Game On: Ericsson Demonstrates 500 Mbps DSL

By Geoff Duncan March 16, 2009

Game On: Ericsson Demonstrates 500 Mbps DSL

Cable operators like Comcast might be in the process of rolling out 20, 50, and even 100 Mbps services to selected customers via DOCSIS 3.0 technology, but that doesn’t mean all hope is lost for folks unable (or unwilling) to sign on the cable industry’s dotted line. Swedish telecommunications gear-maker Ericsson has just performed its first live demonstration of VDSL2-based technology that enables transfer rates of more than 500 Mbps per second—and that’s over six twisted copper pairs—just like an ordinary phone lines—bonded together into one big pipe.

“This demonstration confirms Ericsson’s leadership in broadband access technology and our commitment to the continued research and development of DSL technology to improve operators’ business with new access solutions,” said Ericsson CTO Håkan Eriksson, in a statement.

At first, of course, the technology will be aimed at communications operators, enabling them to use existing copper networks as network backhaul for radio base stations, which in turn will speed up the deployement of mobile broadband technologies like HSPA and Long-Term Evolution (LTE), which promise high-speed mobile broadband in the next few years. Ericsson envisions operators supplementing existing fiber networks with existing copper links for the last mile, enabling simpler, less-costly broadband rollouts. Ericsson doesn’t see high-bandwidth VDSL2 technology replacing fiber, but instead offering an alternative to running fiber over last-mile deployments where copper pairs are already available and where running fiber all the way to an endpoint isn’t practical.

The new high-bandwidth VDSL-2 reduces noise in a copper pair using cross-talk cancellation, and actually operates at lower power requirements than current DSL technologies. Standards for VDSL2 and line bonding are completed, with standards for vectoring (the process that eliminates cross-talk) should be completed by the end of 2009.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Emerging Tech

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Emerging Tech

MIT’s coronavirus-tracking app could be a game-changer — if it goes viral

man checking phone with mask on

The notion of something going viral doesn’t have quite the same positive connotation in March 2020 that it did in, well, virtually any other month in living memory. But teams at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that created a new coronavirus-busting app are hoping for virality for their creation. In fact, they’re banking on it.

Like the software version of herd immunity, their new app, Private Kit: Safe Paths, and an associated web tool called SafePlaces could help slow the spread of COVID-19. But -- and this is the part that would have Alanis Morissette scratching her head over trace levels of irony -- only if enough people contract it. Or, more accurately, start using it.

Emerging Tech

How a puzzle game could help scientists find a coronavirus cure

Coronavirus

In 2016, gamers helped find the structure of a protein that could help plaque formation, which is an important area of Alzheimer’s research. Now, the creators of the game, Foldit, are hoping citizen scientists will turn their talents to COVID-19, the novel coronavirus. "We are interested in designing an antiviral drug that could be used directly to slow or halt infection from coronavirus," Dr. Brian Koepnick, a research scientist at the Institute for Protein Design (IPD), told Digital Trends.

The new puzzle game is aimed at building a protein that can block the virus from infecting human cells. Researchers have already found the structure of the coronavirus spike protein, which the virus uses to bind to human cell receptors.

Emerging Tech

What if your smartphone could sweat? Sounds odd, but it could be a game changer

sweat measuring patch air force sweating

It's no secret that sweat is pretty gross. It’s also immensely important. That's because it helps the body to regulate its temperature by keeping us cool in hot environments or when we’re carrying out strenuous activities. While evolution has given us this method of cooling off, high-tech devices lag behind. Instead of being able to regulate their temperature this way, computers typically rely on fans, which kick into high gear whenever we try and carry out some computing-intensive task.

Researchers from China's Shanghai Jiao Tong University think we should make high-tech devices more like mammals. With that in mind, they have developed a special sorbent coating for electronics that releases water vapor to dissipate heat from running devices. A sorbent substance is one that collects molecules from another substance through absorption. The result is an innovative new thermal management system researchers think could help keep electronic devices even cooler than current approaches.