The Full Service-VDSL Committee (Very High speed Digital Subscriber Line) is formed as a not for profit association under Swiss law and was registered to the court of commerce of Geneva on 15^th November, 2000.

Who are the FS-VDSL committee officiers?

The Board of Directors were elected as follows: President - Clayton Mangione, Bell Canada; Vice President – Chris Coles, Qwest Communications International; Secretary-Treasurer - Bernard Marti, France Telecom; Directors: Manfred Froedrich, Deutsche Telekom; Woonha Kim, Korea Telecom; Ralph Ballart, SBC. The Technical Director and Chairman of the Management Committee is Don Clarke, BT.

What is the purpose of the FS-VDSL committee?

The Full Service-VDSL Committee mission is to accelerate standardization, implementation and deployment of a VDSL based network optimized for delivery of a full set of integrated services, including entertainment video, high speed data, and voice utilizing existing copper twisted pair loop infrastructure.

Why is this committee necessary?

Increasing competition for entertainment video, high speed data, and voice services has created the necessity for service providers to maximize functional commonality to lower costs, reduce operational complexity, and accelerate key standards such as VDSL so that they do not become a barrier to speedy vendor implementation and deployment.

How will the committee relate to FSAN and other bodies?

The FS-VDSL Committee has been adopted as a subcommittee within FSAN. The work will be closely coordinated with other work within FSAN. We have also established cooperation with the ANSI, DSL Forum, DVB, ETSI, ITU-T and other key external bodies to leverage their work, and we will downstream our work to those bodies.

What specific steps will be taken by the committee to develop the FS-VDSL system?

We have identified the operators’ service requirements and are using these to identify the optimum system architecture. We have identified gaps in standards which prevent cost effective implementation and have actively sought to close the gaps by prioritizing and convening meetings of expert subgroups to agree solutions. We are also encouraging key bodies such as the ANSI, DSL Forum, ETSI and the ITU-T to assist us, and we will downstream our work to those bodies.

A key objective has been to collaborate towards expanding consensus for adoption of VDSL spectrum allocation "Plan 998" by regulators.

What is plan 998?

Plan 998 is an optimized spectral allocation which supports a robust and efficient VDSL full service asymmetric service set while accommodating symmetric services at similar loop distances. Plan 998 will be configured to co-exist with ADSL in the same cable.

Plan 998 is one of two VDSL spectral allocations which were unanimously agreed by 15 network operators meeting under the auspices of FSAN in Phoenix-USA in February, 2000. These plans have been accepted by ANSI, ETSI and the ITU-T.

What are the roles of individual committee members?

Member companies are providing technical experts who meet in working groups to progress our work, and who actively participate within standards bodies to share and promote selected specifications which meet the Committee's architectural objectives.

What are the working areas?

The Committee is composed of four working groups, dealing with Operator Requirements, System Architecture and Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), VDSL Specifications, and Operations, Administration Maintenance and Provisioning (OAM&P).

To accelerate analysis a small group of the world's leading network architecture, CPE and protocol experts was convened in March 2001. This Architecture Expert Group (AEG) has been very successful in boosting progress. Another expert group focused on content security and Digital Rights Management (DRM) is providing advice on content security issues for the architecture, CPE and in-home network – a highly topical subject for content owners in the post-Napster era.

Is this an international collaboration or limited to domestic participation?

It is the Committee's intent to maximize commonality amongst network operators to ensure cost effective implementation and to promote global acceptance of the FS-VDSL architecture and implementation philosophy. This will leverage world volumes and facilitate the rapid introduction and availability of integrated video, data, and voice broadband services to consumers worldwide. Therefore, international membership is encouraged and to date North America, Europe and Asia are well represented.

Which companies are in support of the FS-VDSL Committee?

The FS-VDSL Committee is supported by major network operators, service providers and vendors. Membership is open. A full list of member companies is available on our web site at www.fs-vdsl.net.

What specifically does the committee plan to accomplish?

We are specifying an end-to-end network capable of delivering simultaneous multi-channel video, voice and high speed data for the consumer and small business markets. The end product is the specification published in five parts which will indicate clearly to implementers what is required. Version 1.0 of this specification is freely available on our website at www.fs-vdsl.net.

