Surf Speed
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday March 4, 1997
MOTOROLA's "world first" launch of its 56kbps SURFR modems here last week made the technology appear tantalisingly close, but Internet users keen to halve their download times shouldn't get too excited.
Even those who rush to buy the first products off the truck on March 10 will have to be content to run them at reduced speeds until their Internet Service Providers (ISPs) install compatible equipment.
At 56kbps the new generation modems will, in theory, run at up to twice the speed of the present most common 28.8kbps modems - not far short of a 64Kbps ISDN service.
"That means less time to download and less money spent on access fees," says the general manager of Motorola, Steve Terry.
While that's the theory, all agree that in practice there's a stack of work still to be done to achieve that.
At the moment, none of Australia's ISPs supports 56K modem speeds, although OzEmail has committed to do so and Telstra was backing Motorola at the launch, also saying it would install the necessary equipment. Ascend, the company that will provide Telstra with that equipment, was there to complete the chain.
But even with all parties showing willingness, Telstra admitted it could still take months to install the equipment and do all the necessary testing.
"We're not launching a new service today; they (Motorola) are," said Telstra's business development manager Tony Richardson.
The problem for modem buyers - and even more for ISPs having to spend millions on new equipment - is that industry standards for the new generation 56K technology have not been finalised. Two competing technologies are dividing the market. On the one side is Rockwell - also present at last week's Motorola launch. On the other is US Robotics.
Unless a single industry standard can be agreed upon, 56K modems based on the Rockwell chips may not be able to talk to 56K modems based on the US Robotics chips or, more importantly, ISP equipment based on US Robotics 56K technology - and vice versa.
While all expect a hybrid standard to be approved in time, few in the industry - modem manufacturers, ISPs nor many users - are willing to wait for the glacially slow official standards bodies to give the stamp. Instead, players on both sides are keen to build their power-bases and develop de facto standards that will allow them to move ahead.
Importantly, manufacturers say they will be able to upgrade modems and equipment based on the de facto standards to comply with the official standard once released.
So far, Rockwell appears to have the upper hand. On the morning of the Motorola launch a group of 28 modem manufacturers and communications equipment suppliers announced they had formed their own standards body, the Open 56K Forum.
The group claims its membership represents 70 per cent of the modem manufacturer industry and 80 per cent of technology used by the world's Internet Service Providers.
While Rockwell is a founding member, US Robotics is not on the list. Motorola and Ascend are also supporting the new body.
The good news for Australian Internet users is that most ISPs here are also said to be Rockwell-supporters.
For Australian Internet users wanting faster access to the Net, the message is clearly to buy Rockwell - or, in this case, buy Motorola's implementation of Rockwell.
To reassure buyers that they will not be buying a white elephant, Terry said all buyers of the 56K VoiceSURFR (voice/data/fax) and ModemSURFR (data/fax) modems will be able to register for the Tidal Wave software upgrade program. "This simple, one-time upgrade will protect users against obsolescence," said Terry.
He compared the software upgrade to "fork-lift" hardware upgrades being offered by some other modem manufacturers.
For those still not convinced, retail prices for the new generation modem will be only about $100 higher than present 33.6Kbps modems.
An external Modem SURFR 56K will be $390 - $45 more than the internal version - and the external VoiceSURFR 56K will be $435 - $55 more than the internal.
© 1997 Sydney Morning Herald