G. Zeevy, Once more with feeling,
Tuesday November 25, 2:58 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Franklin Teams With IBM and Lucent for State-of-the-Art
Demo Sponsored by Syracuse University
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 25, 1997--Franklin Telecom
(OTC/BB:FTEL - news) Tuesday announced that its recently introduced Tempest Data Voice
Gateway has been selected by the Syracuse University High Performance Distributed Computing Lab
to demonstrate toll-quality voice over an ATM network.
The Rural Educational System Network (RESNET) demonstration was the result of a joint effort by
Lucent Technologies, IBM, Sheco Energy Co., Syracuse University and Franklin Telecom.
Dr. Salim Hariri, head of the High Performance Distributed Computing Lab, said: ''In my telephony
laboratory at Syracuse University, we tested several voice-over-IP gateways. The Franklin Tempest
stood out as the quality leader for its voice quality. We have recently demonstrated successfully the
use of the Tempest to provide telephony service over IP/ATM network as part of the RESNET
demonstration held on Thursday, Nov. 20, 1997.''
(http://www.atm.syr.edu/projects/RESNET/index.html)
The mandate of the RESNET project is to develop a reliable, state-of-the-art means of linking people
in remote areas with educational, medical and entertainment resources that have, until now, been
unavailable to them. The design for the RESNET system, developed by Syracuse University, utilizes
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) and single-mode fiber.
RESNET will connect the Tyler County Courthouse, Woodville ISD High School, Tyler County
Hospital, Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, Big Sandy ISD, Livingston High School, the Polk
County Courthouse and the Polk County Hospital with the main campus of Sam Houston State
University in Huntsville, Texas.
The demonstration was held at the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, 75 miles northeast of
Houston. An inter-LATA voice call over an OC-24 ATM backbone was accomplished by simply
picking up a telephone in the Tribal Council Meeting Room and dialing the extension of the
Woodville school library, 16 miles away.
State, regional and local officials were on hand to witness this ground-breaking event, which also
included demonstrations of remote teacher/student video conferencing and multicast DVD movie
viewing.
For the demonstration, Lucent Technologies provided the optical fiber, IBM supplied the ATM
switch hardware and Sheco Energy did the physical cable installation. Syracuse University provided
the system personnel and technical personnel. Franklin Telecom provided the voice-over-IP hardware
(the Tempest) and support.
According to Frank Peters, Franklin's president and chief executive officer: ''We are delighted that
Syracuse chose our Tempest to be part of this innovative program. This application demonstrates the
life-changing potential in these new technologies. In one sense, the world is shrinking; in another, it is
expanding beyond what we could have imagined only a few short years ago.
''It is extremely gratifying that such a prestigious operation recognized the Tempest's outstanding
voice quality and reliability above other available products and incorporated the Tempest into this
project.''
The primary business of Franklin Telecom, founded in 1981, is the design and manufacturing of
communications devices, high-speed LAN, WAN, telco and satellite systems and software. Franklin
has an installed base of more than 100,000 nodes worldwide. Franklin's Internet subsidiaries, FNet
and Internet Passport, provide services using FTEL products. Certain statements in this news 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.
NOTE TO EDITORS: For the latest up-to-the-minute information, visit the company's Web site:
ftel.com .
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