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February 24, 1997, Issue: 651
Section: Network Infrastructure -- Switches, Routers, Hubs,
Remote Access, NICs, Topolog
K56flex Gains Ground With Vendors
By Amy Rogers and Jeff Caruso
Against the backdrop of the Rockwell-Lucent vs. U.S. Robotics
imbroglio over 56-kilobit-per-second modems, other vendors are
mounting their own marketing tactics.
Recent reports indicate that the Rockwell-Lucent approach is gaining
ground with some vendors who are altering their equipment to let users
take advantage of the speed boost that the new modems can offer.
USR's x2 technology is competing for mind-share with the approach
called K56flex from Lucent Technologies, Berkeley Heights, N.J., and
Rockwell Semiconductor Systems, Newport Beach, Calif.
A number of vendors with a stake in remote access are preparing their
products to be upgraded, including Microcom Inc., Norwood, Mass.,
which will ship next quarter 56-Kbps modems certified to work with
Shiva Corp.'s LanRover Access Switch and LanRover remote-access
servers.
Cisco said recently it will offer free 56-Kbps upgrades to anyone buying
its enterprise-level AS5200 access server after Feb. 1. Multi-Tech
Systems Inc., Mounds View, Minn., is promising $69 upgrades to its
V.34 modems purchased after Feb. 1. And Livingston Enterprises,
Pleasanton, Calif., announced last week free 56-Kbps upgrades for users
of its PortMaster 3 access server who register by June 30.
All of these companies are basing the promised upgrades on the
Rockwell-Lucent technology.
Still, USR officials assert that the competition in this space is trying to slow
the market in order to play catch-up.
"These are people that have the wrong decisions about how to do modem
technology," said Larry Kraft, manager of product marketing at USR,
Skokie, Ill. "They can't move as quickly as we can and are hamstrung
because they have hardware upgrades all over the place."
Kraft claimed that USR's market share at the service provider
end-Internet service providers representing some 18 million users of the
25 million worldwide-is the true indicator of which technology will
succeed.
Texas Instruments, Hitachi and Dell Computer, among others, have
licensed the x2 technology from USR, Kraft said.
Officials in the K56flex camp say that as modems from both sides go to
market, a big can of worms will be opened.
"Rockwell-Lucent is only a month behind USR from the client standpoint,
and once some of the customers buy [USR's modems] off the shelf and
say, 'Hey, I can't connect at 56K,' it will become clear that there are
different implementations," said Livingston's product marketing manager
Marty Likier.
Forcing a Standard
Not surprisingly, Likier added that he expects the K56flex consortium to
"force the mandate away from x2."
A new wrinkle in the debate is a complaint recently filed by Motorola
against USR, claiming that Rockwell's competitor in the 56-Kbps market
infringed on Motorola's V.34 patent.
Though USR has pledged to support any standard that arises, it has not
signed up with Rockwell's coalition, creating the perception that USR
stands alone.
"U.S. Robotics made a bad move," said Robert Saunders, founder of
America. Net Inc., an Alpharetta, Ga., Internet service provider.
Even so, Rockwell's and Lucent's technology are not completely
compatible. "We are still in the process of finalizing the plans for
interoperability specifications between our two companies' products," said
Dwight Decker, president of Rockwell, earlier this month.
Decker went on to say that there would be "stages of interoperability."
The companies should reach a baseline specification soon, with an
updated one "later." A release date was not disclosed. But future versions
will be fully backward-compatible with all previous implementations from
both companies, he said.
USR was expected to ship its 56-Kbps modems for both ends of the link
last week.
Copyright r 1997 CMP Media Inc.
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