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Technology Stocks : Westell WSTL -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Michael F. Donadio who wrote (14254)	12/7/1998 9:46:00 AM
From: Eliot Weissberg	Respond to of 21342

Westell to Provide Broad Array of Telecommunications Access Equipment to GTE AURORA, Ill., Dec. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Westell Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: WSTL - news) today announced that it has been awarded a contract with GTE Network Services, a unit of GTE Corporation [NYSE:GTE - news], to provide Network Channel Termination Equipment (NCTE) throughout the GTE national access network. Westell is one of two vendors chosen to supply GTE with a wide variety of T1 equipment for integration into GTE's local loop distribution network. T1 HiCap circuits typically transport high value data traffic to medium to large-size businesses. The open ended contract calls for Westell to supply a full line of telecommunications access products, including SmartLink™ Automatic Protection Switches (APS), PROACT™ Performance Monitoring and SlimJack™ T1 Network Interface Units (NIUs) and high density T1 and HDSL mountings. In total, Westell will now have over 200 of its telecommunications access products standardized by GTE. ''This is an outstanding win for Westell and its Telco Access Products business. This contract award clearly gives us the opportunity to become an even more significant player within the GTE world,'' stated J. Nelson, Westell President and COO. ''We continue to strengthen our partnership with GTE, having been named a GTE Partner in Quality, as well as receiving the Supplier of Excellence award for each of the past three years. We look forward to continuing and growing our relationship with GTE, as we are already shipping product as a result of this contract win.'' Westell's SmartLink APS provides service providers with an additional maintenance protection capability, automatically switching a malfunctioning T1 line to a spare protection line, while notifying the service provider of the problem. SmartLink APS is the only protection switch currently approved for use at GTE. Westell's PROACT Performance Monitoring NIUs continuously monitor the T1 bit stream performance in both directions of transmission and reports this information to a service provider's network test location on a real time basis. PROACT is the industry's first NIU that implements ANSI T1.403 Network Performance Report Messaging (NPRM), a feature that allows the service provider to respond to circuit degradations before the customer experiences significant problems. Westell Technologies is a holding company for Westell, Inc. and Conference Plus, Inc. Westell is a global manufacturer and integrator of ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) and HDSL (High-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line) systems and telecommunications local loop access products, with corporate headquarters in Aurora, Ill. Conference Plus, Inc. is a multi-point telecommunications service bureau specializing in audio teleconferencing, multi-point video conferencing, broadcast fax, and multimedia teleconference services. Additional information can be obtained by visiting Westell's Web site at westell.com. ''Safe Harbor'' statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements contained herein including, without limitation, size and scope of GTE contract, increase in revenue from GTE contract, and deployment of TAP products are forward looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks include, but are not limited to, product demand and market acceptance risks (including the future commercial acceptance of the Company's T1 systems by telephone companies and other customers), the impact of competitive products and technologies (such as HDSL and fiber optic cable), competitive pricing pressures, product development, excess and obsolete inventory due to new product development, commercialization and technological delays or difficulties (including delays or difficulties in developing, producing, testing and selling new products and technologies, such as T1 systems), the effect of the Company's accounting policies, the effect of economic conditions and trade, legal, social, and economic risks (such as import, licensing and trade restrictions) and other risks more fully described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1998 under the section ''Risk Factors.'' The Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. SOURCE: Westell Technologies, Inc.