ELSA Announces the First European Cable Modem and a Breakthrough in Internet Access Speeds

ELSA opens the market for cable modems, great opportunities for growth expected

October 16, 1998 - Today in Munich, ELSA, the Germany-based manufacturer of computer graphics and data communications peripherals, introduces Europe’s first cable modem.

Cable modems offer cost-effective and high-speed Internet access via conventional television cable networks, providing an alternative to the established telecommunications infrastructure. The bandwidth revolution will be accelerated by cable modems, which will step up the competition in the fight for customers. Cable modems have a commanding role to play in the broadband communications networks of the future.

According to independent market researchers, forecasts for the western European market over the next five years exceed 8 million units - corresponding to 1.9 billion US Dollars - with annual growth rates between 30% and 100%.

ELSA has spearheaded the adaptation of this technology for Europe. Theo Beisch, President and CEO of ELSA AG, explains "With the early introduction of the new generation of cable modems, our engineering team has once again demonstrated its strengths in innovation. ELSA's investments in future markets now result in the first products to be ready in time for the emerging market."

ELSA cable modems will be commercially available mid 1999. By then, the operators of the television cable networks are expected to implement the additional infrastructure changes, necessary to deploy high-speed Internet services to the consumer. Private users will for the first time experience a true "surf-feeling". With data transmission rates in the megabits per second range, the new experience of "surfing" finally justifies the expression. Agencies, professionals and small to mid-sized companies will be able to connect their entire networks with the Internet via an ELSA cable modem.

ELSA cable modems work in two directions: data will be carried from the Internet to the user and from the user into the Internet. As the existing television cable network will be used, no telephone charges will apply.

The cable modem developed by ELSA is the first European cable modem to comply with the MCNS/DOCSIS standard. MCNS stands for "Multimedia Cable Network System" and is a cooperation between the US cable operators Comcast Cable Communications Inc., Cox Communications, Tele-Communications Inc. and Time Warner Cable with the aim of defining a worldwide standard for cable modems. DOCSIS describes this standard and stands for "Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification". This standard will for the first time ensure that cable modems from different manufacturers will be able to communicate with one another. This will give the cable modem market worldwide a decisive boost, expected for 1999. MCNS and DOCSIS are, within the framework of the ITU recommendation J.112, internationally recognized standards for data communications via television cable networks.

ELSA AG is a publicly traded company based in Aachen, Germany, with subsidiaries in Santa Clara (California, USA), Taipei (Taiwan), and Tokyo (Japan). Founded in 1980, ELSA has built up a world-class reputation for applying advanced engineering expertise to computer graphics and data communications products. Technological competence, German standards of quality, leading-edge products and services backed up by excellent support: These are factors which firmly place ELSA at the forefront of the market today.

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