NetSpeed's LoopRunner ADSLAM lowers the bar on per-subscriber ADSL costs.

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 6, 1997--NetSpeed Tuesday announced that it will display its LoopRunner(TM) Advanced Digital Subscriber Loop Multiplexer System (ADSLAM(TM)) at the NetWorld+Interop trade show in Las Vegas.

The LoopRunner ADSLAM is the most advanced DSL multiplexer system on the market today and features a unique ATM-based multiplexing/switching core that is unrivaled in the DSL world.

In addition, NetSpeed is also announcing that it has received a formal notice of allowance from the U.S. Patent Office of the pending U.S. Digital Off-Hook(TM) patent application entitled "Communication Server Apparatus and Method."

The patent application will issue as a formal U.S. patent within the next several months. The patent is one of NetSpeed's key innovations and will contain multiple claims which provide far-reaching, broad coverage on NetSpeed's Digital Off-Hook xDSL modem pooling technology.

According to John McHale, chief executive officer of NetSpeed, "Digital Off-Hook gives NetSpeed an unprecedented advantage in providing xDSL transport systems to telco service providers. We look forward to sharing this breakthrough technology with the industry."

Dramatically Lower in Cost

The LoopRunner's unique Digital Off-Hook xDSL modem pooling technology can dramatically reduce the capital investment required for telco service providers to deploy pervasive and economical residential broadband ADSL service.

Utilizing the concentration capabilities of the LoopRunner ADSLAM, the telco service provider can reduce the central office per subscriber price to under $200 in 1997. The three year forward price is even more aggressive with per subscriber prices under $150. The LoopRunner ADSLAM system will be available for telco service deployment in June of this year.

"NetSpeed's innovative Digital Off-Hook technology enables oversubscription of xDSL modems and consequently lowers the telco's cost per subscriber. These dramatic cost reductions should accelerate the deployment of high-speed residential internet access -- the most cost sensitive market," said Kieran Taylor, broadband consultant for Telechoice.

The LoopRunner ADSLAM's Digital Off-Hook technology allows a large number of subscribers to share a small pool of xDSL modems by automatically connecting/disconnecting/reconnecting a subscriber line to a pool of modems based on each line's active need to transport data.

Specifically, Digital Off-Hook technology detects a request to transport data from either the client's terminal or the Central Office multiplexer. Once the request is detected, Digital Off-Hook is used to switch an xDSL modem onto the connection.

When the line is inactive, Digital Off-Hook automatically disconnects the client's terminal from the xDSL modem. When activity is once again detected, a modem connection is reestablished transparent to the user.

Tariff Flexibility

Using the access flexibility provided by Digital Off-Hook, service providers can offer a wide array of service classes. Dedicated service (one modem to one connection) may be offered to high usage customers, such as large businesses, where a dedicated and continuous xDSL connection is required.

This premium service may be tariffed accordingly, while a shared service may be offered to residential users and light-use business customers at significantly reduced prices. Concentration ratios may be configured from 1:1 dedicated to 6:1 oversubscription, and can be changed dynamically in the field to accommodate varying usage patterns.

Reduction in Multiplexer Costs

By oversubscribing subscriber lines to modems, service providers can provide cost-effective, flexible service choices to customers while simultaneously significantly reducing LoopRunner multiplexer investment costs.

Line Concentration

LoopRunner concentrates and switches lines based on activity. From the user's point of view, the Central Office modem appears to be continuously available. Digital Off-Hook allows the service provider to purchase, install and maintain anywhere from one half to one sixth modems to subscribers.

By concentrating and switching lines, LoopRunner produces higher density capabilities and less space, power and cooling requirements for deployed networks, a feature especially important when subscribers must be serviced from remote cabinets or controlled environment vaults.

Modem Redundancy

The switching function inherent to Digital Off-Hook technology supports modem redundancy for all subscribers. In a typical DSLAM implementation, each subscriber line is physically connected to a specific modem in the system. In LoopRunner implementations, each subscriber line has a dynamically switched connection to an available modem.

Therefore, LoopRunner can automatically detect any modem determined to be faulty, remove it from the pool and then automatically switch service to another available modem before affecting subscriber service.

This inherent redundancy results in a higher subscriber quality of service than available from physically 1:1 provisioned DSLAMs, as well as minimal resource maintenance and sparing for the network provider.

ATM Subtending

Another important feature of LoopRunner is the ability to subtend additional remote or local LoopRunner multiplexers into a host multiplexer. Subtending increases the subscriber to network interface ratio, thereby reducing the cost of the network interface on a per subscriber basis.

This cost benefit is realized not only on the LoopRunner network interface itself, but also on its far end connection -- the service provider's ATM network switch port.

Up to four remote LoopRunners may be DS3 subtended, and up to 12 LoopRunners may be DS1 subtended for a maximum of 4,992 subscribers subtended for a single OC3 network interface. Subtending can be provisioned with or without redundant links.

Outside Plant Support

LoopRunner's high subscriber density, small real estate attributes and environmental tolerances enable it to be practically and economically deployed in outside plant enclosures. This enables service providers to distribute lower density xDSL service points in suburban or rural areas where copper based services are terminated to long reach fiber carrier facilities.

