Industry leaders gather in Newport Beach to begin developing draft standards for new 56Kbps modem technology

Rockwell hosts first industry meeting to develop interim 56Kbps modem standard

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 13, 1996--Rockwell Semiconductor Systems on Wednesday announced that the company is hosting the first industry meeting aimed at creating draft standards for new 56Kbps modem technology.

The meeting is being held in Newport Beach today through Friday, Nov. 15.

These draft standards for a new Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) modem are being developed to ensure interoperability between 56Kbps products from a broad spectrum of modem vendors and other communications equipment suppliers. At least five companies including Rockwell have recently announced that they are developing and soon will introduce 56Kbps modem products.

Rockwell is being joined at the meeting by a number of leading U.S. PC and communications companies, including Intel, Motorola, IBM, Compaq and Cisco. This ad hoc committee as been created under the direction of the Electronics Industry Association (EIA) and Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) to develop an EIA/TIA interim standard for U.S. 56Kbps PCM modems by mid-1997.

In addition to developing the interim U.S. EIA/TIA 56Kbps modem standard, the group will also serve as the advisory committee to the U.S. government on modem-related issues involving the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

It is expected that the group's interim work in the United States will form the basis for the ITU's eventual worldwide standards for 56Kbps modem technology. Rockwell is a charter member of this TIA group and is the assistant editor for the draft standard, working with Motorola.

"Rockwell is excited to be part of these efforts, so soon after the industry's first announcements of 56Kbps technology and products," said Michael Henderson, marketing director for Network Access Products, Rockwell Semiconductor Systems. "This is the first step toward giving 56Kbps modem technology a solid foundation so that users can realize its full benefits in a broad range of high-speed connectivity applications.

"The new 56Kbps technology introduces a variety of issues that didn't exist with conventional 28.8Kbps or 33.6Kbps technology, and this EIA/TIA group will thoroughly explore all of the interoperability and infrastructure considerations that dictate how quickly and effectively 56Kbps technology can be moved into users' hands."

New 56Kbps modem technology presents standardization challenges much like those of other rapidly emerging technologies like cellular telephony, for which sanctioning bodies similarly dictated the development of foundational interim standards.

The immediate focus of the TIA/EIA 56Kbps committee is to develop a standard for 56Kbps modems that are optimized for Web browsing by a PC user connected to an Internet Service Provider (ISP). The standard will address U.S. 56Kbps modem products used on the North American Public Switched Network (PSTN), between a central-site or "server" and an individual user or "client." Server modems will be directly connected to the PSTN modem backbone, while client modems will reside at the conventional location at the end of the analog local telephone loop.

Unlike traditional modems, which assume an analog connection between its users, 56Kbps technology takes advantage of the high-speed, digital connection to the telephone network that ISPs and corporations already have. 56Kbps technology bridges the gap between current analog transmission rates and fully digital communication such as ISDN, allowing Web surfers to connect to the Internet at almost double the average connection speed of today's fastest analog modems.

Rockwell Semiconductor Systems is the fastest-growing business segment of Rockwell. Based in Newport Beach, it comprises the Multimedia Communications Division, the Wireless Communications Division and the newly acquired Brooktree Division. The Multimedia Communications Division is the world leader in facsimile and PC modem devices for personal communications electronics.

The Wireless Communications Division offers total system solutions for advanced cordless telephony and global positioning systems (GPS) receiver engines and is developing products and technologies to address the Personal Communications Services (PCS) and wireless packet data markets. The Brooktree Division is a leading producer of high-performance digital and mixed-signal integrated circuits for multimedia, graphics, communications and imaging applications.

Rockwell's industrial automation, semiconductor systems, avionics and communications systems and automotive component systems businesses are leading providers of technology solutions to customers worldwide. The company has annual revenues in excess of $10 billion and employs more than 56,000 people.