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To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (666)	12/7/1997 5:28:00 PM
From: Tom Hua	Respond to of 1629

Modem Makers Appear Ready To Adopt Industry Standard Dow Jones Newswires PALO ALTO, Calif. -- After months of wrangling, modem makers appear poised to adopt a standard format for the new generation of 56kbps modems next month, giving a boost to this emerging market. Key industry players 3Com Corp., Rockwell International Corp., Lucent Technologies Inc. and Motorola Inc. agreed late Thursday to a compromise measure on two technical points standing in the way of an interoperability standard. Several more minor issues remain unresolved and technology cross-licensing arrangements have be to reached. But representatives of these four companies seem optimistic a draft standard can be reached when the International Telecommunications Union meets in Geneva, Switzerland, on Jan. 26. A standard for these fast 56-kilobit-per-second modems was put off at the union's September meeting when several technical disagreements could not be resolved. "We broke a major logjam," said 3Com's Neil Clemmons, vice president of marketing for personal communications products. "We're on our way toward a determination in January." Guarantees are impossible, but a decision is "very likely," said Bahman Barazesh, a technical manager at Lucent. "I don't see why there would be a problem." The four modem producers are among more than 25 companies that have been seeking since March a technological middle ground between 3Com's x2 modem and the K56flex modem pushed by Rockwell, Motorola and Lucent. At a three-day meeting this week in Orlando, Fla., a compromise was reached on the final two key issues, ones involving how to improve performance over "noisy" phone lines and how to "represent" data for transport over phone lines. Union members had split into two camps with some supporting the x2 technology and others backing the K56flex technology, according to meeting representatives. The disagreement was overcome in a compromise brokered by Intel Corp., Mr. Clemmons said. Modem makers say they could have products abiding by the new standard and software updates for existing products on the market shortly after a January agreement. In a separate issue, modem makers have yet to resolve an uncertainty concerning technical claims from Brent Townshend, but the claims seem unlikely to derail a standard. Mr. Townshend, a Stanford University consulting professor, claims to have invented technology integral to both versions of the 56kbps modem and has applied for a patent. He also has licensed his technology to 3Com, but not struck deals with other makers. Mr. Townshend spoke at the Orlando meeting, vowing to present reasonable licensing terms. His appearance made the attending companies feel more comfortable, Mr. Barazesh said. Still, companies such as Rockwell maintain they don't use any of Mr. Townshend's technology, said Vijay Parikh, vice president and general manager of Rockwell's personal computing division. That would make a license unnecessary, he said.

To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (666)	12/7/1997 5:34:00 PM
From: blankmind	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1629

MODEM VENDORS SEE RAPID GROWTH IN K56FLEX SALES (i do not remember seeing this article,sorry if old - balnmind) Alameda, Calif., December 2, 1997 -- Simultaneously with the announcement today of the large-scale deployment of K56flex ports by Ascend Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASND), modem vendors reported their support for the K56flex technology and rapid growth in K56flex sales. "We've seen over a 300 percent increase in K56flex sales through our partners during the last 90 days. We attribute this directly to the fast growth of K56flex central site deployment and to rapid consumer acceptance of this technology." -- Bruce Zaman, President Best Data Products, Inc. Contact: Paul Goldberg (818) 773-9600 x164 paul@bestdata.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "We at TDK are excited by the performance and availability of K56flex. With the rapid growth in Internet access we are committed to K56flex as the technology that will be the dominant player in the 56K race." -- Bill Harris, Product Marketing Manager TDK Systems, Inc. Contact: Bill Harris (916) 478-8275 bharris@sierra.tsi.tdk.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "As the only modem vendor in the world to offer both K56flex and X2 products, we are finding that our K56flex products are outselling the competition 20-to-1. It is clear that K56flex has gathered steam, due in large measure to the efforts of Ascend and its ISP partners." -- Marshall Toplansky, Vice President, Marketing Hayes Microcomputer Systems, Inc. Contact: Marshall Toplansky mtoplansky@hayes.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The significant increase in deployment of K56flex, which Ascend is reporting, is reflected in our numbers. During the month of October, we experienced a significant up-tick in 56K orders, and this trend is continuing with November's shipments. These positive signs indicate that consumers are gaining confidence in the deployment of ISPs. As the number of ISPs offering K56flex connections increases, consumers are increasingly demanding the high-speed modems for Internet access." -- Tony Zalenski, President and CEO Boca Research Contact: Gale Blackburn (561) 997-6227 x305 galeb@bocaresearch.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Customers continually demand faster Internet access for surfing the web and downloading the increasingly multimedia-intensive graphics, video and audio found on the World Wide Web. With 56K technology, consumers and small businesses can achieve speeds that will allow them to significantly enhance their internet experience and overall productivity." -- Jim Cady, Vice President and General Manager Diamond Multimedia, Communications Division Contact: Kerry Verbanic (360) 604-1456 kerryv@diamondmm.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Zoom has developed a broad line of award-winning K56flex products for many countries worldwide. We have felt all along that K56flex would be the most popular pre-standard 56K approach, given its support by Rockwell, Lucent, Compaq and other leading computer manufacturers, and the top central site manufacturers. With recent widespread service roll-out by American Online, Bell South, Earthlink, Erols, GTE, Microsoft Network, UUNet and many others, we are seeing a surge in sell-through of K56flex at retail and intense excitement by our sales team and market channel partners." -- Frank Manning, President Zoom Telephonics, Inc. Contact: Ray Zamagni (617) 753-0585 rayz@zoomtel.com