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SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1997 JUL 31 (NB) -- By Patrick McKenna.
Some time early next year, a unified 56 kilobit-per- second (Kbps) modem
standard should be passed by the International Telecommunications Union
(ITU). Until then, 3Com [NASDAQ:COMS] says his sources indicate the
company's US Robotics'x2 proprietary standard and technology is the
driving 56K force on the client side and the Internet service provider
(ISP) side for Internet access.
Joe Dunsmore, vice president at 3Com, says a unified 56K standard is "best
for consumers and a goal supported by 3Com." The ITU is scheduled to
submit a draft of a standard by September of this year with ratification
expected by January, 1998. "We will help drive that standard. All of our
current x2 modems will be compatible with that standard and all x2
products will be upgraded for free when a unified standard is ready," he
added.
VisionQuest 2000, a market research group based in Los Angeles,
California, shows 3Com currently holding a 65 to 70 percent share of the
56K modem market. Lucent Technologies and Rockwell hold the
remaining percentages with their modems based on the K56Flex
proprietary technology. From January to May of this year 3Com's overall
desktop modem market share has grown 16 percent.
Larry Craft, manager of product marketing at 3Com, told Newsbytes,
"We've seen tremendous demand for x2 from ISPs, and that's reflected by
our market share. According to IDC, 3Com holds the number one remote
access market share position.
3Com released numbers revealing 713 ISPs worldwide are now
offering x2 support through almost 7,000 points of presence (POPs) or
available call-in numbers. US (including Puerto Rico) ISPs represent 637
of the 713 companies. According to Boardwatch Magazine, seventy-five
percent of ISPs plan x2 support.
The July/August issue of Boardwatch Magazine Directory of Internet
Service Providers claims 347 ISPs support K56Flex technology.
Newsbytes notes 3Com contends "support" and the number of installed
and working devices differ. Approximately, 170 ISPs choose to support
both technologies.
On the fabrication side, Texas Instruments, Cirrus Logic, ESS and IBM
Microelectronics are currently building x2 chipsets. Twelve different
modem manufactures, including Aztech, Global Village, Practical
Peripherals, Hayes, Wisecom, Logicode, 3Com's US Robotics and others,
are producing x2 modems.
Added support for x2 comes from computer manufacturers. Acer, Dell,
Gateway, HP, IBM, Packard Bell/NEC and other personal computer
manufacturers either ship or plan to ship 56K modems based on x2
technology.
3Com says the final element convincing ISPs to support x2 is that US
Robotics offers the only software-upgradable modems to ISPs. "All other
vendors require an ISP to undertake a hardware upgrade to get to 56K
speeds," added Craft.
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