Lucent Technologies Offers End-To-End Digital Modem Technology For Standard
Phone Lines
BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J., Jan. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Lucent Technologies' (NYSE:LU)
Microelectronics Group today announced a new Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) chip set that
can download data at 1.5 megabits per second (Mbps)(A), about 30 times faster than
today's analog modems. In addition, Lucent's Switching and Access Group announced
plans to offer switching equipment that can interoperate with products based on the new
chip set.
Lucent's new DSL technology, called WildWire(TM), will be as convenient to install in PCs
as analog modems are today, because it eliminates the need for additional equipment or
modified wiring at the customer's home. Users can download information from the Internet
and simultaneously hold a telephone conversation over the same wire that now delivers
voice service to their home.
Lucent's Switching and Access Group supplies network communications equipment for
approximately 70 percent of the central offices in the United States. Lucent's
Microelectronics Group is the leading provider of modem chips to PC manufacturers,
supplying modem chips for more than 40 percent of the world's modem-equipped PCs (B).
Its customers for 56-Kbps modem chips include Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, NEC,
Sony, and Toshiba.
DSL converts analog telephone lines into digital lines by adding a line-interface device at the
central office side of the link, and a DSL modem at the subscriber's home. Customers must
also subscribe to DSL service from their telephone service provider. Bell Labs, Lucent's
research and development arm, invented DSL technology and owns several fundamental
patents.
Previously, phone companies have had to install additional telephone wiring or voice/data
splitters at subscribers' homes to separate voice and DSL channels. WildWire eliminates this
necessity.
Lucent expects to begin shipping sample chip sets incorporating this technology in the third
quarter of 1998.
"The combination of Lucent's PC modem chips and its network switching equipment means
WildWire is likely to be deployed in PCs and central offices throughout the world," said Bob
Rango, general manager of modem integrated circuits for Lucent's Microelectronics Group.
WildWire could dramatically accelerate the growth of the Internet by changing the way
people use it. A WildWire connection will allow a user to leave the computer logged in to an
Internet service provider all day, and do quick checks of weather, stock, or traffic as
needed, and still make and receive voice calls. This eliminates the effort and time required to
turn on the computer and get online for each information request.
"And megabit speeds will enrich the entertainment value of the Internet, without the hassle
and cost of installing a dedicated digital line," added Rango.
Lucent's Switching and Access Group will offer DSL "application packs" that plug into its
switches and digital loop carrier equipment to allow them to communicate with
WildWire-equipped PCs and modems. The 5ESS(R)-2000 Switch's new AnyMedia(TM)
Express System and Lucent's new AnyMedia Access Platform are designed to host a
variety of narrowband and broadband data access services from the switch and digital loop
carrier.
"We're continually enhancing the capabilities of our installed base of switching and access
equipment in order to meet changing service demand and market needs," said Linda
Manchester, director of strategy and business planning for Lucent's Access Group. "The
deployment of this DSL equipment is the latest of these enhancements.
"Making WildWire compatible with our switching equipment will help service providers
quickly bring this emerging technology to consumers, meeting demand for high-speed data
access," said Hilton Nicholson, marketing director for Lucent's Switching group.
For more information on Lucent's digital modem technology, customers may call the
Microelectronics Group Customer Response Center, 1-800-372-2447, Dept. R67 (in
Canada, 1-800-553-2448, Dept. R67); fax number 1-610-712-4106 (especially for callers
outside of North America); or write to Lucent Technologies, Room 30L-15P-BA, 555 Union
Boulevard, Allentown, Pa., 18103.
Today's announcement adds to Lucent's existing ADSL (Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber
Line) portfolio, including the ATM-based ADSL channel units for the SLC-2000(R) and
SLC Series 5 digital loop carrier solutions, and the Paradyne HotWire 5100.
Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., designs, builds and delivers a wide
range of public and private networks, communications systems and software, data
networking systems, business telephone systems and microelectronic components. For
more information on Lucent Technologies, visit our web site at lucent.com .
(A) While WildWire chips are capable of transferring data at 1.5 Mbps, users' individual line
conditions can affect the transfer rate.
(B) Source: VisionQuest 2000
SOURCE Lucent Technologies
-0- 01/18/98
/CONTACT: Charlie Hartley of Lucent Technologies Microelectronics Group,
908-508-8226, or home: 908-253-0241, or cjhartley@lucent.com; or Laurie Dobosz of
Lucent Technologies Switching and Access Group, or 630-224-4196, or home:
847-698-0848, or ldobosz@lucent.com/
/Web site: lucent.com |
