Intel acquires TI's cable modem unit, might be sneaking into your AV rack

Intel's been trying to break into the home entertainment market for years, and while it's made some inroads, it's also looking at a notable list of ho hum attempts that never managed to gain traction. Take the CE3100 processor, for instance -- a couple of years ago, the outfit seemed certain that this here chip would be powering every last living room box for the rest of eternity, and nowadays it's hardly a household name. But this week, Intel has picked up Texas Instruments' cable modem unit, which gives it a direct link into the very area it's been trying to exploit. The goal of the acquisition -- which is scheduled to close in the fourth quarter of this year -- is to combine TI's Puma product lines with DOCSIS and Intel SoCs. Once that magical marriage takes place, Chipzilla intends to push out complex set-top boxes, residential gateways and modem products, possibly even going for the OEM artery. Details beyond that are few and far betwixt, but we doubt it'll be too long before the pickup begins to bear fruit.

iiNet announces bonded DSL for business

iiNet, Australia’s third largest ISP has announced support for bonded DSL, which can double broadband speeds compared to a standard ADSL2+ connection.
iiNet’s business GM Steve Harley told CommsDay that the technology would be of benefit to the almost 42,000 businesses already using iiNet ADSL broadband connected through iiNet’s own DSLAMs.
Business users signing up for iiNet’s bonded DSL service can expect to pay from $99 per month for the service, plus a one off setup charge (if you are an existing iiNet customer) of $150 if currently using Naked ADSL or $79.95 for Broadband 2+ customers. iiNet’s bonded DSL modem costs an additional $419 on top of the setup costs.
Bonded DSL differs from other approaches that look to load balance two separate ADSL connections, in that it combines to twisted pair connections at the exchange end, creating what is described as “one big pipe” by iiNet’s Steve Harley, rather than two separate pipes pushing information to your business. This eases administrative problems at the business end, by simply having one modem connect to your network in the same way as your current ADSL connection.
iiNet currently offers a range of fibre optic connections to businesses, but many see the step up to a fibre connection cost prohibitive, with monthly costs in the range of $1,000 or more, in addition to set up costs in the range of $20,000-30,000. iiNet’s bonded DSL solution brings this prohibitive price point down for small to medium businesses that need more bandwidth than ADSL2 offers, but at a significantly more attractive price point. Bonded DSL is also more likely to be available to businesses, with 85 percent of iiNet’s current customers in areas capable of supporting the technology.

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