NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- The International Telecommunications Union
Wednesday formally ratified an agreement for 56-Kbps modems that will
allow modems from all manufacturers to "talk" to each other. Such modems
transmit data across ordinary phone lines between computers at 56,000
bits of information per second, or 56-Kbps in computer jargon.
   The ITU, a charter organization of the United Nations, is the formal
world-wide telecommunications standards body.
   The announcement comes as the modem industry is still recovering from
a format war sparked by incompatible formats pushed by Rockwell
International Corp. (ROK) and 3Com. Earlier this year, a standards group
settled the dispute with the adoption of a unified 56-Kbps standard.
   In February, 3Com Corp. (COMS) was the first modem maker to begin
shipping the 56-Kbps modems to replace older, slower modems, including
those that send at 28.8 and 33.6 kilobits per second.
   3Com said Wednesday's ratification is an important issue for
consumers and Internet service providers, or ISPs, and could drive modem
sales during the holiday season. 3Com said ratification also is
particularly important to corporate customers, who represent a
significant piece of the overall market but tend to wait until standards
are set before installing new technologies.
   The higher-speed modems will permit deployment of applications such
as streaming audio and video, which require fast Internet connections.
   The patent for the 56-Kbps technology belongs to inventor Brent
Townshend, whose inventions were at the center of the modem war last
year as some experts have said his inventions are foundation for 56-Kbps
modems. But when modem makers earlier this year agreed to the common
standard, many companies contributed patented technologies.
   Townshend, who holds a number of other key patents, last year sued
Rockwell, alleging it misused secrets that Townshend revealed to the
firm years ago. Townsend later licensed his technology to 3Com.
   Copyright (c) 1998 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.