***Conference Report: ComNet
by David Lohse
This year’s ComNet, which was held in Washington, D.C. from February 3-
6, was the 19th year of the conference and featured more than 500
different companies. Although the conference and trade show featured as
many impressive displays as years past, there was a noticeable lack of
exciting new technologies or advancements – there wasn’t much of a
“buzz” about anything and not much of a feeling of moving forward.
While last year’s ComNet featured an obligatory Internet product or
announcement from every major company in attendance, little of the
Internet craze was visible this year, with only low-key Internet-
related announcements. ATM was also stressed less than in previous
years, replaced by the currently hot and upcoming xDSL technologies.
Keynote - Steve Forbes, Forbes, Inc.
The opening keynote speech, given by Steve Forbes, was reflective of
the lackluster atmosphere that pervaded the conference. Although his
talk was entitled “At the Crossroads of the Communications Technology
Revolution – Where Do We Go From Here?”, he only briefly touched on
telecommunications issues, and instead devoted the substantial portion
of his talk to discussing his political views. He did, however, make
several interesting points, and offered some insights into the
relatively slow growth of the communications industry and technology.
In particular, he summarize the problems the industry is facing into
three primary points:
-Regulation: While the PC industry has remained unregulated, and has
grown substantially since its inception, the telecom industry has
suffered serious slowdowns due to government regulation. While the
1996 Telecommunications Act mitigated these problems to some
extent, in many ways it has come as too little too late.
-Education: The U.S. currently lags the world in education. This
negatively affects every industry, slowing down technological
advances and creating a more stagnant marketplace.
-Taxation: The current tax system is the biggest deadweight on
American life. A reform is no longer adequate – the tax system
must be completely obliterated and replaced with a flat tax system.
Here are some of the new products and announcements made at ComNet that
may be of interest to WAVE’s readers. All of the press releases and
press kits made available at ComNet (as well as MacWorld Expo) are also
available online at:
www.virtualpressoffice.com/
Cubic VideoComm – Two New Video Compression Products
Cubic VideoComm Inc. introduced two new video compression products for
intranets and the Internet: CvideoNow, a streamer for adding video to
web sites, and CvideoNow-Live, a video capture/compression board and
software for bringing live video to the desktop over data networks.
www.cvideonow.com
Diamond Lane Intoduces xDSL/ATM System
Diamond Lane Communications Corp. unveiled what they dubbed “the first
fully integrated, high-speed, xDSL/ATM data access system for Internet
users.” Called the Hitchhiker, the system initially uses ADSL over
existing phone lines, splits the voice and data signals, and sends the
data to a high-speed ATM network. It offers a 6 Mbps transmission rate,
and can be used with a standard PC equipped with a PCI bus and running
Windows 95, or though an Ethernet interface. Hitchhiker will be
available later this summer.
www.dlcc.com
Lucent and Multi-Tech’s 56K Modems
Lucent Technologies and Multi-Tech Systems Inc. announced several
products based on Lucent’s 56 Kbps modem chip. The products include the
CommPlete Communications Server for Internet and intranet remote access
applications; a MultiModemZDX desktop modem; an internal ISA-bus
MultiModemZPX; an internal PnP ISA-bus MultiModemZPW for Windows 95
use; and several voice mail models. The 56 Kbps chip solution designed
by Lucent was submitted to a Telecommunications Industry Association
standards committee for review on Jan. 23, and support from more than
400 companies has already been announced.
www.lucent.com/micro
www.multitech.com
Orckit Introduces SDSL Modem
Orckit Communications unveiled their new SDSL modem, the ORmega SDSL,
which provides data rates of up to 768Kbps symmetrically over the
current copper infrastructure. It utilizes a “passive POTS splitter”
which allows voice and data communications to be conducted
simultaneously, and is rate adaptive according to distance.
www.orckit.com
New xDSL Products From Pairgain
PairGain Technologies Inc. introduced a suite of xDSL products,
including their first ADSL modem, Rate Adaptive xDSL modems and Access
Multiplexers. A summary of their new products:
Product Technology Data Rate Cost
Megabit Modem C1500 ADSL 1.6Mbps/64Kbps $1,295
Megabit Modem HRA Rate Adaptive HDSL 1Mbps $1,595
Megabit Modem CRA Rate Adaptive CAP HDSL 2.5Mbps/1Mbps $1,695
All of these products will be available in mid-1997.
www.pairgain.com
Group Videoconferencing From VCON
VCON Inc. announced their new Small Group Videoconferencing system, the
ARMADA Monitor, which is an H.320-compliant rollabout system that
provides up to 30 fps full-motion video at 384 Kbps. Three different
configurations are available:
384 Kbps version with a 3xBRI interface with bonding $12,995
384 Kbps version with V.35 interface $10,995
128 Kbps version with single BRI $9,995
The ARMADA Monitor will be available at the end of February.
www.vcon.co.il
Wave Issue 9703 2/17/97 Article 2-01