Microsoft to announce new consortium; hopes to have DSL services available topublic by the end of this year...

[tobeth@lava.net (Beech Family)]

This was in our local paper, the Honolulu Star Bulletin on January 20th. I
had hoped to find it online,..the by-line said "New York Times",  but
finally just typed the thing out for the list myself.

So here it is..for everyone's information. <oh no..something *else* to get
twisted up about!>

Heather


BIG FIRMS JOIN TO SPEED UP INTERNET

**Compaq, Microsoft, and Intel set new technical standards with GTE and
four Baby Bells**

Three titans of the computer industry have joined with most of the nation's
largest local telephone companies to enable consumers to receive Internet
data over regular telephone lines at speeds much higher than are currently
possible, according to executives involved with the alliance.

Compaq computer Corp., Intel,and Microsoft Corp. intend to unveil the
venture next week at a communications conference in Washington the
executives said.

The formation of the new group is one of the most significant early moves
in what promises to be a years-long battle between telephone companies and
cable television companies for control of how consumers get high-speed
access to the Internet.

The executives said the three companies, which set much of the agenda in
the computer industry, have teamed up with GTE Corp., parent of GTE
Hawaiian Tel, and with four of the five Bell telephone companies to set
technical standards for the next generation of access to cyberspace. The
group wants to have modems and software based on the new standards on store
shelves by Christmas, the executives said.

If the group succeeded in popularizing the technology, consumers could get
data like World Wide Web pages from the Internet and other advanced
services at speeds up to 30 times faster than today's fastest modems
deliver Pages that now take minutes to view would appear on a computer
screen almost instantly.

The products envisioned by the consortium would essentially be new modems
either installed inside a computer or sitting alongside one. Most
important, perhaps, they would plug into normal telephone lines but would
remain connected to the outside world at all times without the need to dial
a service and without interfering with normal voice conversations over the
same line.

Such lightening-quick access to cyberspace has traditionally been possible
only in offices or over cable modems, which are available in few parts of
the United States. Giving home users such a fast on-ramp to the information
highway could open the door to new sorts of services, including video over
the Internet that approaches television quality.

The consortium's technology, known as digital subscriber line, or DSL, has
been under development in the telecommunications industry for years but has
been held back by lack of agreement on technical standards.