DSL vendor ASSIA grabs first Chinese customer, China Telecom Jiangsu

It's a given that the Chinese broadband market is exploding—as is most of the Asia Pacific market for broadband. What's not a given is that broadband, in this instance, also means DSL as the Chinese continue to build out fiber networks.

Word that ASSIA, a vendor that provides dynamic spectrum management (DSM) software tools for DSL networks, has signed China Telecom Jiangsu as its first Chinese customer shows that the Chinese are anxious to move ahead with broadband over existing copper networks. China Telecom Jiangsu, in a news release, said it will use ASSIA DSL Expresse to manage "several million" DSL lines across its regions, the two companies said.

ASSIA Chairman-CEO John Cioffi—a DSL pioneer—in news release cited the Chinese broadband market as "the largest in the world and growing quickly."

Jeff Heynen, Infonetics Research director analyst, broadband and video, agreed, noting the importance of ASSIA's deal because it "exemplifies the emerging trend of increasing broadband performance and service offerings throughout Asia."

ASSIA's mandate is multifold, including providing detailed visibility into the China Telecom Jiangsu DSL network to improve broadband infrastructure; providing line-by-line diagnostics; offering reliable data-rate upgrades to customers on existing DSL lines; integrating with existing network management software; and implementing a unified management platform with a centralized view of all lines in all regions from provincial headquarters.

Importantly, the news release continued, copper is not necessarily the future for China Telecom Jiangsu because the telco plans to use ASSIA's DSL Expresse Service Recommender module to "prioritize areas for fiber deployment."

The deal is typical for a region where "the demand for high-speed broadband is exploding … and fueling the need for cutting-edge technologies … to help service providers optimize their broadband services," Heynen said in the news release.

For more:
- see this news release

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