Worth re-reading...Lucent Technologies and Westell to Jointly Market and Sell ADSL Products
PRESS RELEASE : December 11, 1997
Westell's SuperVision broadband access platforms to enable high-speed
data
from North America's most widely deployed Digital Loop Carier Systems
AURORA, IL (December 11, 1997) . Westell Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:
WSTL) announced today that it has signed a joint marketing agreement
with Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU). Lucent will now begin marketing
Westell's SuperVisionr Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer
(DSLAM) systems, including concentration shelves, line cards, mux cards,
remote ADSL modems and network management systems, enabling
telecommunications service providers to offer high-speed data over
copper telephone wires.
Under the agreement, Lucent intends to market Westell's SuperVision
broadband access platform. Westell's DSLAM systems will be commercially
available in the first quarter of 1998. In addition, the agreement
allows both companies to market and sell Asymmetric Digital Subscriber
Line (ADSL) products developed by Westell for Lucent's SLCr Digital Loop
Carrier Systems. The first ADSL-enabled SLC Series systems are projected
to be available in the fourth quarter of 1998. Today's announcement is
the next step in an agreement announced earlier this year, when Lucent
and Westell first agreed to integrate Westell's ADSL technology into
Lucent's SLC Digital Loop Carrier systems.
Lucent's SLC-2000 and SLC Series 5 digital loop carriers are the most
widely deployed systems in the United States. By combining SLC Systems
ADSL-enabled channel units that interface with Westell's SuperVision
ADSL modems, service providers with Lucent's SLC systems will be able to
offer data service at rates up to eight megabits per second (Mbps)
downstream with full rate-adaptive capabilities - an increase of 200
times over today's traditional data rates using 28.8 kilobits per second
(kbps) modems.
As part of the agreement, Westell will install and support the broadband
equipment at the central office and remote modems at the customer
premises. Financial terms and conditions of the contract were not
disclosed.
Lucent Technologies also intends to use Westell-supplied AccessVisionr
element manager to provide full network management of each ADSL
circuit. AccessVision is a scaleable, distributed Simple Network
Management Protocol (SNMP) management system that provides a graphical
interface to operators in a central management center. AccessVision's
modular open architecture cost-effectively supports small networks but
can accommodate network growth up to the hundreds of thousands of lines.
AccessVision was specifically designed to manage large, dispersed,
multi-product access networks.
"Lucent Technologies is continually looking for ways to help service
providers maximize their investment in our digital loop carrier products
so they can meet their customers' demand for higher bandwidth services,"
said Linda Manchester, Lucent's director of Access Solutions Strategy
and Business Development. "Integrating the Westell ADSL solution ensures
that service providers will be able to offer high-speed ADSL from a SLC
system, thereby avoiding the expense of installing an overlay network."
The Lucent/Westell solution requires an ADSL line card and a
Westell-developed mux card to be inserted into a SLC-2000 Access System
Metallic Distribution Shelf or SLC Series 5 dual channel bank assembly.
This creates a remote DSLAM inside the remote terminal cabinet. Each
ADSL card provides two ADSL lines and integrated onboard Plain Old
Telephone Service (POTS) splitters.
"This joint marketing agreement with Lucent is an expansion of our
earlier development agreement and a major step forward in the commercial
deployment of our DSLAM solution," said Marc Hafner, Westell's senior
vice president, Business Development and Global Alliances. "Westell's
SuperVision broadband access platform will complement Lucent's SLC
digital loop carrier systems, allowing both companies to launch a joint
marketing effort that benefits our mutual customers."
According to the Lucent/Westell marketing agreement, SuperVision will
support the transmission of ATM cells from either a 155 Mbps (SONET/SDH)
or 45 Mbps (DS3) ATM network interface to DSL line modules housed within
Lucent's SLC remote terminal cabinets. The DS-3 signal from the SLC
Remote Terminal is transported via a SONET FiberMux to the host system
where it is combined with other DS-3 signals into an OC-3 signal. The
OC-3 signal travels to the ATM Backbone Network.
Westell's SuperVision DSLAM is a flexible platform that serves as a
single point of concentration for ADSL line cards located in the SLC
Remote Terminal office. By consolidating individual DSL access line
interfaces into a single high-speed interface to the switching network,
service providers are sfor ADSL line cards located in the SLC Remote
Terminal office. By consolidating individual DSL access line interfaces
into a single high-speed interface to the switching network, service
providers are spared the cost of fully deploying multimedia services
such as high-speed Interne
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 microelectronic components. Bell Labs is the research and
development arm for the company. For more information on Lucent
Technologies, visit the company's web site at lucent.com.
Westell Technologies, Inc. is a holding company for Westell, Inc.,
Conference Plus, Inc. and Westell WorldWide Services, Inc. Westell, Inc.
is a leading worldwide innovator and manufacturer of xDSL systems and
telecommunications access products, with corporate headquarters in
Aurora, Ill. Westell's xDSL products are currently in use or trial by
many customers worldwide, including Ameritech, Bell Atlantic, Bell
Canada, BT, GTE, MCI, Quebec Telephone, SBC, Saskatchewan Telephone,
Telecom Italia, US West and leading Internet service providers. In
addition to developing and manufacturing xDSL and non-DSL data and
telecommunications products, Westell, Inc., has established technology
relationships with leading telecommunication, software, computing and
semiconductor companies such as Atlantech Technologies, ATML, DSC
Communications, GlobeSpan, Lucent Technologies, Microsoft, Motorola,
Texas Instruments and others.
Conference Plus, Inc. is a multi-point telecommunications service bureau
specializing in audio teleconferencing, multi-point video conferencing,
broadcast fax, and multimedia teleconference services. Westell WorldWide
Services, Inc. provides engineering, installation and network management
services to leading network providers as well as turn-key equipment and
service solutions to enterprise customers and service providers.
Additional information can beÿobtained by visiting Westell's Web site at
westell.com. |
