Video is changing everything. It’s driving the need for service providers throughout the world to tool up for Broadband 2.0: networks capable of handling HD video and advanced multimedia services at speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbit/s) and beyond. Motivated equally by the need to diversify their revenue streams and to maximize return from their capital investments, the vast majority of service providers are building their Broadband 2.0 networks using hybrid architectures that include fiber for the backbone and significant use of existing copper infrastructure to complete the last-mile connections for their customers.
To keep pace with demand, the last-mile copper in these hybrid networks will be powered by a new generation of VDSL silicon and software that delivers dramatically improved capacity and stability over service providers’ existing wire plants. VDSL equipment based on these new chipsets will use advanced techniques like bonding and vectoring to support today’s and tomorrow’s performance requirements, and to deliver the necessary quality of service and carrier-class reliability.
This makes it possible for service providers to deliver multiple channels of streaming HD video, robust VoIP, and blazing-fast Internet service for a fraction of the cost of an all-fiber to the home upgrade.
