Newly proposed fast speed modem to improve Internet Access

Geneva, 16 May 1997 — The ITU announced today that the recently created Expert Group to prepare an ITU-T Recommendation for pcm-modems, also referred to as 56kbit/s modems, has just completed its first meeting and is on target for completing the technical work by September 1997."There is a strong commitment in this ITU-T Group to respond to the market needs" said Mr John Magill, Vice-Chairman of Study Group 16, the group responsible at the ITU for Multimedia services and systems. "The timescale for agreeing the details is short, but everyone involved recognizes the importance of an early ITU-T Recommendation" he added.

The need for rapid development of global standards which facilitate the interconnection of different systems is becoming increasingly important as computers proliferate and more and more information is processed and distributed via electronic means.

The new pcm-modems are designed for PSTN connections which are digitally presented at one end, and have only one analogue/digital conversion. This type of connection is common when accessing Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and for some on-line services and corporate networks.

The modems benefit from the digital connection at the network end by exploiting the characteristics of the pcm systems within the network rather than suffering from their impairments, and as a result can provide data rates in the direction from the network significantly higher than the 33.6kbit/s available today.

This work follows the adoption last year of the amended V.34 standard that gave the go-ahead for equipment manufacturers to start to deliver new products based on this high performance data technology. Increased modem transmission speed cuts down the time needed by computers to transfer information, resulting in lower telephone bills. The new proposed modem could also dramatically improve Internet access.

"Using this new technology for Internet access, times for downloading files and web pages may be reduced by up to 40%." said Mr Les Brown, Rapporteur for the work within Study Group 16. "This could represent a boon for users and foster continued Internet growth."

"The potential market value for faster modems designed for on-line srvices such as the pcm-modem is enormous, and will be maximised with a global standard: the demand is there and needs to be satisfied" Brown concluded.

The Expert Group, or Rapporteur group as it is known within the ITU-T, was created at the first meeting of the new ITU-T Study Group 16 in March this year. The mandate of the Rapporteur Group is to make rapid progress on an ITU-T Recommendation for this new pcm-modem technology. The Group is receiving significant input from the USA TIA TR30 committee which had already started work on a US Interim Standard for a pcm-modem. A very tight schedule has been set for the work to satisfy market needs and encourage the growth of this new market with an ITU-T Recommendation, building on the success of now well established V.34 modems.

Over forty experts from six countries, including representatives from the major modem and modem technology suppliers, met last week in San Diego, USA. A number of significant agreements are already in place and a schedule of meetings and key decision points has been mapped out for the next four months. It is planned to have the draft Recommendation technically complete by early September such that the ITU-T approval process can begin at that time. This will lead to a fully approved Recommendation in January 1998.

Study Group 16 was established by the World Telecommunications Standardization Conference in October 1996, consolidating activities previously dealt by a number of Study Groups to bring about faster results. In addition to the work on pcm-modems, Study Group 16 is responsible for other key multimedia technologies including Recommendations for multimedia terminals, multimedia conferencing, and speech, audio, and video coding. Study Group 16 also co-ordinates the multimedia studies for all of the ITU-T.

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