EMERGING BROADBAND APPLICATIONS AND NEW ADVANCES IN AUTOCONFIGURATION TAKE CENTER STAGE AT DSL FORUM CES PRESS EVENT.

Forum Leaders Highlight New Broadband Applications Made Possible by DSL for Residential and Business Users at CES Las Vegas

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW - LAS VEGAS - Jan. 8, 2001 - In a press conference being held today at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), leaders from DSL Forum are presenting a state-of-the-industry update highlighting new advances in autoconfiguration and emerging DSL applications that are enabling the wide deployment and faster implementation of DSL. The event will also focus on powerful new DSL-enabled applications that promise to change Internet use forever for residential and small business users.

The Press Conference will be begin promptly at 11:00 a.m. PST in Room #N243
at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It will also be available via live audio Webcast by logging onto www.dsllife.com or by calling the toll-free phone conference line at (800) 749-9946.

DSL Forum, a non-profit organization dedicated to speeding the deployment of
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology to the mass market, is a major participant at CES 2001, showcasing emerging DSL applications in a first-of-its-kind interactive exhibit at booth #4459. CES attendees are encouraged to test out the hands-on exhibits for themselves to experience the speed and flexibility of DSL, as it enables applications such as streaming video, 3-D online gaming, voice services and video conferencing. Digital Subscriber Line remains the fastest growing market segment in the broadband services industry for residential and small business users, with a North American install base of more than two million customers. DSL service is becoming available in nearly every major metropolitan area in the world with demand for these high-speed services at all-time highs. Recent industry advances in service delivery and technology are accelerating the deployment and availability of DSL services, putting DSL on the fast-track to becoming the most widely available broadband technology to the mass market. Recent advances and successes include:
* Cooperation between hardware vendors, software vendors and service providers to enhance interoperability and autoconfiguration is making customer self-installations easier and more cost effective
* Best practices for flow-through provisioning is getting new subscribers up-and-running faster than ever
* New and exciting DSL-enabled applications are opening new market
opportunities

"The DSL industry is the fastest growing broadband technology market, with nearly a 5-million user worldwide installed base that has nearly doubled every six months," said Bill Rodey, vice chairman and board member, DSL Forum. "With the help of DSL Forum and its more than 400 member companies, the industry is prepared with the most advanced technology and best service delivery practices to meet the escalating demand for DSL service for residential and small office users and telecommuters." Through the cooperation of its more than 400 member companies, DSL Forum is advancing the success of the entire DSL industry through its model of interoperability testing, sharing of best practices and benchmarking excellence in service delivery. New Broadband Applications Take Advantage of DSL Speeds and Reliability DSL Forum is showcasing a number of emerging applications for the residential and small business user that are made possible only through the high speeds, reliability and security of DSL. Many of those applications, already or soon to be available, include streaming video, graphics-rich 3-D Internet gaming, reliable and cost-effective voice services over DSL, and video conferencing.

"DSL has unquestionably changed and greatly enhanced the Internet experience
with blazing fast speeds and high reliability via the world's existing telephone infrastructure," said Brian Henrichs, vice president business development, General Bandwidth. "But besides high-speed Internet access, DSL enables an exciting 'applications paradise' such as video streaming, 3-D graphics-rich gaming, voice over DSL and video conferencing - applications
that can only be experienced the way they are meant to be with high-speed DSL service."

Advances in Autoconfiguration Enable Speedy Deployment of DSL Services In the first half of 2000, DSL subscribers in North America increased at nearly three times the rate of cable subscribers, according to a recent FCC report. The second half of the year has shown even more accelerated growth in subscribers. As capacity has grown and the technology has matured, service providers are looking to further speed up installations by having the customers install the DSL equipment themselves at their homes or offices. DSL Forum is working with vendors and service providers to drive additional intelligence into the DSL networks that will manage the deployment from initial order, through line qualification and flowing through to automated configuration of a newly-installed device. "As DSL providers move to nationwide deployment, they are looking for suppliers to provide a rich variety of DSL equipment that will automatically configure itself to its network, regardless of the regional or organizational variations in the service," said John Stephens, chairman of DSL Forum's Autoconfiguration Subcommittee Working Group. "DSL Forum is fostering agreements between competing vendors and their service provider customers that will bring this vision to reality for the entire industry in 2001."

At the CES trade show, more than 30 DSL vendors are participating in DSL
Forum's Destination DSL Showcase at booth #4459. Participating vendors
include:

2Wire, Inc.
3Com
ADC Telecommunications
Alcatel
Alcatel Microelectronics
Analog Devices, Inc.
ARESCOM, INC.
Aztech Systems Ltd
Broadxent, Inc.
Celsian Technologies, Inc.
Cisco Systems, Inc.
Corning Cable Systems
Eicon Networks
Excelsus Technologies
Garnet Systems Co., Ltd.
General Bandwidth
GlobeSpan, Inc.
GreatSpeed
Imagic TV
imajet
Intel Corporation
KRONE
Lucent Microelectronics
Minerva Networks
Motorola
Net to Net Technologies
Nokia
Nortel Networks
Orckit Communications
PCTEL
Samsung Electronics Co.
ShareGate, Inc.
Sprint
Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. (SEI)
Texas Instruments
Virata Corporation
Winfire
Zyxel Communications, Inc.

About DSL Forum
DSL Forum is a consortium of more than 400 leading industry telecommunications, equipment, computing, networking and service provider companies. Established in 1994, the Forum continues its drive for an open-market environment for DSL, to deliver the benefits of this technology to end users around the world over existing copper telephone wire
infrastructures.

Details about this event and DSL are available on DSL Forum's Web sites at
http://www.dslforum.org with information for end-users at
http://www.dsllife.com

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