Competition stimulates technology advances: experiences from ADSL development in Japan

Japan was one of the world's early adopters of broadband Internet access technologies, notably ADSL. Although last year it lost its number one global ranking to China, ADSL deployment in Japan continued to grow. This growth has been tied to ever increasing ADSL bandwidths. Centillium Communications has been in the unique position for many years of a major contributor to this rapid growth, pioneering many new technologies in ADSL, with a ringside seat to observe how competition has stimulated some of these technology advances. This article reviews some of the technologies behind the rapid market growth and provides an overview of directions in which these technologies are shaping the future of ADSL in Japan.