High-Speed Modem Blues - the arrival of a single 56Kbps modem standard - Technology Information - Column

Early this year a subcommittee of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the Geneva, Switzerland-based standards body, will vote on a proposed standard for 56-Kbps modems. When they do, members are finally expected to agree to a single standard for high-speed dial-up modems.

For almost 2 years the biggest names in the modem industry -- Rockwell Int'l Inc., Motorola Computer Group, Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc. and U.S. Robotics Corp. -- have battled one another over a new standard for very fast modems. Two rival formats emerged for the hearts and pocketbooks of Internet users: one called X2 from U.S. Robotics and another called K56flex from the team of Motorola, Rockwell and Lucent Technologies Inc. Whether you have a small company that gains access to the Internet through dial-up accounts, or you are a network engineer in an organization using analog modems for corporate access or virtual private networking, the turmoil surrounding high-speed modem standards was at the very least annoying.

Many networking managers, Internet engineers and end users were faced with a troublesome choice: buy an early 56-Kbps modem and enjoy its speed advantages, or wait and not be faced with another round of upgrades once the standard finally emerged. Enterprises supporting remote Internet access through RAS or other technologies were forced to "standardize" on noninteroperable equipment.

Since last summer the ITU has tried to address this irksome dilemma by bringing the competing parties to the table to compromise on a single standard for all 56-Kbps modems. The manufacturers spent the warm summer months adding to the heat of El Nino, but in December the cool winds of compromise settled over the process and an agreement was reached. A subcommittee that included all the major manufacturers of modems met halfway and voted on using a combination of the competing technologies.

This means that, at long last, there will be a new standard, called V.PCM, for 56-Kbps modems. It's good thing that the ITU doesn't have anything to do with Internet standards. Given the time it takes for the ITU standards process to run its course, any standard would be obsolete by the time it was agreed upon.

Now that a standard has emerged, should you buy one of the first modems that appears on the market? Probably not, despite the fact that history tells us modem vendors typically claim their products are in full compliance with the standard within weeks of the ITU voting.

With the ink barely dry on the standards document, vendors can increase market share by simply being first on the shelves. It's natural to wonder how those early modems will be tested. There is no official forum for doing testing between modems, so the early products will be shipped with only in-house testing for compliance with the new standard. When problems creep into a vendor's implementation of the new 56-Kbps protocol, customers will have to fix them with an upgrade that they will be forced to install.

Just as important to most enterprises will be internet service providers' initial reluctance to deploy the standard. Most Internet providers sat on the 56-Kbps sidelines until the networking vendors offered free upgrades for equipment bought before work on the standard was completed. Recent experience has shown that in-place modem upgrades are troublesome; ISPs will be wary before they bet their business on upgrades that have limited testing.

The delay in standards work has given competing Internet access strategies, such as Digital Subscriber Line and cable modem technologies, an opportunity to leapfrog the older, analog technologies. This delay has also exposed the V.PCM standard's key weaknesses: the need for "clean" connections between the provider and the user, and the V.PCM's asymmetric transmission rates.

Next, there are limitations on what phone circuits can be used with these modems. If you have more than one phone company switch that converts analog information to digital format between you and the local phone company's central office, you can't take advantage of the higher speeds.

Still, modem makers will work with Internet providers and large enterprise to deploy the new technology throughout the year. Steve Dougherty, operations director for national ISP EarthLink (Pasadena Calif.), has said that he expects about 50 percent of all his subscribers to upgrade to 56 Kbps next year. For users buying new computers the numbers are even more impressive. VisionQuest 2000, a Moorpark, Calif.-based technology research firm, estimates that by mid-1998, 90 percent of new personal computers will be bundled with 56-Kbps modems, compared with 50 percent today.

The V.PCM standard marks a welcome end to a battle that reminded many of the VCR format wars of the 1980s. For all organizations, standards and interoperability are good, but like sausage, it is far better to enjoy the product and not the process.

Mark McFadden is a consultant and is communications director for the Commercial Internet eXchange (Washington). Contact him at mcfadden@cix.org.

COPYRIGHT 1998 Boucher Communications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group