PARADYNE ANNOUNCES HOTWIRE® CONNECTED, AN INTEROPERABILITY PROGRAM TO EXTEND DSL VOICE AND DATA SOLUTIONS TO NEW MARKETS
Hotwire DSL-based Networks to Support Third-Party DSL Voice Gateway and Customer Premises Equipment Tampa, Fla. - December 8, 1999 - Paradyne Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: PDYN), a pioneer and leader in high-speed network access solutions over copper wire, today announced its Hotwire Connected program, designed to help service providers deploy DSL services to more customers. The new program enables third-party DSL voice gateway and customer premises equipment to interoperate with Paradyne's family of Hotwire DSLAM (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer) products. Hotwire Connected is open to all qualified vendors who want to develop solutions that work with either Paradyne's existing Hotwire DSL-based networks or with networks based on Paradyne's newest DSL product, the Hotwire GranDSLAM - a multiservices, ATM-based DSLAM that began shipping on Nov. 26. To date, more than 3,900 Hotwire DSLAMs with more than one million ports of capacity have been shipped, creating a large installed base for third-party equipment providers, who are part of the Hotwire Interoperability Program, to serve. The catalyst for Paradyne's interoperability initiative is the emerging wholesale services deployment model, in which a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) delivers DSL access, primarily, to Internet Service Providers (ISPs), who, in turn, provision high-speed DSL-based services to end users. Under this model, a broad range of DSL-access customer premises equipment must be supported in order to protect existing infrastructure investments. In addition, the Hotwire Connected program supports the retail deployment model, where service providers delivers high-speed DSL services directly to subscribers. "Open operation with a variety of DSL routers, Integrated Access Devices (IADs) and voice gateways with our Hotwire DSLAMs is becoming an increasingly important industry requirement because of the growth of the wholesale deployment model," said Frank Wiener, Paradyne's vice president of broadband access solutions. "And, the retail and wholesale services deployment models are beginning to converge. In order to meet the ongoing needs of service providers and their customers, today's DSL solutions must support a wide range of service options including discrete elements working together." "As part of the Hotwire Connected program, we are working with industry-leading DSL CPE providers Cayman Systems Inc., Efficient Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: EFNT), Entrata Communications Corp., Netopia (Nasdaq: NTPA) and Woodwind Communications Systems; and the industry's three leading Voice over DSL gateway providers- CopperCom, Jetstream and TollBridge Technologies - as well as others," said Wiener. The Hotwire Connected program consists of two key program elements: technical certification that the third-party endpoints and gateways interoperate with Hotwire DSLAMs, and joint marketing initiatives to proliferate market deployment of high-speed voice and data DSL services. Technical certification will involve sharing of interface specifications and testing at the physical, link and management layers (Layer 1, 2 and 3) of the OSI model to verify configuration, setup, basic data transport, basic telephony transport, and remote diagnostics are intact between the partner endpoint and the Hotwire GranDSLAM. For more information about the companies listed above, visit: Cayman Systems, www.cayman.com; Efficient Networks, www.efficient.com; Entrata Communications, www.entrata.com; Netopia, www.netopia.com; Woodwind Communications Systems, www.wcsinc.com; CopperCom, www.coppercom.com; Jetstream, www.jetstream.com; and TollBridge Technologies, www.tollbridgetech.com. About Paradyne
Headquartered in Tampa Bay, Fla., Paradyne is a leading innovator, developer and manufacturer of broadband network access products and technology. The company is recognized as a market leader in Digital Subscriber Line, T1 and Service Level Management products. Paradyne has shipped more than 3,900 of its Hotwire Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexers (DSLAMs) - for a total capacity of more than one million lines. Paradyne markets its award-winning Hotwire DSL and FrameSaver Service Level Management systems to Network Service Providers (NSPs) and business customers. Paradyne also licenses ETC and TripleplayTM technology, and intellectual property incorporated in the V.90 standard. For more information on Paradyne and its products, call 1-800-PARADYNE (U.S. and Canada), 1-727-530-8623 or visit www.paradyne.com TollBridge and TollVoice are trademarks of TollBridge Technologies, Inc. All other service marks and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. TollBridge and TollVoiceTM are trademarks of TollBridge Technologies, Inc. All other service marks and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
