SAN MATEO, Calif. — Voyan Technology, a developer of software for thermal management inside high-temperature industrial settings, will apply its technology to the digital subscriber line (DSL) market. The company's new software solves a persistent problem in deploying the high-speed data lines in volume — crosstalk interference between parallel wires. Voyan claims it is the first to identify and correct the problem, allowing DSL vendors to significantly increase the bandwidth and range of their technology.
Three-mile limit
"Right now, the telephone companies can only send DSL service to homes that are within 15,000 feet of the central office where all the DSL equipment is located," said Peter Santos, vice president of marketing for the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company. He explained that the copper wiring infrastructure was originally designed to carry voice traffic only. All these wires are arranged in bundles of up to 50 phone lines, linking each home with the central office. But the addition of higher-energy DSL signals over the same wires leads to crosstalk between the wires in each bundle.
The phone companies determined that limiting DSL service to about a three-mile range will prevent most of the interference. However, that also means a lot of potential customers are left in the dark. "Our software can help limit this interference," said Santos. "Voyan technology will allow the phone companies to serve all the homes served by a central office, not just those within a three-mile limit."
Because of its past expertise with thermal management, Voyan understands how several variables can affect one critical factor — temperature, in this case. The idea is similar in concept to understanding how several different DSL signals can affect one another, Santos said. As a result, the new software can evaluate a single DSL connection and determine which other lines in the same wiring bundle are causing interference. Even more important, Santos said, is that the software can be used to cancel out the interference, which will increase both the bandwidth and the range of the connection.
Since most DSL providers guarantee only the minimum ranges and speeds, Santos said, the Voyan approach can help ensure that the technology delivers its best performance at all times. In practical terms, that means an increase of about 30 percent in range and a doubling of the sustained data rate of some DSL connections.
The software is in final development and will move to early testing by the end of the year. Voyan has scheduled beta testing for early 2001 and release of the software for later next year. No prices have been set yet, according to the company.
