MODEM ALLIANCE FORMED : FRANKLIN TELECOM TO UNVEIL NEW DEVICE.Byline: Russ Britt britt n. Variant of brit. Noun 1. britt - the young of a herring or sprat or similar fish brit young fish - a fish that is young 2. Daily News Staff Writer A Westlake Village firm has formed a strategic alliance with an Orange County company that could save Internet providers money and equipment. Franklin Telecom Corp. plans to unveil a device next month that would cut down on the number of modems Internet service providers Internet service provider (ISP) Company that provides Internet connections and services to individuals and organizations. For a monthly fee, ISPs provide computer users with a connection to their site (see data transmission), as well as a log-in name and password. use in connecting customers to the World Wide Web. Franklin will merge some of its operations with StarComm Products Inc. of Huntington Beach Huntington Beach, city (1990 pop. 181,519), Orange co., S Calif., on the Pacific coast, across from Santa Catalina Island, in an oil-producing area; inc. 1909. It manufactures aerospace vehicles, aircraft parts, optical instruments, and heat transfer equipment. . Service providers currently use conventional modems to connect customers to the Internet - with one modem capable of handling only one customer each. Most facilities - known as point of presence or POPs - equip themselves with one modem for every 10 customers. ``It doesn't really change the ratio. But it makes it less expensive to set up POPs,'' said Frank Peters, president and chief executive of Westlake Village-based Franklin. ``We'll make it easier for people to get to the Internet cheaper.'' The new device would offer the equivalent of 24 modems and cost $10,000, roughly one-quarter to one-third of the current cost, Peters said. Internet access providers See ISP. (networking, company) Internet Access Provider - (IAP) A company or other origanisation which provides access to the Internet to businesses and/or consumers. say such a device, which has yet to be named, would be handy but wonder whether it is practical. ``I think it would be useful. Whether or not it would be stable is the big thing,'' said Howard Lefkowicz, owner of Internet In A Mall, a chain of retail-based access providers. ``Technology companies espouse theoretical ideas all the time. Making them work is a greater issue.'' Franklin and StarComm will have to compete with such companies as U.S. Robotics (U.S. Robotics, Inc., Schaumburg, IL, www.usr.com) A modem manufacturer highly regarded for its quality products. The company manufactures its own chipsets (data pumps) and often leads with innovations. Its HST protocol was a high-speed, reliable protocol before V. , the Skokie, Ill.-based technology giant. U.S. Robotics has developed a similar device, but Peters said Franklin's technology allows it to cut costs down to one-quarter of his competitor's. Rakeesh Sood, an analyst who follows U.S. Robotics for Hambrecht & Quist in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden , said the company has begun to make inroads inroads Noun, pl make inroads into to start affecting or reducing: my gambling has made great inroads into my savings inroads npl to make inroads into [+ into markets with a number of devices. ``They have a broad-based product line,'' Sood said. |
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