What is the committee doing to ensure interoperable solutions?

Interoperability between key network elements at all protocol levels is an important theme which we are addressing in all aspects of our work. Moreover, to facilitate early interoperability, we held a series of multi-vendor VDSL system interoperability demonstrations during 2002 which were very successful.

We are actively encouraging multi-vendor VDSL transceiver demonstrations (physical layer) to take place during 2002, and a physical layer interoperability test specification is available (Part 4 of the FS-VDSL specification) to help this process.

What is the timetable for the committee objectives?

Version 1.0 of the FS-VDSL specifications was published June 2, 2002 just under two years from the start of our work. Work begins immediately to progress adoption of these specifications by the ITU-T as ITU-T recommendations. We expect this to be completed by the summer of 2003.

How does this benefit the ultimate consumer?

Service providers own a telephony twisted pair infrastructure passing almost 100% of homes in their markets. These networks can be enhanced to provide broadband transmission capability using VDSL. The high capacity of VDSL will provide consumers with more choices for integrated broadband services, including entertainment switched digital video. Services delivered over the existing telephony infrastructure will encourage fair and equal competition in the residential entertainment video, high speed data, and voice services marketplace which otherwise might not develop, to the ultimate detriment of the consumer.

How does the committee differ from existing Standards bodies?

The FS-VDSL Committee is not a standards body. What we are seeking to do is to maximize commonality amongst service providers, to accelerate agreements in standards, and to facilitate competitive vendor development. We are cooperating with existing bodies to leverage their work and to avoid duplication of effort. Meanwhile we have published a specification for all the key elements which references existing standards where applicable and defines what is required where appropriate standards do not exist.

What are the specification documents?

The FS-VDSL Specifications are in five parts-

Part 1: Operator Requirements

Defining services requirements and infrastructure deployment issues. Protecting digital content is also addressed.

Part 2: System Architecture Specification

Defining end-to-end platform architecture and protocols.

Part 3: Customer Premises Equipment Specification

Defining customer equipment configurations and connectivity functions.

Part 4: Physical Layer Specification for Interoperable VDSL Systems

Promoting VDSL transceiver interoperability.

Part 5: Operations, Administration, Maintenance & Provisioning Specification

Defining the operational aspects for economic deployment of VDSL platforms.

What impact will this have on ADSL?

The FS-VDSL specifications are applicable to ADSL platforms and the market for ADSL will grow. But we believe that the introduction of additional FS-VDSL will provide even greater choice for consumers and small business users. In particular, VDSL's greater bandwidth means that it can be used to deliver applications that cannot currently be supported by ADSL (e.g. high speed return channel and simultaneous, multiple streams of entertainment quality video).

How will the committee downstream its work?

The specifications published in June 2002 are freely available on our website at www.fs-vdsl.net. We are also being pro-active to publish the existence of the documents – and their significance, by presentations to international forums and conferences. We are also encouraging member organizations to publicize our work and we will actively encourage competitive implementation. Our plan is to downstream the work to the ITU-T.

How will the specifications be maintained in the longer term?

FS-VDSL requested the ITU-T to establish a process to enable the specifications to be proposed as ITU-T Recommendations. It has been agreed that a focus group will be established under ITU-T Study Group 16 “Multimedia services, systems & terminals”. The focus group expects to approve the documents as ITU-T Focus Group Technical Specifications which will then be proposed to Study Group 16 for approval as ITU-T Recommendations.

Who can be involved in the ITU-T focus group?

Member organizations of the focus group must be based in a country which is a member of the ITU-T. They must sign the FS-VDSL statutes and pay an annual fee – currently US $3000 for one year.

How will the focus group be organized?

The focus group will have similar organization to that of the FS-VDSL Committee currently. The working groups are: System Architecture/CPE, VDSL Specification and OAM&P. Expert groups on architecture and content security provide input to the main groups.

How often will the focus group meet?

The focus group will meet at intervals of three months until the specifications have been approved as ITU-T recommendations.

What is the timetable for the focus group?

