Alcatel and APC Announce Development Partnership to Simplify ADSL Line Interface Design; Key Partnership Reduces Customers' Development Cycles

Cambridge Telcom Report, March 20, 2000

Alcatel (NYSE: ALA) and APC announce the availability of the APC78106 line interface hybrid for Alcatel's latest ADSL DynaMiTe chipset, the MTK20150. The APC78106 line interface hybrid offers substantial benefits to users of Alcatel's MTK20150 ADSL chipset by considerably reducing their analog front end design effort while guaranteeing Alcatel's renowned ADSL performance.

The compact line interface hybrid results from the collaboration between the two companies, combining Alcatel's leading ADSL design skills with APC's foremost capabilities in analog hybrid technologies.

The APC78106 is part of APC's new "Maximum Reach" DSL product range which is being developed to optimise DSL system performance. It replaces most of the discrete components required on the line side of Alcatel's MTC20154 AFE chip and was jointly developed by APC and Alcatel to enhance ADSL terminal designs being developed for high speed internet access.

The APC78106 offers Alcatel's customers the advantages of reduced development cycles, reduced total solution cost, reduced board space requirements and guaranteed performance. Pierre Garnier, Alcatel's Telecom Business Unit Director for the microelectronics activities, says, "We have established a close working relationship with APC who have a proven track record in miniaturisation and optimisation of line interface circuitry within their hybrid product ranges. Their 'Maximum Reach' product range offers significant advantages to our customers. By co-developing the APC78106 we are able to offer our customers a simple to implement, pre-engineered, single component line interface. This guarantees 'right the first time' system performance which reduces our customers' time-to-market."

APC's Sales & Marketing Director, Mark Robinson echoes the comments made by Garnier. "We are seeing a tremendous growth in our ADSL design activity through our association with Alcatel. Since the launch of our 'Maximum Reach' range of products in December 1999 we have been actively involved with a number of major OEM's using the Alcatel 'DynaMiTe' chipsets and APC hybrids. As these OEM's move from the development phase into production over the next twelve months we expect to see a significant return from the investments made in research and development."

Alcatel builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data communications solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers worldwide. With 120,000 employees and sales of EURO 21.3 billion ($25.0 billion), Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information: www.alcatel.com

Founded in 1982 Advanced Power Components (APC) is a leading provider of ISDN and DSL line interface hybrids to the broadband communications industry. Publicly traded since 1996 APC is traded on the Official List of the London Stock Exchange under the symbol APC.L. For more information about APC visit www.apcisdn.com