Inter@ctive WeekOctober 10, 1997 Nortel Unveils 1-Megabit Phone Line Ethernet By Peter Lambert 1:00 PM EDT Northern Telecom Inc. announced the Nortel 1-Meg Modem, a modem designed to extend Ethernet-equipped personal computer access across standard telephone lines. The company plans to deliver plug-in modules for its DMS phone company central office switches and its Internet Thruway voice switch bypass device in the first half of 1998. It will license the 1-Meg Modem technology to modem makers. The 1-Meg will deliver 1-megabit-per-second speeds downstream into homes or businesses and 120-kilobit-per-second speeds in the other direction, and like Ethernet-connected local area network (LAN) interfaces, the modem will always be on, requiring no dial-up connection. The technology will offer compatibility with both frame relay and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) backbone networks. Separately, Nortel finalized a deal to gain an unspecified equity interest in NetSpeed Inc. and rights to integrate NetSpeed's Digital Subscriber Line technology into its own products. NetSpeed's ATM-based LoopRunner Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer is designed to terminate up to 560 users per central office system rack. Nortel can be found at www.nortel.com NetSpeed can be found at www.netspeed.com Email Peter Lambert