If this has already been posted, forgive me:
Dow Jones News Service -- March 25, 1997
Modem Maker Zoom's 1Q Revs Hinge On Rockwell Chip Fix
By Anthony Palazzo
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Delays by Rockwell International Corp. (ROK) in
shipping chip sets for faster modems are threatening to crimp at least
one modem maker's first-quarter results.
Frank Manning, president of Zoom Telephonics Inc. (ZOOM), told Dow Jones
the delays could have ''a fairly significant impact'' on first-quarter
revenue if the company isn't able to ship the faster modems by Monday,
the quarter's end.
Zoom has held off on shipping the modems because of technical problems
that limit the speed increase when used with certain transmission lines,
Manning said.
The new modems promise download speeds of 56 kilobits a second, nearly
twice as fast as the 28.8Kbps currently in wide use.
But Rockwell, the largest supplier of chip sets to modem manufacturers,
said on March 14 it would delay volume shipments for one to two weeks to
fix the glitch in its K56flex technology.
The problem lies in firmware that Rockwell ships with the chip sets,
Manning said. Firmware is a memory chip that holds its content without
electrical power. It is often referred to as ''hard software'' when
holding programming code.
In late February, U.S. Robotics Corp. (USRX) began shipping 56k modems
using a rival, incompatible technology known as x2. Robotics is the
largest modem maker, but nearly all its competitors have vowed to
support K56flex.
Each side is battling for market share, trying to boost the case for
eventual adoption of its technology by a unified standards body.
Manning said Zoom has discussions with senior Rockwell officials ''on
almost a daily basis.'' He said Rockwell has identified the problems in
its firmware, has written coding to address them and is conducting field
tests.
A spokeswoman for Rockwell said the test results are ''looking good''
and that the company expects to resume shipments by Friday.
Manning said that once Zoom receives the firmware and tests it, it can
then be installed on thousands of waiting modem boards very quickly.
''Even though this is Easter weekend, if I have firmware I can rely on
Friday night, I can ship a lot of product by Monday,'' the last day in
the quarter, Manning said. |
