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Industry Takes Major Steps Toward High Speed Modem Standard; Pivotal Agreements Reached at ITU Meeting
PR Newswire - December 05, 1997 09:08
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ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- A group of technical experts has
resolved the last of the critical issues standing in the way of a standard for
high-speed analog modems, increasing the likelihood that a global standard
will be accepted for approval by February 6, according to Lucent Technologies
(NYSE: LU).
A committee of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has been
working since March 1997 to develop a standard for "pulse code modulation"
(PCM) modems -- the fastest analog modems available today with transmission
speeds up to 56 kilobits per second (kbps)*.
After the expected endorsement of a draft recommendation for these modems
at its Geneva, Switzerland meeting January 26 to February 6, the ITU is likely
to ratify the standard in September 1998.
"A spirit of compromise emerged during yesterday's meeting and now the
industry is free to move towards what consumers really want --
interoperability of modems around the world," said Surinder Rai, marketing
director for Lucent's Microelectronics Group. "It looks like the standard
will contain an equitable mix of K56flex(TM) and x2(TM), the two competing PCM
modem technologies.
"All of Lucent's K56flex modem chips are software upgradeable, and Lucent
expects to have the upgrade ready shortly after the ITU votes on a draft
standard at the January 26 meeting.
"The committee is making excellent progress at this week's meeting and we
can now expect endorsement of the draft recommendation by the ITU Study Group
16 at the January 26 meeting," said John Magill, vice chairman of Study Group
16, the body under which the PCM modem standard is being developed.
"Resolution of the most pivotal technical hurdles yesterday was a major
breakthrough in the development of this recommendation."
Lucent submitted several proposals at the meeting, which helped fill in
some missing pieces of the standard, included further defining and refining
start-up procedures for the modems, and selecting final upstream and
downstream data rates. PCM technology connects PCs to the Internet over
regular phone lines at up to 56 kbps -- nearly twice the speed of most modems
in use today.
Lucent Technologies , headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., designs, builds
and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications
systems and software, data networking systems, business telephone systems and
microelectronics components. Bell Labs is the research and development arm
for the company. For more information on Lucent Technologies, visit our web
site at lucent.com.
Lucent's Microelectronics Group designs and manufactures integrated
circuits and optoelectronic components for the computer and communications
industries. More information about Lucent's high-speed modem technology can
be found on the Microelectronics Group's web site at
www.lucent.com/micro/K56flex and at www.k56flex.com. More general information
about the Microelectronics Group is available from its web site at
www.lucent.com/micro.
* 56 Kbps technology refers to server download speeds only and requires
compatible modems at server sites. Other conditions may limit modem
speed.
SOURCE Lucent Technologies
/CONTACT: Charlie Hartley, 908-508-8226 (office), or 908-253-0241 (home),
or cjhartley@lucent.com, or Michael Jacobs, 908-508-8225 (office), or
973-736-0939 (home), or mejacobs@lucent.com, both of Lucent Technologies/
/Web site: lucent.com
(LU)
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