Zbigniew et al... Here is the news concerning MSN trials found at
www.amati.com/whatsnew/prgte.hmtl
GTE expands Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) data trial.
LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- GTE Telephone Operations, which launched the nation's first data trial using Asymmetrical Digital
Subscriber Line (ADSL) technology in February, announced today that it will move rapidly to enhance its high-speed test
involving small businesses and residential customers.
In April, customers will begin using the Overture 4 ADSL modem made by Amati Communications Corporation of San Jose,
Calif. Amati becomes the trial's third modem vendor. To demonstrate the ability of supporting multiple on-line products over a
single service, GTE also plans to add The Microsoft Network to its trial.
Adding a third ADSL modem vendor and The Microsoft Network to the trial will enable the company to make a better
decision on whether it can commercially deploy ADSL as early as the fourth quarter of 1996 or early 1997, GTE said.
"Considering that our pioneer participants have expressed nothing short of praise about ADSL, we are very pleased with the
early results of the trial," said Barry Nalls, director of business data products and services for GTE. "We expect that the next
four months will confirm our belief that the marketplace is primed and ready for ADSL."
Amati and The Microsoft Network Join ADSL Trial
"The GTE trial is an excellent opportunity to test ADSL technology in a data application," said James Steenbergen, President
and CEO of Amati. "With growing demand for faster Internet access, we believe ADSL offers significant potential to satisfy
users who want to upgrade their access connections from existing, slower technologies.
"This will also be the first time telephone customers will be able to view ADSL technology as a viable add-on to their existing
service, enabling high-speed digital data to co-exist on the same line that delivers their plain old telephone service (POTS),"
noted Steenbergen.
For all trial participants, a desktop "client page" will be created on which the icon for MSN_, The Microsoft Network, will
appear, providing a friendly point-and-click link to MSN content at ADSL speeds.
"We believe that MSN's interactive content and applications will shine over ADSL," said sr. director Dan Rosen of MSN
Services at Microsoft Corp. "Customers will really love MSN over ADSL from GTE."
Because ADSL operates over a combination of existing network infrastructure and off-the-shelf products, it can service as an
alternative to cable modems because less than five percent of the CATV plant in the United States has been upgraded to
provide two-way cable service, said Sean Dalton, GTE's Internet access/ ADSL product manager. (Editor's note: See
attached ADSL Backgrounder)
ADSL Modems Provide Lightning-Fast Speed
In addition to Amati Corp., GTE's trial includes the use of ADSL modems provided by Westell Technologies of Oswego, Ill.,
and Aware, Inc. of Bedford, Mass. GTE's trial will initially use Amati's Overture 4 modem that carries data at speeds of 1.5
Mbps downstream and 160 kbps upstream over an approximate three-mile distance. Westell's FlexCap modems transmit data
at 1.5 Mbps downstream and 64 kbps upstream, over a distance of about three miles. Aware's ADSL Internet Access
Transceiver modems tout 4 Mbps downstream and 500 kbps speeds, transmitting data over distances of two miles.
Bay Networks of Billerica, Mass., continues to provide routers and switches used to provide connection between the ADSL
access lines and the Internet, and the GTE subsidiary, GTE Intelligent Network Services, provides Internet access.
Trial to Include 30 Participants
GTE's six-month trial, designed to test the high-speed communication capabilities of ADSL over existing telephone lines,
currently involves the Irving, Texas, Public Library system; ProTech Books (a sister company of Taylor's Bookstores); a
Circuit City store in Irving, Texas; The Internet Store (Plano, Texas); and area GTE employees. The trial will ultimately include
about 30 participants.
Computers at three GTE central offices have been equipped with ADSL modems to create a virtual private network between
the trial participants' locations, and provide visitors and employees with Internet access, electronic messaging, whiteboarding
and desktop business conferencing capabilities.
To obtain additional information about GTE's trial, visit the company's ADSL data trial web site at wcn.gte.com.
GTE Telephone Operations is the largest U.S.-based local telephone company, providing voice, video and data products and
services through more than 23 million access lines in portions of the United States, Canada, South America, the Caribbean and
the Pacific. Its parent organization, GTE Corporation, is one of the largest publicly held telecommunications companies in the
world. |
