Rockwell Fix: Other Modem Makers Also In Bind
AP-Dow Jones News Service
The rollout of 56k technology has placed modem makers in a difficult position. As
customers await the faster modems, they typically defer purchases of existing products.
Zoom's Manning, for instance, said the 56k rollout is probably depressing sales for
33.6k modems, although demand is still high. Boca Research Inc. (BOCI) said the 56k
rollout hurt its fourth-quarter result.
The companies have the option of adopting x2 and beginning shipments almost
immediately, but in doing so they would lend support to their biggest rival, U.S.
Robotics.
Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc., the No. 2 modem maker, did just that,
announcing earlier in the month it was shipping some x2 modems under its Practical
Peripherals brand.
In a recent interview, Chairman Dennis Hayes said he still expects K56flex to become
the standard at 56k, but he wants to offer customers a choice. Most modems made by
the Norcross, Ga., company will support K56flex.
Hayes and others, including Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc. (DIMD), are shipping
K56flex modems despite the current limitations.
Zoom's Manning said his company, based in Boston, is trying to protect consumers by
not shipping K56flex until it is ready.
However, both Manning and Boca Research Chief Executive Tony Zalenski made it
clear in recent interviews that they would consider offering x2 modems if the 56k
market appeared to be passing them by.
'We review that question on an ongoing basis,' Manning said. 'While we are reviewing
it again, we still feel that the long-term dominant market share is going to be on the
K56flex side.'
In an interview last week, Boca Research's Zalenski said his company also had
thousands of modems on the shop floor waiting for the Rockwell fix. At the time,
Zalenski said he was sending a team of engineers and executives from the company's
Boca Raton, Fla., headquarters to Newport Beach, Calif., where Rockwell
Semiconductor is located.
Zalenski wasn't available Tuesday to discuss the results of that journey. |
