Franklin Telecom Issues Typhoon Warning!
Non PC Based DVG to Anchor a New Generation of IP Telephony Products
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 18, 1999-- Franklin Telecom (AMEX:FCM - news) will announce the development of the Typhoon® Data Voice Gateway (DVG) today in conjunction with its Shareholder's Meeting in Westlake Village. The Typhoon is high density, carrier class solution designed to deliver over 1,300 IP telephony ports in a typical Telephone Company central office equipment rack. The low power, low profile, 2U high (3.5'' high), rack mounted Typhoon supports upwards of 120 digital telephony ports per chassis. A single chassis consists of a embedded mother board containing a hierarchy of advanced high speed Micro-processors. The ADI DSP design represents a significant step forward in the state of the art and is implemented with plug-in modules, (similar to the computer industry standard memory SIMM strip) for telco interfaces.
The digital telephone line interfaces options support T1, T1-Primary Rate ISDN, E1, E1-PRI, E1-R2 and optionally 24 analog central office or telephone device lines. Franklin partnered with Telenetworks (now Next Level Communications) in the development of the digital signaling software stacks. Franklin also selected the PC-104 and Motorola communications processor chip sets to implement this advanced carrier design. The product is fully software compatible with the existing Breeze, Tempest® Gateway and AMAS Gatekeeper product lines.
This is a major departure from the industry based PC data voice gateways on the market like VocalTec, NetSpeak and Clarent. The Typhoon is an integrated proprietary solution designed from the ground up by Franklin. The Typhoon supports all of the major interface standards, including H.323, INow! and MGCP. Product reliability and carrier class density are among the reasons for moving beyond the PC base.
Peter Buswell, Franklin's President and COO, explains, ''The 2U chassis is literally half the height of the 4U units we currently use. Hence, we are able to more than double the number of ports in a rack. As our customers require more ports, we can offer them a completely seamless upward path transition. Of course, this also makes our product line more appealing to customers who start out requiring higher density solutions.''
John Saltwick, Vice President of Engineering, based at the Company's Scottsdale development facility is the Program Development Manager for the Typhoon. Discussing one improvement of which he is particularly proud, Saltwick said, ''We have been successful in redesigning the power supply so that it has made major gains in efficiency. We can deliver 1,300 ports in a rack now for a fraction of the power required for earlier PC based Gateways.''
The Linux based Typhoon is 100% compatible with Franklin's Tempest System and the Breeze products, as well. It integrates existing software, including the tracking and billing AMAS Gatekeeper with the next generation software currently being developed.
This unit is a carrier class Telco product that has been in development at Franklin for over two years. In addition to the industry standard digital T-1 and E-1 interfaces, the units can be configured for analog FXO and FXS applications.
Buswell continued ''This is a major step forward for Franklin in product density. The Typhoon will also be used as the Line Interface Unit in Our Internet PBX announced in March. The design should enable us to deliver universal IP port functionality for $350 per port in carrier configurations. The Typhoon is the result of an investment we began over two years ago and it is coming to market on time and on budget! The Typhoon is already being ordered by existing customers and is scheduled for Beta release in the fourth calendar quarter 1999.
Frank Peters, Franklin's Chairman and CEO, said ''This product, together with the 2 port 'Breeze' is going to redefine the American business communications landscape. We can connect the branch offices of corporate America directly to these emerging packet networks like Qwest, USATalks and FNet, enabling seamless call handling, toll free, toll quality interoffice voice and fax communications. The Typhoon and the Breeze(TM) will work with our standard 4U high Tempest, our new 2U high Typhoon and is totally compatible with the Franklin AMAS gatekeeper, Billing software and H.323, INow! and MGCP standards interfaces. Together, these compatible systems mark a breakthrough in networking, in that Franklin can deliver products for the Consumer market clear through to the Telephone Company and large Enterprise markets.''
The primary business of Franklin Telecom is the design and manufacturing of communications devices, including hardware and software solutions which enable superior quality Voice over IP applications. Franklin's Internet subsidiary FNet provides Voice over Internet Protocol global Telco services.
Certain statements in this press release constitute ''forward-looking statements'' within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements, expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
For additional information about this Company, visit the Officer's Message page at Franklin's Web Site:
www.ftel.com - for Internet Telephony & Franklin's Next
Generation Telephone Equipment.
www.fnet.net - for Internet Telephony Next Generation Telephone
Service.
www.franklin.net - for Internet Services, E-Commerce and Access.
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