is demonstrated in superior cost and power advantages over competing VDSL line codes, yet with QAM's sophisticated features and benefits," Wolff said. "These advantages are further emphasized with the distance and speed increase available only in QAM VDSL with VDSLPlus technology."
Infineon and Metalink did not disclose when they would provide silicon for the new technology.
