Three days after a standard for 56-Kbps modems was adopted, Rockwell said Monday it had begun shipping chipsets to modem manufacturers incorporating the new so-called V.90 specification. Modem manufacturers using Rockwell chipsets in their products will now be able to build modems that conform to the long-sought standard.
Existing Rockwell K56flex chipsets can be upgraded via software, Rockwell said, but upgrade programs are determined by individual modem manufacturers.
Rockwell said that to the best of its knowledge, the V.90-based chipsets are the first available.
The International Telecommunications Union formally adopted a standard just last Friday finally uniting the divided 56-Kbps technology, which saw Rockwell's K56flex chipset competing with US Robotics' x2. A K56flex-based modem couldn't exchange data with one based on x2, making consumers wary. The new standard fixes that.
The new V.90-based modem chipsets from Rockwell are shipping in volume for PC modems as well as central-site equipment, used by ISPs.
World Bank Backs Multinational Satellite Venture: Hailed as a model of post-Cold War cooperation, a multinational project to launch commercial satellites will send its first rocket up in October.
The joint venture, called the Sea Launch Company and first established in 1995, will launch satellites from a floating platform in the Pacific Ocean.
"This is a historic project that we can compare with the launch of the world's very first satellite," said Yuri Semyonov, general director of Energiya, a Russian space firm and one of the venture's primary stake holders. Energiya's 25 percent stake in the project complements US-based Boeing's 40 percent share. A Norwegian and Ukrainian company each hold the remaining 20 and 15 percent, respectively.
The need for satellite launch facilities has increased with the proliferation of plans for space-based communications networks, such as Teledesic and Globalstar.
The World Bank said it would provide US$200 million in political risk guarantees to creditors of the Russian and Ukrainian companies. "It helps ensure the preservation of technical skills and preserves jobs in Russia and Ukraine," said the bank's Michael Carter. It is the first time the bank had provided such guarantees in Russia, he said.
"We plan one launch this year in October and thereafter six launches annually," Energiya's Semyonov told a news conference. Eventually, the annual target will be 10 launches, pending the resolution of remaining technical obstacles.
Altogether, a consortium of 14 international banks are backing Sea Launch.
Reuters contributed to this report.
