e market to additional customers by automatically configuring itself for the fastest rate for any given line. In June 1999, the ITU-T approved the G.992.2 standard, widely known as G.lite. Based on the same underlying technology as standard ADSL, G.lite provides a roadmap for vendor interoperability and eliminates the need to dispatch a technician Video Communications: The Whole Picture to install a splitter at the customer premise. Once NSPs provision the central office equipment, the customer connects a G.lite modem as easily as she may have installed a conventional modem. G.lite modems began showing up in retail outlets in fall 1999. G.lite works with Digital Loop Carrier, the local loop infrastructure that connects customers who are located more than 18,000 feet from the central office, and thereby opens the technology to a broader audience. The new focus on the Internet and corporate LAN access has also forced changes in access network architectures. Because IP dominates the Internet and private networks, NSPs are constructing access networks to support IP to customer premises. However, recognizing ATM's inherent ability to support converged services, and QoS, NSPs are building access networks to relay IP via ATM multiplexing and switching. The first ADSL trials employed a router-based architecture in which ADSL modems perform MAC layer concentration by connecting to an IP router through an Ethernet hub or switch each Central Office (CO). Now, Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexers (DSLAM) displace the router by connecting CO modems directly to shared high-speed backplane. The multiplexing protocol in this scenario is Ethernet from the PC to the router, and IP for Multiplexing multiple connections into single PCs. NSPs can gradually migrate to this configuration from legacy equipment by integrating various pieces over time. Doing SO involves no protocol conversion in the network, and is compatible with Internet and LAN protocols. However, this router-based architecture will not scale for the broad resid