Event highlighted importance of regulation and vectoring

Leiden, 17 July 2012 - Over 100 senior representatives of the telecoms industry were among the visitors at last month’s principal seminar on the future of DSL. Presentations at the event highlighted the continuing importance of DSL as the world’s leading access technology.

The event, which took place at the Van der Valk Hotel in Leiden on 4-6 June 2012, included speeches from leading industry experts, the European regulatory body BEREC, and also presented the chance for networking opportunities in a focussed arena.

Hot topics of discussion included vectoring, VDSL2 and G.fast, with contributions from several operators giving a good insight in real world DSL experiences.

The event demonstrated how VDSL vectoring is now approaching maturity and will soon be deployed across Europe, with operators conducting a wide range of lab and field trials. Presentations highlighted that some countries already have up to 80% of the network using VDSL2 – with an aim to deliver even more bandwidth to their users through vectoring solutions.

The seminar established a broad awareness of G.fast as a solution for speeding up fourth generation broadband. Contributions from the industry and questions from the audience spurred discussion, and there were examples of new, innovative cable models which can now support up to hundreds of MHz.

After first appearing on the agenda in 2011, the topic of regulation and policy proved to be a big hit on the first day of the seminar. Attendees emphasised how much they enjoyed the real-world case studies and experiences that were on offer.  Discussions were led on the importance of innovating and stimulating networks, and there were examples of many encouraging developments across Europe.

Senior Consultant at TNO, Teun van der Veen, said: “DSL is the mainstay of most of the world’s telecoms networks and this annual seminar emphasises its continuing importance. It is fast-becoming a must-attend event for targeted discussions on the state of the DSL technology.”

There was a networking evening for guests on the second night, with a successful boat trip on Leiden’s historic canals. A great atmosphere surrounded the whole event and many new business partnerships were created. One of the greatest benefits of the show for sponsors, is that the event is a focussed, technical seminar, where attendees are the main users of the products.

Van der Veen continued; “This year’s TNO DSL Seminar exceeded all expectations. Our attendees gave us an average evaluation of 8.6 out of 10, which we are very proud of, and we will aim to improve on that for next year.”

Save the date! Next year's event will take place from 17th-19th June.