Westell Selected by Canada's Northwestel to Deploy ADSL Systems
Westell's DMT-Based SuperVision ADSL Systems to Deliver High-Speed Internet Service in Canada's Northwest Territories, Yukon Territory And British Columbia
Tuesday January 19, 8:00 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
AURORA, Ill., Jan. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Westell Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: WSTL - news) today announced that it has been selected by Northwestel to provide the ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) equipment necessary for deploying high-speed Internet service in Northwestel's operating area. Northwestel will use Westell's SuperVision systems to offer ADSL service, along with an existing broad range of telecommunications services, to a population of nearly 110,000 living and working in Canada's vast northern territories. The deployment of Westell's ADSL technology is currently underway in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.
''Westell is very pleased to announce that it has been awarded a contract by Northwestel to provide our Discrete Multi-Tone or DMT-based SuperVision ADSL systems,'' stated Manuel Andrade, Westell's Vice President of International Sales and Marketing. ''This deployment calls for the installation of one of Westell's most advanced ADSL systems, and includes our DSL Access Multiplexer (DSLAM).'' Westell's DSLAMs will be installed in the telco carrier's central offices, where phone calls are switched, and connected via existing telephone lines to the SuperVision ADSL digital modems that will reside at the homes and businesses of Northwestel's customers. The SuperVision DSLAM has been developed in accordance with the guidelines provided by the ITU, ADSL Forum and the Universal ADSL Working Group and will continue to be enhanced, as additional industry standards become available.
Northwestel will provide ADSL service to its customers at speeds of 640 Kbps to 8 Mbps. Northwestel's residential high speed Internet service will cost $69.95 and be available to the areas of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory; Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories; and Fort Nelson, British Columbia by mid-1999. Business services start at $199.95. The service provider selected Westell to help it improve its service to its customer base by delivering fast Internet service via ADSL technology.
Peter Boorman, Northwestel President, stated, ''Northwestel has focused on understanding our customers and providing them with the kind of value and service each individual customer expects. By employing innovations like Westell's ADSL technology to deliver high-speed Internet access service to our customers, we are providing our customers with some of the best data communications systems in the world. We have been very pleased with the performance of Westell's equipment during the trial period and have now selected Westell to assist us in our commercial rollout and deployment of ADSL.''
''Our DMT-based SuperVision products have undergone extensive lab and field-testing and are now beginning to experience customer acceptance,'' stated J. Nelson, Westell's President and Chief Operations Officer. ''SuperVision products now run ATM over ADSL. We offer one of the few available ADSL systems on the market today that supports the transmission of ATM cells from either a 155Mbps (SONET/SDH) or a 45Mbps (DS3) ATM network interface to the DSL line modules housed in the SuperVision central office shelf. We are finding, through ongoing customer trials and some early deployments, that many of our service provider customers prefer to use ATM over ADSL for mass deployment of ADSL service. Once again, Westell is making the commercial deployment of ADSL a reality for our customers around the world.''
Northwestel brings high-value communications solutions for the advantage and enjoyment of the 110,000 residents of the Northwest Territories, Yukon and northern British Columbia. Northwestel is a subsidiary of BCE Inc [NYSE:BCE - news].
Westell Technologies, Inc. is a holding company for Westell, Inc. and Conference Plus, Inc. Westell, Inc. is a global manufacturer and integrator of ADSL and HDSL systems and telecommunications access products, with corporate headquarters in Aurora, Illinois. 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, Telco deployment of DSL systems and increases in DSL system sales, 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 ADSL systems by telephone companies and other customers), the impact of competitive products and technologies (such as cable modems 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 ADSL 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.
Westell Background and Supervision Technical Information
Westell's DSLAMs are flexible platforms that consolidate individual access line interfaces to a high-speed network interface. SuperVision's DSLAM end-to-end architecture has been designed for easy installation and supports PPP over ATM via software download to an existing bridged Ethernet subscriber modem. With the addition of the Westell ADSL Router, the customer can now select from multiple service providers. Westell's DSLAM is the only product available today that allows the end-user to select their service provider. Prior to the introduction of the SuperVision DSLAM, only single service provider solutions were available to subscribers. This has been a significant limiting factor in all telecommunications service provider deployments, as users want to connect to the corporate Local Area Network (LAN) during the day and their Internet Service Provider (ISP) at night. Additional SuperVision features include greater subscriber density per central office rack, DS3 network interface, Optical Carrier-3, ATM 25 remotes and 10Base-T ADSL Terminal Unit-remotes. DSLAMs keep the cost of ADSL down for end-users and provide a common mode for telecommunications service providers.
The Westell ADSL SuperVision system is comprised of central office and remote customer premises units, POTS splitters on both ends, the central office shelf and the DSL management system. SuperVision supports up to 252 subscribers in a single system and it is scaleable to support up to six shelves per network interface. The DSL line modules are also rate adaptive and will operate at speeds ranging from 640Kbps to 7.1Mbps downstream and 90Kbps to 1.088Mbps upstream. SuperVision architecture is a modular system driven to support multiple interfaces and multiplexing functions. It has the capability to give network operators the flexibility to configure their SuperVision shelf according to their customers needs and network services required. As new technologies emerge, modules can be added or upgraded without interfering with the other modules. New applications, such as routing functions for multiple users and multiple destinations, can be easily downloaded to the SuperVision ADSL modem. The SuperVision Multiplexer offers a 23-inch shelf, as well as an ETSI-standard shelf mechanics, to meet the requirements of both telecommunications and data communications applications.
SOURCE: Westell Technologies, Inc.
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