Alcatel WinS Quality AWARD FOR ITS SPEED TOUCHTM USB DSL MODEM
Paris, November 30, 2000 -At a ceremony hosted by the European publishing house VNU
Business Publications, Alcatel (NYSE: ALA) received a Quality Award in Telecom Innovation at the
annual Data News Awards for Excellence for its Speed TouchTM USB (Universal Serial Bus)
modem. The Data News Awards are rewarded to ICT companies for products and services they
introduce.
Alcatel, the world leader in Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) solutions, was nominated in the Editorial
Category. The entire editorial staff of Data News, who present an award in a different category
each year, elected to focus on innovation in telecommunications and chose Alcatel's highly
successful USB DSL modem as part of its deliberations, presenting Alcatel with a Quality Award.
Marc Hermans, President of Alcatel's newly-created Customer Premises Division, dedicated to DSL
Customer Premises Equipment, said:"This award is recognition by independent industry
commentators of Alcatel's continued success in delivering leading-edge DSL CPE. Alcatel was
selected as one of the key telecommunications innovators of 2000 for its work on the Speed
TouchTM USB's attractive design, ease of use and success worldwide, selling thousands of
units each week."
The Alcatel Speed TouchTM USB modem is the ultimate"plug and play", bus-powered modem and is
targeted at residential PC users. The modem meets the increasing demand for fast Internet access
and offers a standard USB interface to the ADSL connection. The USB port is a popular and
widespread interface to the PC and Alcatel's Speed TouchTM USB has distinguished itself with its
simplicity in connecting to the Internet via ADSL, making it the ideal high-speed Internet connection
solution for laptops and PCs. The device can support data rates up to 200 times faster than
conventional 33.6 kbit/s modems while simultaneously maintaining a conventional voice telephony
line. Because the modem is USB bus-powered, an external power supply is not needed.
Shipments of Alcatel CPE reached nearly 500,000 units worldwide in the third quarter of 2000,
bringing Alcatel's installed base of ADSL CPE to over 1.3 million units, surpassing the 1 million unit
threshold for the first time. Alcatel shipped 1.7 million DSL central office lines worldwide in the
three-month period ended September 30 2000. In addition, in Alcatel's third quarter, its DSL
shipment volumes were over 300 per cent ahead of the same period last year and over 50 per cent
ahead of the prior quarter.
Note for Editors
ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) transforms an operator's existing copper twisted pair
investment into a multimedia broadband distribution system. Always online and fast, ADSL provides
easy and quick Internet access via a simple mouse-click. Working on an existing copper telephone
line, ADSL's transmission speed is up to 200 times faster than today's analog modems. ADSL's
speeds range up to 8 megabits per second. ADSL supports high-speed data communications as
well as traditional telephone service on a single telephone access line.
About Alcatel DSL
Alcatel is the world's leading supplier of DSL solutions, helping service providers everywhere
deploy an expanded range of revenue producing offerings and applications such as high speed
Internet access, voice over DSL, and video services.
Alcatel's DSL solutions are available on a variety of service platforms, including the Alcatel 7300
and 7350 ASAM; the Litespan NGDLC; and environmentally hardened DSLAM packages optimized
for remote terminal deployment, the Alcatel RAM (Remote Access Multiplexer) and mini-RAM. This
complete set of deployment options gives service providers the flexibility to bring DSL service to all
potential subscribers in their service areas, regardless of network topology. A unified element
management solution, AMS (Access Management System), manages voice and data services for
the Litespan and the ASAM product family. The Alcatel 5620 Network Manager, an integrated
scalable network management solution, seamlessly manages these products at the network and
service layers.
Alcatel's DSL technology is also offered in an advanced range of customer premises equipment,
the Alcatel Speed Touch" family of DSL modems, routers, and integrated access devices
supporting multi-line voice and data service over a single telephone access line. For more
information on Alcatel's DSL solutions, visit alcatel.com, alcateldsl.com
About Alcatel
Alcatel builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data
networking solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers
worldwide. With 120,000 employees and sales of EURO 23 billion in 1999, Alcatel operates in more
than 130 countries. alcatel.com
Contact press@www.alcatel.com |
