June 3, 1996 7:00 PM ET
Data Race readies device for telecommuters
By Steve Kovsky
Data Race Inc. is developing a new communications device for remote- and home-office workers that will allow a single phone line to handle simultaneous voice, fax and data traffic.
W.B. "Ben" Barker, president and chief executive of the San Antonio company, said he anticipates that profits from the new device will not only return the company to profitability, but will place it at the forefront in providing remote access to corporate voice and data networks.
"We are positioned to be a leader in what I believe is going to be the fastest growing market in the United States--we're talking about a multibillion-dollar business," Barker said earlier today. The main target for the new devices is the growing population of telecommuters, said Barker, whose ranks are expected to swell to 30 million by the year 2000, according to a Gartner Group Inc. study.
"That's a stunning number," Barker said. "If there's even a grain
of truth to that, there is a tremendous market opportunity."
Barker refused to discuss the new device in detail, but said it will employ industry-standard data compression, along with proprietary modem and multiplexer technologies, to provide the equivalent of four dedicated phone lines--two for voice, one for fax and one for 28.8K-bps data transmissions--over a single standard telephone connection. This "personal multiplexer" device will connect to a matched multiplexer at the corporate site, giving remote users full access to their companies' LANs, intranets, and voice and fax systems,
Barker said.
The scheme of routing a remote worker's outbound voice and data communications through a corporate multiplexer is preferable to having them connect directly to outside parties and service providers, Barker said. In the case of Internet and intranet access in particular, remote workers will benefit by using their companies' high-bandwidth connection to the Internet, while their intranet access will be simplified because they will be "coming in on the right side of the firewall," he said.
Data Race is currently previewing the technology to its key Fortune 500 customers. The company will realize its first revenue from the products in the December-to-January time frame, Barker said. |