The statutes of the FS-VDSL Committee are due to expire in November 2003, approval

having been given for a further year operation at the General Assembly in Oslo May 22-

24, 2002. The first meeting of the focus group will take place September 4-6, 2002. It is our hope and expectation that the specifications will be converted to ITU-T Recommendations and approved by the ITU-T by the summer of 2003.

What is the fs-vdsl committee’s position on vdsl line code?

The FS-VDSL Committee is neutral on the VDSL line code issue. However, we will review our position at the end of June 2002.

When is the next meeting of the committee?

The next meeting of the FS-VDSL Committee - which will also be the first meeting of the ITU-T focus group - is scheduled for September 4-6, 2002 hosted by SBC in San Francisco.

Who is funding the Committee?

We are non-profit making. Member organizations are funding the Committee through membership fees, currently at a level of US $3000 per year (year end June 30). Meetings are generally self-funding through collection of a meeting fee from each delegate.

What are your timescales for launch of FS-VDSL services?

Each service provider to prepare their answer.

Where can more information be obtained?

More information can be obtained at www.fs-vdsl.net.

*Network Operators / Service Providers*	*Vendors*

Belgacom*	Adaptive Networks, Inc.*
Bell Canada	ADC Telecommunications, Inc.
Bezeq Israel Telecom	Adtran, Inc.
British Telecommunications Plc	Alcatel
Deutsche Telekom AG	Analog Devices, Inc.
Eircom	ANDA Networks*
France Telecom	Aware, Inc.
KPN Research	Broadcom Corporation
Korea Telecom	Calix Networks
Qwest Communications International, Inc	Centillium Communications, Inc.
SBC Technology Resources, Inc.	Cisco Systems, Inc.
Swisscom AG	Corning Cable Systems*
Telecom Italia Lab	DVTel, Inc.*
Telefónica Investigacion y Desarrollo*	ECI Telecom
Telenor R&D	Entone Technologies, Inc. *
Video Networks Ltd.	Equator Technologies, Inc.
	Fujitsu Networks Europe Ltd (FNEL)
	Fujitsu Siemens Computers
	GlobeSpanVirata, Inc.
	Humax Co., Ltd
	Ikanos Communications
	ImagicTV, Inc.
	Infineon Technologies
	Kasenna
	Laboratoire European ADSL
	LG Electronics
	Lucent Technologies
	Marconi
	Metalink Ltd.
	Minerva Networks
	Myrio Corporation
	nCUBE Corporation
	NEC Corporation
	Net to Net Technologies*
	Next Level Communications
	Nokia Networks
	Occam Networks
	On2Technologies*
	Optibase, Ltd.
	Orca Interactive Ltd.
	Pace Micro Technology
	Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
	Sapphire Communications, Inc.
	SerCoNet
	Siemens AG
	SkyStream Networks, Inc
	Sumitomo Electric Industries
	Teleste Corporation
	Tellabs, Inc.
	Thomson Multimedia, Inc.
	Tioga Technologies
	TUT Systems
	VDSL Systems Oy
	VideoTele.com
	Virtual Access
	Zarlink Semiconductor
	Zhone Technologies, Inc.

* Observers.

BACK

Focus Group FAQs

What is this new ITU-T FS-VDSL focus group?

What is the objective of the FS-VDSL focus group?

How does the focus group fit within the ITU-T structure?

How does the focus group relate to the FS-VDSL committee?

Who can be involved in the ITU-T focus group?

How is the focus group organised?

How often does the focus group meet?

What is the timetable for the focus group?

What is the purpose of the FS-VDSL focus group / committee?

Why is this focus group / committee necessary?

How does the focus group / committee relate to other bodies?

What is the FS-VDSL focus group’s position on VDSL line code?

When is the next meeting of the focus group?

Who is funding the focus group / committee?

What are the specification documents?

FS-VDSL committee background

What specific steps are being taken by the committee to develop the FS-VDSL system?

When was the FS-VDSL committee convened?

Who are the FS-VDSL committee officers?

What is plan 998?

What are the working areas?

Is this an international collaboration or limited to domestic (usa) participation?

Which companies are in support of the FS-VDSL committee?

What specifically does the committee plan to accomplish?

What is the committee doing to encourage interoperability?

What is the timetable for the committee objectives?

