DULLES, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1997 APR 11 (NB) -- REPEAT/By Patrick McKenna. In
October of last year, America Online [NYSE:AOL] was one of the first
companies to support 56 Kilobit per second (Kbps) technology from US
Robotics [NASDAQ:USRX]. Yesterday, the online giant announced plans to
equally support a rival technology provided by Rockwell [NYSE:ROK] and
Lucent Technologies [NYSE:LU].
Since the early days of networking communication through modems,
experts consistently said "Modems will never get any faster" each time
the industry developed faster speeds from as slow as 300 bits per second
to 28.8 Kbps, Newsbytes notes. Shortly after the arrival of 28.8 modems,
the industry announced 33.6 Kbps speeds.
Accompanying this progression has been a continual standards war with
opposing companies competing to have their technology become the
generally accepted standard. However, standards organizations tend to be
very democratic and eventually develop a standard combining various
proprietary proposals, notes Newsbytes.
Unwilling to wait for a time-consuming standards resolution process, US
Robotics and Rockwell/Lucent are bringing to market two incompatible 56
Kbps modems to market under the names "x2" and "K56Flex," respectively.
The result is online companies and Internet service providers are in the
process of adopting both modems into their networks. In order not to
lose customers, online and Internet access providers plan to offer
different dial-in phone numbers for different 56K modems.
AOL's adoption of 56K technology takes place through AOL Networks, a
subsidiary of AOL. The cost of developing two separate 56K systems may
seem like an added burden to AOL, which is committed to $350 million
system upgrade. Matt Korn, AOL Networks senior vice president for
network operations told Newsbytes the cost of deploying both 56K
standards will be very small. "Our existing network already has Rockwell
and US Robotics technologies, so the conversion is not a difficult as it
might seem from the outside," he said.
Ascend Communications will provide AOL with the necessary central
networking equipment for K56Flex connectivity. Korn said internal
testing will be completed by June with field trials in various cities
following immediately. The new high-speed service will also enhance a
new version, 4.0, of AOL's software which is expected as a beta early
this summer.
Newsbytes also learned AOL has completed 50 percent of the $350 million
upgrade. "Eliminating busy signals is still our number one priority and
we are right on schedule," added Korn.
Is 56K a wise investment for consumers or is it just another step in the
ever faster connectivity race? Vijay Parikh, vice president and general
manager, Rockwell Semiconductor Systems says rivaling standards will be
solved, probably in the first half of 1998, but consumers' investments
in a Rockwell-based modem will be protected since the final standard
will be upgraded to existing K56Flex modems.
"We are probably seeing analog modems at the highest speed possible,"
said Parikh. "There are a number technologies which will bring even
greater bandwidth to consumers, but not for some time. I think analog
modems will be around through the turn of the century."
Parikh also said modems which are Rockwell-based account for 60 to 65
percent of all current modems in use today on the computer desktop. On
the server or provider side he said Rockwell-based technology is
deployed in a majority of installations. "You should also check to see
if x2 is tested as thoroughly on the backbone of the Internet,"
continued Parikh. "You can have client/server tests, but this technology
also needs to be tested across the backbone of the Internet. I have not
seen any backbone test results other than Rockwell's" |
