For those who listened to last week's conference call, the COO talked about new business during his prepared statements before taking Q&A:
" Our Lucent business from contract and new design wins continues very strong. We're most excited about 2 new strategic opti-electronic circuits which Lucent utilizes to provide Internet access. In addition, we received pre-production orders for fiber optic circuits from NORTHERN TELECOM and prototype orders for both cellular and satellite handsets ( rumormill says NOKIA ) which could result in significant production"....If anyone is interested, I can post some more notes for those who did not listen to the conference call when I get time.
Also, I heard from someone that the new Lucent business relates to today's product announcements from LU, but I am not 100% sure. Does anyone else care to comment? Here's one of today's LU press releases:
Lucent Technologies Introduces Modem Chip Set that Enables Both 56-Kbps and ADSL Data Transmission
ALLENTOWN, Penn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 5, 1998--Lucent Technologies' Microelectronics Group today introduced the industry's most compact digital subscriber line (DSL) chip set, which allows personal computer users to access the Internet regardless of whether they have traditional analog or DSL service.
The three-chip WildWire(TM) chip set, targeted for use in personal computers and stand-alone modems, supports both ADSL and V.90 (56-Kbps(a)) analog connections. It incorporates Lucent's WildWire Digital Subscriber Line "Lite" technology introduced earlier this year, which downloads data at up to 1.5 Mbps - up to 30 times faster than today's analog modems without requiring voice/data splitters.
The ability to achieve either 56-Kbps or digital modem connections means that a computer with a modem containing the WildWire chip set will be able to transmit data over any phone connection, even in areas where DSL service is not offered yet.
"Having a modem chip set that is not capable of both traditional analog and DSL is like having a car that you can only drive at highway speeds," said Bob Rango, general manager of market development with Lucent's Microelectronics Group. "In the real world, a modem has to be able to communicate at whatever rates are available from the service provider."
Lucent's WildWire chip set includes an auto-detect feature that determines whether or not the central office has a DSL connection and allows the user to transmit data at the highest rate available. This alleviates the need to reconfigure PCs from 56-Kbps modems to DSL, extends the useful life of the modem, and protects the consumer's investment as DSL is deployed.
The WildWire chip set consists of Lucent's 1690 digital signal processor (DSP), an ADSL codec and an analog modem codec. The DSP 1690 couples two of Lucent's DSP1600 cores onto a single chip operating at 200 million instructions per second (MIPS) and consuming only 1.5 watts of power.
Lucent is working closely with the Universal ADSL Working Group (UAWG), which is a consortium of leading companies in the personal computer, telecommunications, and networking industries aimed at accelerating the adoption and availability of high-speed digital Internet access for the mass market.
Lucent's chip set uses the Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT) multi-carrier line coding scheme, which is being widely embraced by telephone companies. And it is easily RAM-upgradeable to improved versions of the International Telecommunications Union's (ITU) anticipated G.Lite standard and the UAWG's 1.5 Mbps proposed technical specification, which is expected later this year.
In separate announcements today, Lucent also introduced a new family of ADSL magnetic components and the WildWire IP ADSL Access System, which incorporates the WildWire chip set.
Samples of the WildWire chip set are available now. Lucent expects to have production quantities available for shipment by the third quarter so that there will be PCs and modems incorporating the chip set in retail stores in time for the holiday shopping season. In the United States, the chip set will be priced at $69 in quantities of 10,000.
Lucent's Microelectronics Group ranks first in the world in sales of modem chips for personal computers (PCs), and the company is the number one seller of chips for modem-equipped PCs in North America, with more than 40 percent market share.(b) The company's PC OEM customers include Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, NEC, Sony, and Toshiba.
For WildWire product literature, customers may call the Microelectronics Group Customer Response Center, 1-800-372-2447, Dept. R74 (in Canada, 1-800-553-2448, Dept. R74); fax number 1-610-712-4106 (especially for callers outside of North America); or write to Lucent Technologies, Room 30L-15P-BA, 555 Union Boulevard, Allentown, Pa., 18103. More information about Lucent's high-speed modem technology can be found on the Microelectronics Group's web site at lucent.com and at www.lucent.com/micro/K56flex.
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 our web site at lucent.com.
Lucent's Microelectronics Group designs and manufactures integrated circuits and optoelectronic components for the computer and communications industries.
(a) 56 Kbps technology refers to server download speeds only and requires compatible modems are server sites. Other conditions may limit modem speed.
(b) Source: VisionQuest 2000
CONTACT:
Lucent Technologies
JoAnna Schooler, 908/508-8234 (work)
732/287-0909 (home)
jschooler@lucent.com
or
Charlie Hartley, 908/508-8226 (work)
908/252-0529 (home)
cjhartley@lucent.com
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