How does this benefit the ultimate consumer?

What impact will this have on adsl?

What are your timescales for launch of FS-VDSL services?

Where can more information be obtained?

... and some answers

WHAT IS THIS NEW ITU-T FS-VDSL FOCUS GROUP?

The ITU-T Full Service-VDSL (Very High speed Digital Subscriber Line) Focus Group has been established within the ITU-T to facilitate the migration of the Specifications developed by the Full Service-VDSL Committee into the processes of the International Telecommunications Union – Telecommunications sector.

WHAT IS THE OBJECTIVE OF THE FS-VDSL FOCUS GROUP?

The new Focus Group plan has already adopted the Specifications developed by the FS-VDSL Committee over the last two years, and now intends to progress the key specifications through to ITU-T Recommendations.

HOW DOES THE FOCUS GROUP FIT WITHIN THE ITU-T STRUCTURE?

The Focus Group has been established under ITU-T Study Group 16 “Multimedia services, systems and terminals” The Focus Group is expected to receive formal endorsement at the SG16 meeting in October 2002.

HOW DOES THE FOCUS GROUP RELATE TO THE FS-VDSL COMMITTEE?

The Focus Group is now the body undertaking the progression of the technical work, under the wing of the ITU-T. The FS-VDSL Committee provides the necessary administration facilities required by the Focus Group, and is the legal entity for membership.

WHO CAN BE INVOLVED IN THE ITU-T FOCUS GROUP?

Member organisations of the Focus Group must be based in a country which is a member of the ITU-T. They must sign the FS-VDSL statutes and pay an annual fee – currently US $3000 for one year.

HOW IS THE FOCUS GROUP ORGANISED?

The Focus Group has similar organisation to that of the FS-VDSL Committee currently. The working groups are: System Architecture/CPE, VDSL Specification and OAM&P. Expert groups on architecture and content security provide input to the main groups.

HOW OFTEN DOES THE FOCUS GROUP MEET?

The Focus Group meets at intervals of approximately three months until the specifications have been approved as ITU-T Recommendations.

WHAT IS THE TIMETABLE FOR THE FOCUS GROUP?

The statutes of the FS-VDSL Committee are due to expire in November 2003, approval having been given for a further year operation at the General Assembly in Oslo May 22-24, 2002.

The first meeting of the focus group took place September 4-6, 2002 hosted by SBC in Pleasanton-USA. It is our hope and expectation that the specifications will be approved by the ITU-T by the summer of 2003.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE FS-VDSL FOCUS GROUP / COMMITTEE?

The Full Service-VDSL Committee mission is to accelerate standardisation, implementation and deployment of a VDSL based network optimised for delivery of a full set of integrated services, including entertainment video, high speed data, and voice utilising existing copper twisted pair loop infrastructure.

WHY IS THIS FOCUS GROUP / COMMITTEE NECESSARY?

Increasing competition for entertainment video, high speed data, and voice services has created the necessity for service providers to maximise functional commonality to lower costs, reduce operational complexity, and accelerate key standards such as VDSL so that they do not become a barrier to speedy vendor implementation and deployment.

HOW DOES THE FOCUS GROUP / COMMITTEE RELATE TO OTHER BODIES?

The FS-VDSL Committee has been adopted as a subcommittee within FSAN (Full Service Access networks – see www.fsanet.net). The work will be closely co-ordinated with other work within FSAN. We have also established co-operation with ANSI, DSL Forum, DVB, ETSI, ITU-T and other key external bodies to leverage their work, and we are actively downstreaming our work to those bodies.

WHAT IS THE FS-VDSL FOCUS GROUP’S POSITION ON VDSL LINE CODE?

The FS-VDSL Focus Group continues to review the situation on the VDSL line code issue, with the intent of submitting any conclusions to the ITU-T body charged with addressing this, namely Question 4 of ITU-T Study Group 15.

WHEN IS THE NEXT MEETING OF THE FOCUS GROUP?

The next meeting of the FS-VDSL Focus Group is scheduled for 19-21 November , 2002 hosted by France Telecom in Paris-France.

WHO IS FUNDING THE FOCUS GROUP / COMMITTEE?

