Paradyne Corp. is pushing a new flavor of digital subscriber line (DSL) technology that is easy to install, supports a LAN over home phone wiring and is ready to ship next month.
Called Multiple Virtual Lines (MVL), the Paradyne offering adds a symmetric 768K bit/sec channel to a regular phone line and enables up to eight devices to share that bandwidth as long as each is connected to the line by a phone jack and has its own MVL modem. The regular voice channel works simultaneously.
MVL also allows those eight devices to talk peer-to-peer for print and file sharing, enabling a home LAN using existing phone wiring.
Introduced at the same time that a group called the Universal Asymmetric DSL Working Group (UAWG) is pushing for a standard for technology that has many similar features, MVL has a tough road ahead. UAWG is backed by Microsoft Corp., Compaq Computer Corp., Intel Corp. and the regional Bell operating companies, as well as GTE Corp.
The new MVL technology does not require installation of a separate box, called a splitter, at the customer site to filter the voice from the data channels, making it easier and cheaper for carriers to install.
That is a key feature the UAWG is interested in.
In addition to being splitterless, MVL works over longer reaches of copper wire, 22,000 feet of 24-gauge wire, than other DSL technologies, Paradyne said. It also is unaffected by bridged taps, common local-loop features that must be removed in order for other DSL flavors to work well.
Paradyne said MVL was designed from the ground up to support a home office. That distinguishes it from other DSLs, such as ADSL, which evolved from a technology designed to carry video signals to homes over regular phone lines.
At least one carrier, US WEST, Inc., is testing MVL modem devices in its labs for possible deployment as part of its MegaBit DSL service.
Paradyne makes hardware called Hotline 8800 and 8600 that supports terminating the carrier end of the line either in a central switching office or a remote terminal.
Paradyne said carriers can provision MVL for $300 per line, with the customer end costing $200 per modem. That is less than the $500 per line carriers say they want to pay and what vendors of other DSL technologies are struggling to meet.
