Alcatel, ADTRAN, and Telmax Announce HDSL2 Interoperability; Complete End-to-End HDSL2 Service Delivery Platform Available.

Business/Technology Editors

RALEIGH, NC--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 29, 2000

In a development that finally enables service providers to deploy standards-based, high-bandwidth fully symmetric Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) service on a single copper pair, Alcatel (NYSE: ALA), ADTRAN (NASDAQ: ADTN), and Telmax Communications today announced they have demonstrated interoperability of their HDSL2 product offerings. Interoperability was recently achieved at Alcatel USA's DSL business unit headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the companies will continue their interoperability efforts at the HDSL2 Consortium's group testing at the University of New Hampshire's InterOperability Laboratory.

The HDSL2 interoperability test bed established by the companies includes Alcatel's industry leading ATM Subscriber Access Multiplexer (ASAM) with HDSL2 linecards, the Telmax Xtreme2600 HDSL2 customer premises equipment (CPE), and ADTRAN's HDSL2 repeater. The successful interoperability of these three components is significant in that all elements of an HDSL2 service delivery platform have been included. The Telmax HDSL2 access device can be installed in the subscriber's home or business, the ADTRAN repeater can be installed in the network to enable service availability at greater distances from the service node, and the Alcatel ASAM can be installed at the service provider's service node or central office.

HDSL2 offers North American service providers an industry-standard, single-pair symmetric DSL service delivery option, capable of offering 1.5 Mbps guaranteed data service. Without an industry standard for high-bandwidth symmetric DSL, true multi-vendor interoperability is impossible. In contrast, interoperability promotes healthy competition within a mass market, resulting in lower prices and greater product innovation. To obtain the benefits afforded by standards-based solutions, a number of service providers are actually deploying Asymmetric DSL (ADSL) for symmetric business services. ADSL is a standards-based DSL technology that can deliver data rates of up to 8 Mbps downstream and 800 Kbps upstream over a single copper pair, without affecting the normal telephone services on that line. It can support symmetric service at rates up to 800Kbps in both directions.

To take advantage of the booming demand for higher bandwidth symmetric DSL business services, a small number of North American service providers focusing on business subscribers have deployed a limited number of symmetric DSL lines based on an older, vendor-specific, single-pair DSL technology known as SDSL. However, there are many variants of SDSL on the market, and they do not interoperate with one another. Furthermore, SDSL can have an adverse effect on the performance of other communications services, which HDSL2 avoids. For these reasons, industry experts believe HDSL2 and the newly emerging international symmetric DSL standards (ITU G.shdsl and ETSI SDSL) will replace current SDSL.

Alcatel, ADTRAN and Telmax Communications are committed to also include the G.shdsl ITU standard in their product offerings. G.shdsl will standardize the sub-rate operation of HDSL2, and allow for an even larger diversity of symmetric DSL service offerings.

About HDSL2

HDSL2 is an industry-standard Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology capable of delivering standards-based symmetric service at 1.544 Mbps in both directions over a single telephone line copper pair. The technology permits the use of repeaters, allowing service providers to reach subscribers up to 24 thousand feet from the service node. Unlike SDSL, a proprietary symmetric DSL technology that has seen limited deployment, HDSL2 is compatible with the most widely deployed form of DSL, asymmetric DSL (ADSL), as well as HDSL, T1, and ISDN services. The mixture of SDSL lines in the same cable binder as ADSL lines can reduce ADSL performance significantly. HDSL2 lines, however, can be intermixed in a cable binder with ADSL lines without material degradation of ADSL performance, greatly reducing costly binder management challenges.

HDSL2 was developed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) T1E1.4 committee. The standard has been fully approved by letter ballot, and is in the process of publication as ANSI standard T1.418-2000.

About Alcatel

Alcatel builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data networking solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers worldwide. With 120,000 employees and sales of EURO 23 billion in 1999, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com

The leading supplier of DSL systems with more than 50 percent of the worldwide market, Alcatel has been supplying industry-standard end-to-end DSL solutions since 1996. The Alcatel 1000 ATM Subscriber Access Multiplexer supports a wide variety of service packages, including asymmetric and symmetric offerings. It is fully NEBS Level 3 compliant, and can be seamlessly collocated to provide excellent density, power utilization and heat dissipation in collocation environments. The Alcatel 1000 provides unique functionality in support of combined services including multiple ATM QoS per subscriber line and flexible bandwidth.

About ADTRAN

Established in 1985, ADTRAN, Inc. is a leading provider of network deployment and access solutions for delivering today's digital telecommunications services over existing copper infrastructures.

Today, ADTRAN technologies support more than two million local loops worldwide. More than 500 ADTRAN products support all major digital technologies, including T3, T1, E1, Frame Relay, DDS, HDSL, HDSL2, SDSL, xDSL, ISDN, and wireless transport. In the carrier network and enterprise markets, ADTRAN produces a complete end-to-end solution that provides the greatest network efficiency and lowest possible telecommunications costs.

According to Dataquest and IDC, ADTRAN holds revenue-leading positions in the Frame Relay/DDS, ISDN Extension and HDSL/T1/E1 network and access markets. ADTRAN customers include the Regional Bell Operating Companies, interexchange carriers, GTE, domestic independent service providers, corporate end users, international customers and original equipment manufacturers.

For more information, contact the company at 800 9ADTRAN (800 923-8726), 256 963-8000, or via e-mail at [e-mail]. On the web, visit http://www.adtran.com.

About Telmax

Headquartered in Fremont, California, Telmax Communications Corporation is a privately held, four-year-old access technology company focused on leading edge design, development, and integration of xDSL technology into high speed telecommunications systems utilizing single-pair copper wire. For more information on Telmax, call [phone] or visit Telmax on the Internet at www.telmaxcom.com (http://www.telmaxcom.com) .