Alcatel-Lucent extends DSL innovation with new Smart DSL technology

World leader continues to invest for enhanced delivery of higher-speed services over copper

Paris, February, 2008 – Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced the introduction of its innovative Smart DSL technology at the occasion of the TVoDSL 2008 conference, taking place in Paris from January 29th till February 1st.

Line stability has a huge impact on the end-user’s quality of experience (QoE). A digital subscriber line (DSL) made unstable by crosstalk, for example, can cause service degradation and even service interruption. Increasing the signal to noise ratio is the traditional approach to stabilizing lines - but this usually results in a degradation of bandwidth, something that is not well suited in today’s triple-play world.

Therefore, Alcatel-Lucent now introduces its Smart DSL technology, targeting operators deploying higher-speed bandwidth services over asymmetric DSL (ADSL) and very high-speed DSL (VDSL) lines. The Smart DSL technology allows operators to guarantee DSL line stability at higher bit rates than traditional methods, building on Alcatel-Lucent’s Artificial Noise and Virtual Noise (ANVN) innovations.

Smart DSL technology combines Alcatel-Lucent’s unmatched expertise in DSL networking – by leveraging the strengths of its ANVN innovation, fully integrated in the market-leading DSL Intelligent Services Access Manager (ISAM) family and the Alcatel-Lucent 5530 Network Analyzer (NA). The Smart DSL technology uses artificial or virtual noise to mask noise and results in increased bandwidths for high-bit rate service delivery. Its ultimate goal is to ensure that the copper network can deliver the quality of service (QoS) and QoE promised to (and expected by) end-users.

“Alcatel-Lucent, with the introduction of its Smart DSL technology, has once again demonstrated its technical leadership in the telco access market by providing a solution which enables operators to deliver bandwidth-intensive services such as multi-stream IPTV, but with broadcast-level QoE, over ADSL and VDSL connections,” says Erik M. Keith, Senior Analyst for Broadband Infrastructure at Current Analysis. “With its Smart DSL technology, and the ANVN technology which supports it, Alcatel-Lucent has established further competitive differentiation from access market rivals.”

“Alcatel-Lucent continues to innovate in DSL, turning into reality our customers’ ambitions when deploying higher-speed broadband services over copper,” says Luis Martinez Amago, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s fixed access activities. “Concretely, this combination of ANVN, ISAM and Network Analyzer technologies achieves optimal line stability with minimal bandwidth loss, typically at as much as 30% higher bit rates than traditional solutions. This allows operators to considerably expand coverage of their copper networks for the deployment of Internet protocol television (IPTV) and other premium bandwidth services.”

With more than 180 customers having deployed the ISAM product portfolio (including 80% of the world’s top 20 DSL service providers), Alcatel-Lucent continues to be the undisputed leader in DSL. Having shipped more than 150 million DSL lines already, Alcatel-Lucent now has a cumulative market share of 41%, more than triple that of its nearest competitor. Alcatel-Lucent brings its customers the strongest product portfolio in all access segments, continuous investment in innovation and technology, business consultancy programs, and unparalleled experience in supporting large, complex end-to-end deployments.