Standard For 56K Distant
techweb.com
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The battle for 56K will reach a new level early next year as a range of vendors hitthe market in two technology camps: U.S. Robotics' x2 vs. Rockwell/Lucent'sK56flex. However, possible moves by Internet Service Providers and onlineservice companies could mitigate possible incompatibilities between the two camps.
U.S. Robotics has pledged it will have its x2 modems in the market in Q1 '97, adding that upgrades to select models of its Sportster modems will be available in January 1997.
Lucent has its own silicon in production and expects to see its OEMs hit the market with modems built on the K56flex technology in Q1 1997. It plans to supply existing modem owners with a software upgrade path in the January/February time frame. "You should see the modems in late March. It should all happen in the first quarter," said Rango. "Rockwell plans to start sampling its modem chipset in the first quarter, and modems are expected sometime after that."
One hurdle looming is that 56K-bps modems need to communicate with other 56K-bps modems to reach top speeds; if the two protocols do not agree, there could be connectivity issues, Rango said. But the recent rash of announcements, including those by ISP Netcom and online provider CompuServe, could alleviate compatibility problems. "When you dial in at a site, it will have a box that asks which technology a user has-x2 or K56flex," Rango said.
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