The ITU-T Focus Group is administered by the FS-VDSL Committee which is non-profit making. Members’ organisations fund the Committee through membership fees, currently at a level of US $3000 per year (year end June 30). Meetings are generally self-funding through collection of a meeting fee from each delegate.

WHAT ARE THE SPECIFICATION DOCUMENTS?

The FS-VDSL Specifications are in five parts-

Part 1: Operator Requirements

Defining services requirements and infrastructure deployment issues. Protecting digital content is also addressed.

Part 2: System Architecture Specification

Defining end-to-end platform architecture and protocols.

Part 3: Customer Premises Equipment Specification

Defining customer equipment configurations and connectivity functions.

Part 4: Physical Layer Specification for Interoperable VDSL Systems

Promoting VDSL transceiver interoperability.

Part 5: Operations, Administration, Maintenance & Provisioning Specification

Defining the operational aspects for economic deployment of VDSL platforms.

These specifications are now available at: www.fs-vdsl.net.

FS-VDSL COMMITTEE BACKGROUND

WHAT SPECIFIC STEPS ARE BEING TAKEN BY THE COMMITTEE TO DEVELOP THE FS-VDSL SYSTEM?

We have identified the operators’ service requirements and are using these to identify the optimum system architecture. We have identified gaps in standards which prevent cost effective implementation and have actively sought to close the gaps by prioritising and convening meetings of expert subgroups to agree solutions. We are also encouraging key bodies such as the ANSI, DSL Forum, ETSI and the ITU-T to assist us, and we will downstream our work to those bodies.

A key objective has been to collaborate towards expanding consensus for adoption of VDSL spectrum allocation "Plan 998" by regulators.

WHEN WAS THE FS-VDSL COMMITTEE CONVENED?

WHO ARE THE FS-VDSL COMMITTEE OFFICERS?

The Board of Directors were elected as follows: President - Clayton Mangione, Bell Canada; Vice President – Balan Nair, Qwest Communications International; Secretary-Treasurer - Bernard Marti, France Telecom; Directors: Manfred Froedrich, Deutsche Telekom; Woonha Kim, Korea Telecom; Ralph Ballart, SBC. The Technical Director and Chairman of the Management Committee is Don Clarke, BT.

WHAT IS PLAN 998?

WHAT are the working areas?

The Committee is composed of four working groups, dealing with Operator Requirements, System Architecture/Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), VDSL Specifications, and Operations, Administration Maintenance and Provisioning (OAM&P).

IS THIS AN INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION OR LIMITED TO DOMESTIC (USA) PARTICIPATION?

It is the Committee's intent to maximise commonality amongst network operators to ensure cost effective implementation and to promote global acceptance of the FS-VDSL architecture and implementation philosophy. This will leverage world volumes and facilitate the rapid introduction and availability of integrated video, data, and voice broadband services to consumers worldwide. Therefore, international membership is encouraged and to date North America, Europe and Asia are well represented.

WHICH COMPANIES ARE IN SUPPORT OF THE FS-VDSL COMMITTEE?

The FS-VDSL Committee is supported by major network operators, service providers and vendors. Membership is open. A full list of member companies is available on our web site at www.fs-vdsl.net.

WHAT SPECIFICALLY DOES THE COMMITTEE PLAN TO ACCOMPLISH?

WHAT IS THE COMMITTEE DOING TO ENCOURAGE INTEROPERABILITY?

WHAT IS THE TIMETABLE FOR THE COMMITTEE OBJECTIVES?

Version 1.0 of the FS-VDSL specifications was published June 2, 2002 just under two years from the start of our work. Work begins immediately to progress adoption of these specifications by the ITU-T as ITU-T Recommendations. We expect this to be completed by the summer of 2003.

HOW DOES THIS BENEFIT THE ULTIMATE CONSUMER?

WHAT IMPACT WILL THIS HAVE ON ADSL?

WHAT ARE YOUR TIMESCALES FOR LAUNCH OF FS-VDSL SERVICES?

Each service provider to prepare their answer.

WHERE CAN MORE INFORMATION BE OBTAINED?

More information can be obtained at www.fs-vdsl.net.

BACK


	FS-VDSL Committee	October 20th, 2000