With its promise of high speed Internet access, Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) techniques are now making their way out of the laboratory and into the general consumer market. This creates the need for telecommunications professionals to have not just an awareness of the technology, but an in-depth understanding of its workings, its potential, and its applications.

ADSL: Standards, Implementation, and Architecture provides this knowledge with a detailed treatment of current ADSL standards along with overviews of the implementation, marketing, and architectural issues involved in the rollout of ADSL technology. Beginning with an overview of analog and digital communication-including the difficulties of using existing lines for new services-the author discusses the various types of xDSL transmission methods, the specific transmission, equipment, and hardware requirements of ADSL, and devotes considerable attention to the protocols-ATM, Ethernet, and TCP/IP-used in conjunction with ADSL. The final chapter pulls together all of the aspects of ADSL to address software architecture issues, such as nesting protocols, coordinating signaling control with data processes, special real-time issues, and strategies for the migration to ADSL and beyond.

As a collection of topics, ADSL: Standards, Implementation, and Architecture explains why and how ADSL will take its place within the family of data transmission protocols used around the world. It serves as a primary resource for telecommunications professionals who need to know more about ADSL and how they can use it. It also provides technical managers and manufacturers with the ideal reference for an overview of the technology and how it might be applicable to their needs.