[March 3, 2005]

TI and KTL Join for Interoperability Testing

BY JOHANNE TORRES

Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) announced today its cooperation with KTL, an independent testing laboratory to provide more extensive interoperability testing of TI's residential gateway products. TI said it got involved because this collaboration should ultimately allow the company’s customers to reach the market faster and more cost-effectively with leading DSL, wireless and voice products.

"Interoperability between ADSL infrastructure and CPE is critical as operators upgrade subscribers to next-generation broadband modems. Manufacturers demand pre-tested product lines that meet operator standards," said Robert Ferguson, manager of TI's interOps Lab. "Working with KTL allows us to expand our testing capabilities and further DSL interoperability which is critical to the release and adoption of new broadband technologies."

KTL is a provider of access to network elements from a range of DSLAM and CPE vendors, which are used to test TI's chipsets for interoperability. Additionally, TI is currently working with KTL to qualify new product releases and to ensure that products meet operator network requirements for deployment.

"Initial testing in KTL's labs produced findings similar to TI's own results, giving manufacturers a high degree of confidence in the quality of the product. Today TI's AR7-based residential gateway products, pre-qualified in TI's own interoperability lab, are currently in the KTL test program," said Steve Kingdom, KTL's global business manager. "This extensive qualification is an increased value-add for TI's customers, ensuring that they receive products that are ready to deploy, decreasing manufacturer and operator time to market and increasing revenue."

According to both companies, they will continue to work together within the DSL Forum, developing and enhancing the performance requirements for ADSL2 and ADSL2+ technologies.

Texas Instruments (TI)
www.ti.com