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Q. What is K56flex Technology?

Lucent and Rockwell on 11/15/96 announced their intention to make Lucent's and Rockwell's high-speed modem chip sets interoperable. By agreeing to interoperate, they were providing the industry with an interoperable high-speed modem technology that would revolutionize Internet communications. The interoperable high-speed modem protocol is called K56flex technology.

Q. Is a modem useful if the highest speed is offered in only one direction?

Traditional Internet access is a highly asymmetrical process in that most data flows from the Internet to the end user (downstream) in the form of graphics or files. Most communications from the end user to the Internet (upstream) is button clicks or address entries. K56flex technology is therefore ideal for Internet connections.

Q. Can two K56flex modems connect at rates higher than V.34 when used in a home-to-home connection?

No. the K56flex technology is uniquely designed for home-to-ISP connections with the condition that one end (typically ISP site) has digital access to the telephone network and the other end (typically end-user) connects to an analog phone line. However, K56flex modems will automatically connect to each other in V.34 mode when used in home-to-home connections.

Q. Will my K56flex modem always connect at K56flex rates?

K56flex rates can be achieved ONLY when they are used in pairs (K56flex-end-user modem connects to K56flex-ISP-site modem). Therefore, K56flex modems must be deployed at all the sites you plan to call. As previously mentioned, a K56flex modem will automode to V.34 if the remote modem lacks K56flex capabilities or a combination of network and/or phone line conditions prevent a K56flex connection.

Q. Will K56flex modems connect with other high-speed modems announced recently by other manufacturers?

It appears that although the basic concepts used in all high-speed modem technologies are similar, it is unlikely that the various protocols will interoperate. K56flex compliant modems will interoperate with ISPs that offer K56flex service. K56flex modems will, however, fall back to a V.34 connection if the other modem is not a K56flex modem.

Q. What are the keys to K56flex?

K56flex technology takes advantage of having direct access to the digital telephone network at one end of a connection. First, the end point K56flex modem must synchronize with the telephone network's digital system. Secondly, the ISP K56flex modem will encode and map the bit stream into the different symbols matching the telephone network's digital system. Those bit-encoded symbols will then be represented as different voltage levels in an analog format and will be received by the end point K56flex modem. Lastly, the end point K56flex modem has to equalize the channel with respect to analog loop characteristics.

Q. Is a "home-to-ISP" user connection to the Internet the only application for K56flex technology?

No. This technology is useful for several applications where one end of the connection is digitally terminated. Some alternate applications include enterprise solutions where users connect to a private business server, bridging connections where a service provider utilizes two or more digitally terminated modems and two or more end users call in to these modems and have their data bridged digitally by the service, and finally, end-user digitally terminated modems such as ISDN combo modems where an end user is digitally terminated and can therefore communicate with another end-user K56flex modem.

Q. Will K56flex modems interoperate with today's analog modems such as V.34?

Yes. K56flex modems will automatically detect the capabilities of a remote modem and "automode" to the capability of the remote modem. Moreover, if a combination of network and local loop conditions prevent a K56flex connection, a fall back to a V.34 connection will occur.

Q. Won't this technology hurt the market for ISDN?

Actually, ISDN can provide 128 kbits/s data transmission without any compression, and can reach 512 kbits/s with compression. Also, keep in mind that the fastest speed these modems can reach is dependent on the phone line conditions and other network related issues. On the other hand, with ISDN, 128 kbits/s is virtually guaranteed. High-speed modems are designed to be less expensive and easier to set up for end users that want higher speed connections to the Internet.

Q. Will K56flex technology be available internationally?

Yes. Although it will be initially deployed in the United States, this technology will be deployed subsequently in Europe and Asia.

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