New Chipset Will Aid High-Speed Net Access

A Santa Clara, Calif., company plans to announce today that it has created a chipset that would nearly double the number of households eligible for high-speed Internet access via the phone technology called asymmetric digital subscriber line, or ADSL. Integrated Telecom Express, or ITeX, said its new Scalable ADSL Modem chipset will allow homes and businesses up to 3.8 miles from a phone company central office to get ADSL services. Current technology limits ADSL to buildings within 2.3 miles of a phone company central office. The ITeX chipset will boost the percentage of households eligible for ADSL from about 50% to about 90%, according to research conducted by Orckit Communications, an Israeli telecommunications firm. The ITeX chipset also employs a new ADSL standard called G.lite that eliminates the need for phone company technicians to install hardware in customers’ homes. Pacific Bell expects to support the new standard by next spring, said spokesman Steve Getzug. ITeX doesn’t make ADSL modems, but other companies could build modems with the ITeX chipset by the end of the year.