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To: HammerHead who wrote (24426)	11/22/1997 6:10:00 PM
From: Marcel	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 61433

Poll Fires Latest Shot in Standards War -- Survey Signals Victory for K56flex Advocates y Todd Wasserman November 24, 1997, Issue: 192 Section: News Las Vegas-K56flex supporters are claiming a victory in the war over 56K-bps modem standards, thanks to a recent survey showing K56flex has surpassed 3Com's x2 designin Internet service provider (ISP) deployment. K56flex chipset makers Rockwell Semiconductor and Lucent Technologies cite a soon-to-be-released ISP survey by BoardWatch magazine, which found that ISPs offering K56flex technology account for 16.6 percent of North American ISPs. ISPs offering 3Com's x2 technology make up 14 percent, and about 5.7 percent of ISPs offer both technologies. Results showed that 63.7 percent of ISPs do not offer 56K-bps service. K56flex supporters were nonetheless jubilant. "We've definitely hit crossover,"said Ray Labadie, Rockwell key programs development manager. The company plans an advertising campaign with America Online in December. K56flex previously trailed x2 in ISP deployment because K56flex worked with large ISPs such as Uunet and GTE that took longer to overhaul their massive networks, Labadie said. In contrast, 3Com focused on smaller ISPs and, in the case of AOL, on the online service's own ISP hardware, he said. In a rare note of conciliation, 3Com's vice president of marketing, Neil Clemmons, said the K56flex side had "made progress," but added that the BoardWatch survey-taken in September and October-was slightly out of date. About 1,200 ISPs currently offer x2, up from about 1,000 two months ago, he said. About 4,000 North American ISPs were polled, BoardWatch managing editor Steve Clark said. Rockwell also alleged that 3Com was deliberately holding up the 56K standards process. Vijay Parikh, vice president and general manager of Rockwell's multimedia communications division, said 3Com's strategy was to take advantage of the new technology to get ISPs to switch over to x2. With a standard, he said, there would be no reason for the majority of ISPs to switch. "The only one who would lose out if there was a standard is 3Com," he said. Clemmons, however, said 3Com favors a 56K standard. "We've done our best to be supportive. I don't know what else we can do," he said. Copyright (c) 1997 CMP Media Inc. techweb.com