Celerity-TM- DSL Loop Qualification System is Awarded Two Patents; Service Providers Can Provision DSL Services Faster.

Business/Technology Editors

DEERFIELD, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 25, 2002

Teradyne Broadband Test Division, Inc., (NYSE: TER - news), a leading provider of broadband test capabilities, announced today that the Celerity(TM) DSL test system has been awarded two patents for its unique line qualification testing methodology. Celerity measures the insertion loss of an existing phone line using a single-ended test through the voice switch via the narrowband test bus, allowing a copper line to be pre-qualified by the ILEC prior to offering broadband DSL services. The two patents: "Fault Conditions Affecting High Speed Data Services" and "Method and Apparatus for Qualifying Loops for Data Services", cover the specific method of determining whether a line will carry high speed data services and the method of detecting a DSL fault on a line based on recognizing a DSL fault signature.

The Celerity system uses expert systems analysis in conjunction with these patented measurement techniques to reliably determine the loss of a copper pair. Celerity performs single-ended qualification testing on a large number of lines, determining the transmission speed for each individual line. This enables service providers to accurately qualify their network en-masse for DSL deployment status prior to taking the customer service order and moving the line connection over to a DSLAM. The system performs scheduled and real-time qualification tests to identify faults, length and loss, plus minimum guaranteed speed of each line. These results can then be used to enhance existing record systems to provide accurate DSL pre-qualification of the entire network and identify `new lines' for premium service residential and business customers at speeds of 2Mbps and higher, or SDSL.

"These patents cover what our customers have found to be the truly unique aspects of the Celerity system," says Frank Bauer, engineering director. "Reliable mass-qualification of lines through the existing switch test bus dramatically lowers the hurdle to deploying DSL services. We have proven these results in the field by comparing the results from the Celerity system with the results achieved from double-ended testing and have proven Celerity accuracy to be comparable to the manual methods."

Celerity has been field proven in a number of ILEC trials, highlighting the following benefits:

- Qualifying High Speed Services: Through Celerity's unique "speed binning"
capability, lines can be qualified based on the minimum guaranteed speed
supported. This enables target marketing of premium residential and business
customers to improve take rates, and allow confirmation of the service
commitment at the point-of-sale. Providers can also use this database to
prioritize deployments on a per office basis to maximize the return on capital
investment for priority areas.

- Reduction in "false reds:" Celerity identified a significant number of lines
as "DSL ready" that would have been disqualified using line records data.
Celerity test information enables the service provider to increase total uptake
and gain additional revenue.

- Reduction in "false greens:" Celerity found lines deemed DSL ready, which
should have been disqualified or had repairable faults. This effectively avoids
the multiple dispatch scenarios associated with installing these faulty lines.

- Reduction in indeterminate lines: Celerity reduced the number of
indeterminate lines by up to 65%. This enables a streamlined process for
qualifying these lines, reducing the need for labor intensive manual testing
and improving overall response time to provide a go/no go decision.

Celerity is currently deployed on over 20 million lines worldwide. The system accurately qualifies millions of lines in days enabling testing of every line exposed to DSL at least once per month. Service providers can deploy more DSL sooner by increasing the pool of available DSL-ready lines and increasing the productivity of the provisioning process. Flow-through provisioning allows the service provider to automate many of the steps involved in the provisioning process, enabling reduced costs per customer install, faster deployment and greater penetration of broadband services utilizing the existing workforce. The system also extends to service assurance testing of in-service DSL lines, identifying the presence and dispatch location of data affecting faults for the repair center.

By providing accurate and up-to-date information to the call center, DSL service commitments can be made with confidence knowing the line will support the service. In the case where a requested service is not supported by the customer's line, an (lower speed) service may be offered as an alternative.

"There is satisfaction in receiving the patents," says Roger Faulkner, the engineer who developed the testing methodology. "But there is greater satisfaction in seeing the technology deployed and solving a real-world problem for our LEC customers and their millions of customers who are using broadband services."

About Teradyne Broadband Test Division

Teradyne Broadband Test Division is a division of Teradyne, Inc (NYSE: TER). The group develops state-of-the-art-testing capabilities that support service provider's goals to sell and deploy more broadband services sooner and improve the efficiency of qualification, provisioning, and customer care for DSL and CATV high speed data networks. Teradyne's 10 years of internet protocol testing experience and industry leading background in layer 1 DSL testing enhances its 30 years experience in providing test systems that support voice customer care for approximately 120 Million voice lines worldwide. Teradyne is the world's largest supplier of automatic test equipment and is also a leading supplier of high performance interconnection systems. The company had sales of $1.4 billion in 2001 and currently employs about 8000 people worldwide. For more information on Teradyne's Broadband Test Products, visit Teradyne at: http://www.teradyne.com/prods/btd/.