VDSL Ready

As Internet and Intranet applications require even greater bandwidth, Very high bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL) service terminations will become prevalent. LoopRunner's switch fabric and bus architecture design allow service providers to gracefully migrate into the 52 Mbps service world with the incremental addition of VDSL subscriber line terminations.

The LoopRunner ADSLAM is the heart of the telco provider ADSL solution. Installed at the telco central office or environmentally-hardened remote terminal, the LoopRunner ADSLAM utilizes a sophisticated ATM switch architecture to multiplex incoming ADSL subscriber streams onto an ATM OC3c, DS3, or quad DS1 network connection.

CAP and DMT Support

The LoopRunner access multiplexer supports RADSL modems based on GlobeSpan's Carrierless AM/PM (CAP) and ANSI TI.413 Discrete Multitone (DMT) modulation methods. Each modulation technology implementation supports rate adaptive operation and Digital Off-Hook concentration.

NetSpeed is currently in partnerships with the leading providers of ADSL transceiver technology; GlobeSpan Technologies Inc. and Motorola Inc. GlobeSpan Technologies, located in Red Bank, N.J., is the dominant supplier of CAP (Carrierless Amplitude and Phase) modulation chipsets.

Motorola Semiconductor's Wireline IC Division is located in Austin, Texas, and is a leading supplier of ANSI DMT (Discrete Multitone) ADSL transceiver technology. NetSpeed firmly believes that partnering with the preeminent suppliers of ADSL transceivers ensures that customers receive the most reliable and advanced technology available.

NetSpeed Broadband ATM Service Architecture

The LoopRunner ADSLAM system is the central piece of NetSpeed's unique Broadband ATM Service Architecture. NetSpeed's architecture provides secure point to point connections over the ATM network from remote users or LANs to the corporate or ISP home network.

The LoopRunner serves as the transport switch between endpoints much like today's existing voice switches. Because the data is initiated and terminated at the endpoints, telco service providers do not have to terminate IP traffic at the central office -- thus preventing the need to assign and manage IP addresses.

NetSpeed provides all the components of this broadband architecture from the customer premise to the central office to the ISP or corporate facility.

Utilizing industry standard protocols for remote access, ISP or corporate sites can support ADSL and SDSL services with NetSpeed's FireRunner Broadband Remote Access Server as the gateway into the LAN. PPP access by remote users insures adherence to industry standard PAP and CHAP authentication over a secure link.

Interfaces to RADIUS servers provide standard security and accounting services. PPP also provides the ability to transport IP or IPX traffic between the corporate and remote sites.

NetSpeed and Lucent Microelectronics

NetSpeed has chosen Lucent Microelectronics' ATLANTA ATM chip set from the Microelectronics Group of Lucent Technologies to provide the switching architecture for the LoopRunner ATM subsystem.

The ATLANTA switch chip set, developed by Bell Laboratories, addresses the challenge to produce a cost-effective, high-performance, non-blocking switch architecture that can scale over a wide range of switch fabric capacities. The LoopRunner ADSLAM system can support up to 3.3 Gbps of non-blocked ADSL traffic and features integrated features for traffic, congestion and switch management.

According to Aloke Gupta, Lucent Technologies' strategic marketing manager for Data Networking Integrated Circuits, "The combination of NetSpeed's LoopRunner system architecture and the power and flexibility of the Lucent ATLANTA ATM switch chip set will create the most powerful broadband access multiplexer available on the market today."

The LoopRunner ATM architecture supports early packet discard, four priority levels per port queue and cell rate policing with AAL5 packet policing support allows for gracefully dealing with traffic congestion. Multicast support allows broadcasting of downstream information to multiple subscribers, facilitating features such as video distribution.

Furthermore, the ATLANTA chipset queuing architecture allows cells to be queued in one place, and the mechanism for controlling cell flow between the switch and the modems is tightly coupled to the cell arbitration mechanism within the cell buffer. This means that cells stay in the centralized buffer until the modem ports are ready for them, resulting in minimum latency and improved class-of-service differentiation.

Lucent Technologies designs, builds and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems and software, consumer and business telephone systems and microelectronics components. Bell Laboratories is the research and development arm for the company.

Lucent Technologies' Microelectronics Group designs and manufactures integrated circuits, optoelectronic components and power systems for the computer and communications industries. Visit Lucent Technologies' Microelectronics Group Web site at http://www.lucent.com/micro .

NetSpeed is a leader in end-to-end broadband access product solutions for service providers, corporations and consumers. NetSpeed's Digital Off-Hook(TM) technology and products are designed to provide bandwidth on demand, allow deployment of pervasive low-cost xDSL services and enable high-speed Internet and Intranet access, videoconferencing, telecommuting and video on demand.

For further information, visit NetSpeed's World Wide Web site at http://www.netspeed.com or call 800/550-ADSL or 512/249-8055.

CONTACT: NetSpeed Inc., Austin

Charlene Rogers, 512/249-3101 or 800/550-ADSL

or

Network Associates Inc., Provo, Utah

Sherri Walkenhorst, 801/373-7888

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