CeBIT review: a surge in high-speed net access

With CeBIT upon us again, silicon.com is reviewing what the massive show can tell visitors about some key technologies. We'll be considering issues such as m-commerce and security, and today kick off with a look at speedy DSL access solutions...

Several special exhibitions and displays at CeBIT 2001 are devoted to the subject of the high-speed internet. It's unsurprising - clearly booming ecommerce needs bandwidth to grow. Today, experts reckon there are around one billion conventional copper twin cables worldwide. Thanks to Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology these cables are becoming data highways even at this late stage of their lives. A survey by consulting firm Mummert and Partners of more than 1,000 internet users brings to light the fact that this subject draws most consumer interest: 61.3 per cent of users want information on this, followed by the key issues of online security, UMTS mobile communications and m-commerce. There will be 18 special presentations by different companies on the subject of high-speed networking. New business models and service provision feasibility are the focal points. Users also get a chance to speak and, in the context of company presentations, report on their experience with the specific product solutions. The events and discussions will take place in the Convention Center (CC). Twenty network manufacturers and equipment suppliers, from Alcatel to Texas Instruments, are showing off their products' capabilities with special displays and live demonstrations in the DSL Forum in Hall 6, Stand H32. Applications, voice-over DSL, streaming video, file sharing and the never-ending topic of video conferencing await the interested visitor here. In Hall 16, Nokia is presenting information about speech and video telephony via IP networks and DSL. The Israeli company, Rad Data Communications, is in the next hall raising awareness about its products for 'multiline telephony' and high-speed internet access. Yoram Holtz, VP of marketing at Rad Data, said: "Alternative carriers will learn that networks with DSL access offer great customer potential, which can, above all, be realised through the convergence possibilities of voice-over DSL [VoDSL]." Through the bundling of speech and data via copper cables rented from major national carriers new business models and customer offers emerge. So, for example, Vodafone subsidiary Arcor is offering new DSL solutions and an unlimited, flat rate for all ISDN customers just in time for the trade fair. Offers from Otelo on the same stand similarly focus on convergence. Telefonica subsidiary Mediaways, in Hall 6, wants to draw attention to its broadband Powerline technology as well as to its related security offerings. Easynet wants to offer business customers an alternative to T-DSL lines from Deutsche Telekom in Germany. Here the asymmetrical DSL variant (ADSL) from Telekom stands against the symmetrical variant favoured by some of its competitors such as Atlantic Telecom and Easynet. The idea is to lure customers with SDSL tariffs for scalable transfer speeds of between 144 and 2,304Kbps. Where to find them:
DSL Forum: Hall 6, Stand H32, Box L2
Rad Data: Hall 15, Stand G06
Nokia: Hall 16, Stand F07 and F05
Schmid Telecom AG: Hall 17, Stand E24
Mannesmann Arcor: Hall P33, Stand A01
Mediaways: Hall 6, Stand H17
Easynet: Hall 6, Stand F56
Callino: Hall 25, Stand A24
Breezecom: Hall 15, Stand D25