Hmmmm? > OverVoice High-Speed Internet Equipment for Hotels and Apartments; Receives FCC Authorization for Connection to Phone Network
October 7, 1998 WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ via
NewsEdge Corporation -- CAIS Internet, a
CGX Communications company, today
announced, that OverVoice technology,
which enables high- speed Internet access
over existing telephone wiring up to 300
times faster than typical 28.8 kbps dial-up
service, received Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) Part 68 licensing to permit
connection to the public telephone network.
The licensing is issued following stringent lab
tests of equipment that connects to the
public switched telephone network "to
provide for uniform standards for the
protection of the telephone network from
harms caused by the connection of terminal
equipment and associated wiring," according
to the FCC Part 68 regulation.
OverVoice technology is the first to adapt
the Ethernet standard used for personal
computer Local Area Networks (LANs) in such
a way that permits existing telephone wiring
to simultaneously carry voice traffic for
telephone service and high-speed data for
continuous, split-second, around-the-clock
access to the Internet at speeds that can
be as high as 10 megabits per second.
"While Part 68 licensing is somewhat
standard and routine for devices such as
telephones and answering machines, it is a
more complex issue with technology like
OverVoice, which combines analog voice
signals and high-speed data over standard
telephone wiring," said Kevin Powell, Director
of OverVoice Product Services.
The OverVoice equipment, comprised of a
proprietary wall jack and control unit, uses a
number of capacitors, inductors,
transformers and terminators to form the
OverVoice filters that allow simultaneous use
of the wires by data and voice while assuring
interference-free communication. These
filters enable the voice signal to flow freely
between a telephone and the public switched
network, and data traffic to flow freely
between an end user's PC and the Internet
at speeds up to 10 megabits per second.
OverVoice technology, which requires no
outside power source, also blocks Internet
traffic from the public network and routes it
over a private high-speed circuit that
connects directly to the Internet.
OverVoice uses a high-speed dedicated line
between an apartment building or hotel and a
CAIS Internet point-of-presence. At the
building, a high-speed line is connected to a
server and an Ethernet Hub, which connects
to a proprietary device called the OverVoice
Control Unit. Next, a special OverVoice Wall
Jack, which has separate openings to plug in
a telephone and a computer, replaces the
existing telephone jack. Existing telephone
wires connect the OverVoice Control Unit
and Wall Jacks.
CGX Communications, the parent company of
CAIS Internet, expects OverVoice technology
to play a major role in the nationwide and
international expansion and growth of the
company. The technology is currently
installed or being installed in hotels and
apartment buildings nationwide as part of
commercial trials with Microsoft,
Atcom/INFO, and OnePoint Communications.
CGX Communications, headquartered in
Washington, D.C., is a leading provider of
advanced communications services that
include long distance services, operator
services, and first-tier Internet services.
CAIS Internet, acquired by CGX
Communications in May 1996, is one of the
original first-tier Internet Service Providers.
CAIS has thousands of business,
government, and residential customers, and
provides underlying Internet access to more
than 50 ISPs in the U.S. and abroad, and
ultimately to more than 500,000
"downstream" end-users in the United
States, Europe, Asia, Africa, and South
America. CAIS has a coast-to-coast Internet
backbone with connectivity at speeds that
from 45 Mbps to 100 Mbps.
SOURCE CAIS Internet
/CONTACT: Mike Rothenberg of Rothenberg
Communications, 703-820-1270, or e-mail,
mrothenberg@rothenberg.com, for CAIS
Internet/
[Copyright 1998, PR Newswire] |
