Stratacom, PairGain and Cisco Team to Demonstrate The Next Generation of Internet Services at SuperComm; Companies Will Show How Combining xDSL Access, Internet Routing and ATM Switching Can Improve Internet Congestion and Performance

Business Wire, June 24, 1996

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 24, 1996--StrataCom, Cisco Systems, and PairGain Technologies today announced they have joined forces to successfully demonstrate, for the first time, technology capable of delivering Internet services 10 to 20 times faster than conventional analog or digital access solutions at nearly half the cost.

The joint demonstration at SuperComm will highlight emerging digital subscriber line (xDSL) technology, Internet routing and ATM switching to provide high speed access and transport for Internet and corporate Intranet services.

The collaboration represents the industry's first tangible evidence that high-speed voice, video and data services can be quickly and effectively delivered by combining xDSL and ATM technology over the Internet by service providers through the use of existing infrastructure and at significantly reduced costs.

"With this demonstration, we will prove that the technologies necessary for cost-effectively transforming the Internet and corporate Intranets into high-speed multimedia communication infrastructures are here today and work as advertised," said Peter Alexander, executive director of marketing at StrataCom.

Advances in xDSL and ATM technology are providing business and residential users high-speed dedicated Internet access as well as the ability to send and receive voice, video and data at rates ranging from 384 kbps to six megabits per second (Mbps). This represents an increase of more than 200 percent over conventional methods using the highest speed analog modems.

"xDSL and ATM are perhaps the two most important technologies in popularizing high-speed Internet access and transport and validating multimedia over the Internet," said Tom Nolle, president of CIMI Corporation in Voorhees, N.J. "As a vehicle to explore new forms of information, Internet access and transport must get a lot faster without getting a lot more expensive. An xDSL/ATM solution clearly solves this dilemma."

SuperComm Demonstration Details

The demonstration will link users to PairGain's Megabit Modems using High-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line (HDSL) technology, operating at 768 kbps symmetrically to Cisco routers feeding into StrataCom BPX/AXIS ATM switches through a high-speed (45 Mbps) ATM connection - illustrating how carriers can integrate and immediately deploy these products to deliver dramatically faster, cheaper and more robust Internet and corporate Intranet services.

To demonstrate the power of the combined technologies, users will remotely access Internet Web pages using single pair HDSL at 768 kbps, full duplex, coupled with high-speed ATM transport across the wide area to an ATM-attached server (demo diagram available).

Nolle noted that the combination of the new technologies will be of particular interest to regional Bell operating companies (RBOCs) looking to quickly penetrate the Internet market with faster and more robust solutions that take advantage of their existing local loop networks.

Immediate Benefits

By using the HDSL technology over existing copper telephone lines, corporations and carriers can lower the cost of linking remote users and branch offices into enterprise backbones or connecting sites to the Internet by roughly 80 percent compared to deploying and/or using fiber facilities. In addition, since no new facilities need to be deployed, connectivity can virtually happen in under one hour. Other benefits include higher transmission quality, increased system reliability through the elimination of repeaters and a reduction of recurring monthly leased line costs.

"The combination of these technologies represents a profound opportunity for carriers to deliver dramatically higher speed services with little incremental infrastructure investment," said Joel Maloff, president of Maloff Consulting, Dexter, MA, a leading Internet consultancy. "Meanwhile users will get what they've been screaming for -- immediate, high-speed, dedicated access to the Internet over the same copper phone lines currently in use in their homes or businesses."

StrataCom -- Booth No. 5210

StrataCom, Inc. (NASD:STRM), based in San Jose, California, USA, develops, delivers and supports FastPacket networking systems for ATM applications in private wide area networks and public carrier service offerings, such as frame relay, ATM and Internet. StrataCom's family of products, including IPX, IGX, BPX, AXIS, FastPAD, and EdgeConnect, is used to integrate and transport a wide variety of corporate information, including voice, data, video, LANs, image and multimedia traffic in narrowband to broadband ATM network applications. Visit StrataCom's home page at http://www.stratacom.com

PairGain -- Booth No. 7082

PairGain Technologies (NASDAQ: PAIR) is the market leading manufacturer of high-speed digital subscriber line (DSL) systems allowing telephone companies and organizations with private communications networks to more efficiently and quickly deploy megabit speed data, video and voice to end users over the existing infrastructure of ordinary copper telephone lines. PairGain's HiGain T1/E1, PG-Flex subscriber carrier systems, campus area network and megabit access products are marketed under the trademark, CopperOptics, indicating their ability to provide fiber optic quality transmission over the "last mile" in both public and private networks, worldwide. Additional information on PairGain and its products can be obtained on the Internet at http://www.pairgain.com.