New modem standard
R. Rowland
Now that the manufacturers have agreed on a modem standard is USF
still going to the Kflex modems with idea of upgrading to the new
standard shortly or will they stay with the Kflex and not upgrade. I
want to buy a 3com but they're X2. TIA
Glenn Cabler
USF modems will be upgraded to the new 56K protocol standard as it becomes
available from the modem vendor. The ITU is scheduled to ratify the V.90
standard in September 1998. Final versions of the V.90 protocol may not be
available until after that date. Until we receive the code, which is already
behind schedule due to the new agreements, I can't say whether or not it will
be interoperable with 3Com's version of the unratified V.90 standard. At this
time my best guess is that the Rockwell/Lucent version of V.90 will not
support X2, but may backwards compatable with the K56flex protocol.
Glenn Cabler
Academic Computing
In article <34F5DAA1...@chuma.cas.usf.edu> "R. Rowland"
Chris Griffin
In article <glenn.399...@usf.edu>, gl...@usf.edu (Glenn Cabler) wrote:
>USF modems will be upgraded to the new 56K protocol standard as it becomes
>available from the modem vendor. The ITU is scheduled to ratify the V.90
>standard in September 1998. Final versions of the V.90 protocol may not be
>available until after that date. Until we receive the code, which is already
>behind schedule due to the new agreements, I can't say whether or not it will
process. This means that for all practical purposes the standard is
solid, unless something drastic happens (such as the multimode fibre debacle
in the gigabit ethernet standards). Most vendors have or will have products
ready to ship incorperating V.90 very soon. With flash technology, I would
suspect that almost all modems (modem pools, professional and consumer) will
be sporting the V.90 logo on the box before the final ratification. In fact,
all new 3com (U.S. Robotics) modems are already shipping with V.90 and the
Netserver dial in servers will have them in a couple of months. This brings
up an important point. With the ever increasing pace of technological
inovation, the standards bodies cannot keep up. I hope that something is done
so that the importance of standards does not fall victim to the pace of
inovation.
>be interoperable with 3Com's version of the unratified V.90 standard. At this
>time my best guess is that the Rockwell/Lucent version of V.90 will not
>support X2, but may backwards compatable with the K56flex protocol.
backwards compatibility with either 56kflex or X2. Any modem manufacturer is
free to add X2 or KFlex or both to any V.90 modem (that would be a licensing
nightmare!), but its not part of the V.90 standard. According to both
Rockwell and 3com who both have final working versions of V.90, 3coms
implementation and Rockwell's implementation have no interoperability
problems.
Chris Griffin
Research Computing
Moffitt Cancer Center
Glenn Cabler
>In article <glenn.399...@usf.edu>, gl...@usf.edu (Glenn Cabler) wrote:
>>USF modems will be upgraded to the new 56K protocol standard as it becomes
>>available from the modem vendor. The ITU is scheduled to ratify the V.90
>>standard in September 1998. Final versions of the V.90 protocol may not be
>>available until after that date. Until we receive the code, which is already
>>behind schedule due to the new agreements, I can't say whether or not it will
>The ITU-T V.90 protocol has successfully finished the standard determination
>process. This means that for all practical purposes the standard is
>solid, unless something drastic happens (such as the multimode fibre debacle
>in the gigabit ethernet standards).
My point exactly...something could still change in the V.90 specifications
causing the final delivery of the ratified V.90 standard software from OUR
vendor.
>Most vendors have or will have products
>ready to ship incorperating V.90 very soon. With flash technology, I would
>suspect that almost all modems (modem pools, professional and consumer) will
>be sporting the V.90 logo on the box before the final ratification. In fact,
>all new 3com (U.S. Robotics) modems are already shipping with V.90 and the
>Netserver dial in servers will have them in a couple of months. This brings
Most vendors...and updates to cure some buggy code will probably follow (like
the V.34 problem of the US Robotics Sportsters a couple of years ago). I have
not heard of a delivery date for the V.90 software from our modem vendor as of
yet...they haven't even delivered the K56flex software that was "supposed" to
be here in early February (which is probably due to the new specs on the V.90
protocol).
>up an important point. With the ever increasing pace of technological
>inovation, the standards bodies cannot keep up. I hope that something is done
>so that the importance of standards does not fall victim to the pace of
>inovation.
>>be interoperable with 3Com's version of the unratified V.90 standard. At
this >>time my best guess is that the Rockwell/Lucent version of V.90 will not
>>support X2, but may backwards compatable with the K56flex protocol.
>If thats true than it cannot be called V.90. V.90 has no provision for
>backwards compatibility with either 56kflex or X2. Any modem manufacturer is
>free to add X2 or KFlex or both to any V.90 modem (that would be a licensing
>nightmare!), but its not part of the V.90 standard. According to both
Uhm, brain slippage occured on my part...you are correct...meant to say that
modems shipped with the V.90 would/wouldn't be backwards compatable with
X2/K56flex.......
>Rockwell and 3com who both have final working versions of V.90, 3coms
>implementation and Rockwell's implementation have no interoperability
>problems.
Remember also that inoperability problems and performance are two different
issues.
Glenn Cabler
Academic Computing
R. Rowland
FYI
I just saw this article on a PC World internet page ( http://
www.pcworld.com /tipnews ). It was dated 2/26/98. It looks like it might
be just the thing for the USF situation. At least from a student
perspective. Although I wanted to buy 3com Zoom is a decent
manufacturer.
" Zoom Telephonics on Wednesday became one of the first K56flex modem
vendors to announce it is shipping V.90 standard-based versions of its
56-kbps modems.
Zoom said it has commenced volume shipments of its V.90-compliant
fax-modems to retailers and distributors.
Zoom's new dual-mode modems support connections to both V.90 and K56flex
sites. At present, few if any ISPs or online services have upgraded to
support the V.90 standard. Until they do, dual-mode support will be
essential.
Zoom says the street price for its 56-kbps Dualmode internal modem
should range from $119 to $149, and the external version will be priced
from $139 to $179. "