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Press Release
BB FTEL For Immediate Release: June 19, 1997
Contact: Helen West at Franklin 805/373-8688
Franklin to partner with rockwell in K56flex applications
Westlake Village, CA.> Franklin Telecom today announced that it has entered the final design phase to incorporate the widely supported K56flex architecture from Rockwell Semiconductor Systems into a series of new product models and services. Franklin has been working with Rockwell for a year and a half, both directly and through StarComm Products, Inc. (Franklin's partner in manufacturing modems) and has completed testing and microcoding the K56flex for unique applications in the Franklin arena which will be available later this summer. These applications will include:
The D-Mark Cyclone modem/channel bank
FNet Internet Services
The ICM-8 board
Two additional hardware products which have not yet been announced
Franklin Telecom's new Cyclone, the first of these products to incorporate the K56flex, will provide online service and Internet connections over standard telephone lines at speeds nearly twice as fast as conventional modems. The Cyclone, which includes up to 24 built-in modems, terminates a T-1 line into up to 24 channels which can transmit a combination of voice, fax and/or modem data.
FNet, one of Franklin's Internet subsidiaries, will be a primary customer for the Cyclones, making sure that FNet dial-up customers with 56Kbps capabilities will have the fastest possible state-of-the-art connections.
According to Vijay Parikh, vice-president and general manager for the Multimedia Communication Division of Rockwell Semiconductor Systems, "We at Rockwell are happy to have Franklin Telecom and FNet join the industry's top communication equipment manufacturers and Internet Service Providers in endorsing K56flex technology and making it available to their customers and subscribers."
In addition, Cyclone users will be able to achieve these fast connections with a wide range of other leading service providers including AOL, Compuserve and Netcom, all of whom have announced support for Rockwell's K56flex chipset technology. More than
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300 ISPs and leading Internet backbone providers including UUNet, BBN and PSINet
have also pledged their support of Rockwell's technology. Plus, Franklin joins the world's leading central-site modem manufacturers who are now using Rockwell's chipsets to upgrade an installed equipment base that represents the majority of Internet access ports worldwide. In all, it has been estimated that 75 percent of Internet ports are based on Rockwell or Rockwell-compatible equipment.
According to Franklin's president and CEO Frank Peters, "The Franklin Cyclone combines a great product and unparalleled customer support with the most widely supported 56Kbps chip technology available." "Because so many equipment vendors, service providers and Internet backbone companies support the K56flex technology to be used in our Cyclones, we believe our customers will consistently get the fastest, most reliable Internet connections available. We believe Rockwell's technology will become the primary technology of the future for ISP's and corporate data centers."
Franklin is also putting the K56flex into the ICM-8, an 8 port modem board set with a MVIP above-board bus which enables independent contractors, Computer Telephony Integrators (CTI's) and PBX designers to integrate this card, with its enhanced capabilities, into their systems.
As the industry migrates to worldwide 56Kbps modem standards that Rockwell is helping to define, the D-Mark Cyclones and Franklin board products can be easily upgraded. In the meantime, Rockwell and Lucent Technologies - two of the world's leading manufacturers of modem chips - have announced that they will develop a mutual interoperability standard that has gained the support of leading PC OEMs including AST, Compaq, Hewlett Packard and Toshiba.
The primary business of Franklin Telecom (OTC FTEL) founded in 1981, is the design and manufacturing of communications devices, high speed LAN, WAN, Telco & Satellite Systems and software. Franklin has an installed base of over 100,000 nodes worldwide. FNet, Franklin's Internet division, is a national, full-service Internet Service Provider which focuses on corporate and professional Internet usage.
Rockwell (NYSE ROK) is a global electronics company with leadership market positions in industrial automation, semiconductor systems and avionics and communications, with projected fiscal 1997 sales of approximately $8 billion and 44,000 employees. Rockwell Semiconductor Systems, based in Newport Beach, California, comprises the Multimedia Communications Division (MCD), the Wireless Communications Division (WCD), the Network Access Division (NAD), and the Digital Infotainment Division. MCD is the world leader in facsimile and PC modem devices for personal communications electronics.
For the latest up-to-minute information about Franklin's family of companies visit our web site: HYPERLINK ftel.com http://www.ftel.com
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r\corp\pr\1997\rockwell/rockwelltem2f.doc
Franklin Telecom
June 19, 1997
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