Profitable broadband that is fast and reliable is achievable for Asian operators across the region simply by the use of software-based management. That was a key point made today at CommunicAsia by ASSIA Chairman and CEO Dr. John M. Cioffi. Addressing the conference, Dr. Cioffi, widely acknowledged across the telecoms world as the father of DSL technology, also unveiled a vision of the future where 1Gbps performance is achieved with current technologies, hardware and standards.

Dr. Cioffi outlined the conflict between what the customer wants in terms of content, always-on capability and support, against what is possible in terms of investment. He showed how Vectored VDSL can be implemented and can co-exist with legacy systems, before revealing his three-step roadmap to achieve true Vectored VDSL.

This roadmap involves upgrading the network to enable the prediction of vectored rates and identify maintenance where needed; upgrading customers while ensuring promises can be kept; supporting co-existence with legacy lines and enabling customer self-install; and, improving customer service by tracking performance, mitigating residual noise sources and proactively diagnosing line faults.

All this is achievable with management software and Dr. Cioffi supported this with figures from UK regulatory body OFCOM, showing how triple play provider Sky, an ASSIA customer, has reduced customer complaints by as much as 50 percent compared to other UK carriers.

He then talked about his vision for a future where 1Gbps is not only possible but also economically viable for hundreds of millions of broadband connections: “Not only can we achieve 1Gbps, but we can do it in the near to medium term by actually sharing network connections across DSL/Wi-Fi Gateways,” Dr. Cioffi said. “When combining this approach with software-based management, we can see a world where 100Mbps to 1Gbps per person is achievable a lot cheaper and a lot faster than expensive alternative solutions such as fiber-to-the-home”.

Dr. Cioffi outlined the cost structure of this approach to his audience, showing how the combination of DSL and Wi-Fi can deliver highly cost effective results for 1Gbps capacity. And with ASSIA’s proven customer base including operators such as AT&T, TELUS, Orange, Sky, SFR, Verizon, China Telecom and China Unicom, the audience was listening carefully.