Ikanos Communications today announced its first multi-mode DSL chipset, a product that gives carriers the ability to offer VDSL2, VDSL, ADSL2+ and ADSL in a single line card.

The new support on the company’s SmartLeap platform is targeting system level vendors that want to offer VDSL2 line cards that also can be used with the other legacy versions of DSL.

“This is mostly geared toward North America and Europe,” said Dean Grumlose, vice president of marketing at Ikanos. “It just reflects that DSL has been rolled out differently around the world.”

More important to Ikanos, it doesn’t restrict the company by painting it as a VDSL-only vendor. Previously, the company had counted on the vast majority of its sales coming from Japan and Korea, the two markets where VDSL took off. Since the approval of the VDSL2 standard in May, the company is finding a much wider potential audience.

“Once the standard was ratified in May, our phones literally were ringing off the hook,” he said.

The multi-mode capability means carriers can deploy VDSL2-capable line cards from nodes, remote terminals or central offices without interrupting ADSL or ADSL2+ service. However, don’t expect the market to suddenly be flooded with VDSL2 gear any time soon. Though approved in general earlier this year, the VDSL2 standard is still going through minor revisions, Grumlose said.

“The spec needs to be worked out in technical detail so that there’s no ambiguity,” he said, noting that the final text is due in the next couple of weeks. “As these last calls are made, the intention is not to introduce new items but clarify how things are going to work. Even with that restriction, there are literally hundreds of comments that the editor has to go through.”

After that, vendors are expected to come together for a VDSL2 plugfest in January.