Artel Ships New Version of Cross Stream-TM- Video Access Multiplexer & De-Multiplexer; Adds Support for SDH/SONET And HDTV Applications.

Business/Technology Editors

Artel Video Systems, a leading provider of video transport solutions to the cable television, satellite and telecommunication industries, today announced the shipment of its recently enhanced version of Cross Stream 155M video access multiplexer and Cross Stream 155D de-multiplexer. The new releases deliver significant capabilities, adding support for both SDH/SONET networks and HDTV applications. Cross Stream 155 products are intelligent network edge devices used to transport MPEG-2 video over ATM networks, delivering advanced MPEG switching, network adaptation, re-multiplexing, and unrivalled jitter management capabilities.

Cross Stream now supports transport of MPEG video over SDH/SONET networks while utilizing ATM as a basic transport layer, which allows for large aggregated backbone rings containing a number of disparate data types to seamlessly co-exist side-by-side.

Cross Stream 155 has also been enhanced to provide support for HDTV (High Definition Television), allowing streams with data rates as high as 50 Mbps to be transmitted. This added functionality enables service providers to take advantage of existing ATM or SDH/SONET networks for HDTV distribution.

The Cross Stream product line meets the requirements of progressive telecommunications and CATV operators who are building rich media networking infrastructures. As cable television networks adopt packet-based network infrastructures for the transport of multiple data types, standard network interfaces and quality of service (QoS) functionality become baseline requirements. Cross Stream delivers the functionality and superior image quality required to deliver robust and cost-effective service provisioning.

"The broadband industry is evolving rapidly. At Artel, we are committed to bringing to market products with the features and the quality to drive the roll out of interactive television services," said John Amaral, Artel's Chief Technology Officer. "By adding SDH/SONET and HDTV support to our platform we are allowing service providers to deliver compelling new services quickly and cost effectively."

At the core of Cross Stream is Artel's state-of-the-art technology, VideoStorm(TM), an MPEG video switching hardware engine designed to handle the routing, switching, and transport of multi-megabit MPEG video services in real-time while managing video specific traffic types over packet-based networks. VideoStorm is network agnostic, designed to arbitrate large volumes of real-time video traffic between networks of varying technologies.

Artel's Cross Stream supports a variety of transmission technologies, including DVB-ASI, ATM OC-3 UNI and 10/100BaseT Ethernet ports for remote management. The system adheres to all relevant DVB standards and ATM forum specifications, enabling providers to easily integrate Cross Stream with other standards-based networking systems. Cross Stream is a one rack unit (RU) system that combines standards-based interfaces with protocol handling functionality to efficiently distribute real-time high performance video.

Cross Stream is shipping, and has an MSRP of $11,995 per unit.

About Artel Video Systems

Artel provides video networking systems to cable TV and telecommunications service providers who need to satisfy the consumer's ever growing appetite for broadband digital entertainment. Artel's products are transforming the world's networking infrastructures by enabling the transmission of broadcast and interactive TV over standards based multi-service networks. Artel is headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts, USA, with sales and service centers worldwide. Further information about the company is available on the World Wide Web at www.artel.tv.