U.s. Robotics Corp. will announce this week a project to develop hybrid modems that
enable corporations to adopt new 56K-bps technology and migrate to ADSL
technology.
USR will introduce the technology, called x2DSL, at NetWorld+Interop in Las Vegas
this week. It will appear in the first quarter of 1998 in a sub-$250 card that combines
both USR's 56K-bps x2 modem and Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line technology
and employs Texas Instruments Inc.'s C6x processor.
x2DSL will be software-upgradable to standards for both emerging technologies,
according to sources close to the Skokie, Ill., company.
USR also will offer x2DSL-based client and central office equipment for less than
$1,000, sources said.
One option for users will be a modem that combines x2 and "ADSL Light," a low-end
DSL alternative that provides data rates between 128K bps and 256K bps, the
sources said.
x2DSL will be developed by USR based on code from DSL maker Aware Inc., of
Bedford, Mass., sources said.
Such a hybrid modem could drive demand for DSL, since it provides customers willing
to buy into 56K-bps technology with an upgrade path to the higher-speed DSL,
according to David Cooperstein, an analyst with Forrester Research Inc., based in
Cambridge, Mass.
The USR technology is one of several DSL-related announcements coming at or after
NetWorld+Interop. Aware and Analog Devices Inc. will announce next week a
partnership with Cisco Systems Inc., under which Cisco will sell DSL systems
developed and co-branded with Aware and ADI, according to sources close to the
companies.
Another DSL maker, Amati Communications Corp., will show at NetWorld+Interop a
new version of its Overture 810 ADSL modem that offers upstream transmission rates
of 640K bps, up from 384K bps in the current product. It will cost less than $1,000. |
