100 Mbps Cable Broadband

A competing technology for Broadband access through TV cable is brewing
up. Finnish broadband equipment maker Teleste announced today a cost
efficient technology called "Ethernet to the Home" or EttH. This can allow
100 Mbps (Megabits a second) download speeds in as early as 2006. The
speed boost would be 50 times the speed of today's cable broadband.

The method is cheaper because it utilizes the cables that are already
there. Other companies can also do the same but they need fiber
networks. EttH will create an Ethernet connection directly from the
traditional cable line to the computer. Teleste calls this system Virtual
Fibre, which runs in the cable operator's facilities and interfaces with a
cable-based Ethernet connection in the home to deliver standard
Ethernet speeds along with a cable television signal.

According to Teleste, its competitors -- Scientific Atlanta and networking
giant Cisco Systems -- won't have their own version of the technology
available until the middle of 2007.