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Free 56-kbps upgrades for Bay users

Bay Networks will offer a free upgrade program later this year for customers that use its switching hardware.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers
Bay Networks (BAY) will offer a free upgrade program later this year for customers that use its switching hardware.

Bay Networks said the free 56-kbps upgrade will apply to modems integrated into equipment used in its 5000 MSX Multi-Service Switch.

Bay Networks provides internetworking solutions including local area network and ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) switches, routers, hubs, remote and Internet access applications, and network management applications.

The 56-kbps upgrade will be delivered to customers by means of a software download, the company said.

Bay Networks said it plans to offer equipment and technology compatible with Rockwell Semiconductor (ROK) and Lucent's (LU) K56flex modem technology. This will allow it "to support interoperability with the largest number of 56-kbps end-user modems," the company said.

Specifically, Bay Networks' integrated BayDSP modem technology in the "5399 remote access concentrator" is software-upgradable to the 56-kbps standard, the company said. The 5399 supports up to 48 industry-standard V.34 33.6-kbps digital modems for North American networks or 62 modems for international networks, the company said.

Bay Networks' 56-kbps upgrade program is scheduled for availability in the third quarter of this year.