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Technology Stocks : Ascend Communications-News Only!!! (ASND) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (402)	10/29/1997 8:41:00 AM
From: w2j2	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1629

If Coms wins the 56k standard, how does that affect Ascend? Are their modems software upgradable to the COMS standard? Or will all the modems they have sold be non-standard?wj NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Rockwell International Corp., which is battling 3Com Corp. over the technical format for 56-kilobits-per-second computer modems, Tuesday said it plans to ship a much-different and much-faster product next year. 3Com, which earlier this year acquired modem king U.S. Robotics Corp., and Rockwell are trying to make their incompatible formats an industry standard for 56-Kbps modems. 3Com's format is dubbed x2 while Rockwell's format is called 56KFlex. But the new technology, dubbed consumer digital subscriber line, or CDSL, is a variation of the DSL technologies just starting to emerge. Rockwell said its approach will allow the technology to be priced, sold and installed much like traditional modems yet offer data-transfer speeds that are as much as 10 to 20 times faster. Rockwell touts CDSL as "the next logical step" after 56-kbps modems. DSL technology increases the data-carrying capacity of traditional copper telephone wires. Some companies specialize in HDSL, or high bit-rate digital subscriber line, technology but the best-known variant is the ADSL, or asymmetric digital subscriber line, format. Last fall, Rockwell acquired Brooktree Corp., an HDSL-technology company. The CDSL announcement COULD BE A HEDGE for Rockwell in case it loses the 56-kbps standards fight. An international standards body that has been working to adopt a common standard for 56-Kbps modems has delayed until at least January a decision on the matter. Rockwell thinks its CDSL technology can be implemented more cost effectively than ADSL because it operates at a lower rate that is "ideal for Web browsing and remote computing." Additionally, CDSL technology eliminates the need for fancy equipment and wiring associated with ADSL, Rockwell said. "Internet users are starving for more bandwidth, and it's important that we begin working on the next Internet connectivity breakthrough even as K56flex modems are establishing their place in the market," Rockwell said. "A year or so from now we want to see a seamless transition from 56-Kbps modems to this next higher-speed technology." Rockwell expects product and service roll-outs for the CDSL technology could begin as early as the second half of 1998. Telephone companies will first have to adopt the technology. Rockwell expects to offer CDSL modems which incorporate current modem formats. As for pricing, Rockwell said it will market modems at "traditional retail modem price points."