| I just got a link to a interesting press release from Paradyne that shows that it is a good idea to use RADSL if you have problems with the quality of a phone line. I had read the press release before but lost it and did not remember from which company the release was. 
 Andreas
 
 Harvard Net Selects Paradyne's
 HotwireTM Products For High-speed,
 Low-cost DSL Deployment in New
 England
 
 Paradyne's Hotwire Rate Adaptive DSL (RADSL)
 products are selected to deliver tiered services
 at speeds 10 times faster than ISDN.
 
 Largo, Florida -- October 29, 1997 -- Paradyne, a
 pioneer and leader in digital network access,
 announced today that Harvard Net has selected
 Paradyne's Hotwire Rate Adaptive DSL (RADSL)
 products as its preferred high-speed access solution.
 Harvard Net, a Massachusetts-based provider of
 Internet and Intranet services to businesses, is
 offering a range of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
 access speeds exclusively to commercial customers
 with high bandwidth requirements. Harvard Net plans
 to roll out Hotwire RADSL-based services in
 mid-December to Massachusetts, closely followed by
 deployment in Rhode Island, Maine and New
 Hampshire.
 
 Following its recent acquisition of Internet Northeast,
 Harvard Net is quickly becoming the dominant
 regional provider of access services - including DSL -
 in New England. Harvard Net's business offerings
 include Internet access, web hosting, and e-mail
 outsourcing.
 
 "In New England, we have old and sometimes poorly
 documented copper loops," said Bill Southworth,
 chairman of Harvard Net. "We tested Paradyne's
 Hotwire RADSL products on 20 of our worst copper
 circuits--circuits that we couldn't bring up with SDSL,
 and 19 of the 20 came up on the first try. Our
 business customers are interested in a symmetrical
 solution at fractional T1 speeds. We shied away from
 ADSL in the past because we felt that an SDSL or
 S-HDSL solution would provide us with a more
 reliable approach with minimal impact on the network.
 We've found that Paradyne's RADSL products provide
 us the performance and reliability we've been seeking,
 while reducing provisioning time by an order of
 magnitude."
 
 A major factor in Harvard Net's decision was the
 flexibility afforded by Paradyne's unique, scaleable,
 multiservices architecture. In addition, Paradyne's
 knowledge and experience of network access
 technology, network management, the copper
 infrastructure and spectral density issues further
 reinforced Harvard Net's selection of Paradyne. The
 success of Paradyne's Hotwire Partners Program
 assured them that Paradyne was willing and able to
 partner with Harvard Net to explore and leverage the
 market opportunities which exist in an ISP, CLEC or
 Campus business model.
 
 For deployment, Harvard Net chose the Hotwire 8600
 DSLAM (DSL Access Multiplexer), because it
 provides a multiservices, scaleable architecture,
 which allows them to provision multiple service types
 on a single architecture -- incrementally as their
 market develops. This safeguards their original
 investment, which is considerably less than that
 required for competitive products. The Hotwire 8600
 DSLAM currently lists for less than $6,000 --
 one-fourth the cost of competitive DSLAMs.
 
 Harvard Net selected a variety of Hotwire Remote
 Termination Units (RTUs), including the Hotwire 5446,
 5246 and 5216 series of endpoint products. These
 RTUs support asymmetrical and symmetrical
 applications, software upgrades, optional POTS (plain
 old telephone service), and SNMP. All Hotwire RTUs
 interoperate with the Hotwire DSLAM. The Hotwire
 5446 Release 2 with the new 7 Mbps firmware
 upgrade, supports multiple users - ideal bandwidth for
 remote office/branch office applications. The SOHO
 environment may be served by the new Hotwire 5246
 which offers 2.56 Mbps RADSL service and supports
 up to 32 users.
 
 Designed to support high-speed network access for
 the residential user or teleworker, the 5216 is one of
 the lowest priced DSL endpoints available on the
 market today. Priced at only $495, the Hotwire 5216
 is capable of 1 Mbps symmetric transmission
 speeds. All products are now available.
 
 Wrapped around the entire Hotwire DSL family is
 Paradyne's preeminent network management suite of
 products - DCE manager and Performance WizardTM.
 Together they facilitate the end-to-end management -
 configuration, monitoring, diagnosis and analysis - of
 the entire Hotwire family of products. Paradyne's
 comprehensive management tool minimizes, and
 frequently prevents, costly and disruptive down time.
 (DCE manager also manages Paradyne's traditional
 TDM and FrameSaverTM frame relay access
 products.)
 
 Hotwire systems and other Paradyne products are
 marketed through a worldwide network of distributors
 and value-added resellers (VARs). Hotwire products
 are also marketed directly to Network Service
 Providers. For more information on Hotwire systems
 or other Paradyne products, call 800-PARADYNE or
 813-530-2000, or visit Paradyne's Power Pages at
 paradyne.com.
 
 Headquartered in Largo, Florida, Paradyne is a
 leading developer and provider of products and
 technologies that facilitate high-speed access to
 networks worldwide for communications, computing
 and information. Recognized as the market leader in
 T1 DSU/CSUs*, Paradyne is one of the largest,
 privately held manufacturers of network access
 products. Paradyne markets its award-winning analog
 products, digital access products and an extensive
 array of frame relay solutions and access
 multiplexers to commercial end-users, Internet
 Service Providers, Frame Relay Service Providers and
 Network Service Providers.
 
 Harvard Net is New England's leading regional
 provider of Internet and Intranet access, web hosting
 services and electronic commerce solutions. The
 company was founded in 1993 with the purpose of
 applying technology to solve business
 communication problems. Harvard Net has grown
 rapidly by providing innovation with the best
 performance, service quality and responsiveness in
 the industry. The company was the first New England
 Internet Service Provider to file as a Competitive Local
 Exchange Carrier (CLEC) under the
 Telecommunications Act of 1996, the first to offer
 ADSL access, and the first to offer geographic load
 sharing of web sites for disaster recovery. Harvard Net
 provides Internet services for over 3500 domains. Its
 reputation for high performance web hosting and
 access has attracted a customer list consisting of
 Fortune 100 companies and many of the Internet's
 most active web sites.
 
 -30-
 
 * IDC "Trends in the Digital Access Equipment Arena Report,"
 April 1996.
 
 Editors Note: For more information, product slides, technical
 specifications or to schedule an interview with Paradyne, contact
 Debra Eisenberg, media relations manager, at 813-530-8207.
 Internet address: deisenberg@paradyne.com. Product availability
 and pricing subject to change without notification. Hotwire,
 Performance Wizard, FrameSaver and Paradyne are trademarks of
 Paradyne Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of
 their respective owners. Subsequent to its sale on August 1, 1996
 by Lucent Technologies Inc., Paradyne is an independently
 owned company, unaffiliated with either AT&T Corp. or Lucent
 Technologies.
 
 PRESS CONTACTS:
 
 Paradyne Press Contact:
 Debra Eisenberg
 Media Relations
 813-530-8207
 deisenberg@paradyne.com
 
 Paradyne Agency Press Contact:
 Marianne Radwan
 Radcom Strategic Marketing
 561-988-5300
 E-mail: mradwan@gate.net
 
 Harvard Net Contact:
 Bill Southworth - Chairman
 617-262-4200, ext. 100
 whs@harvard.net
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