>There is an enormous installed base for servers that are not USR, and are
>upgradable to K56flex. Many, like Livingston, Cisco, and Ascend, are
>offering *free* upgrades to K56flex.
>
>USR had a couple of months lead - now they're about to get stomped as they
>have alienated every other vendor with their policies, and locked
>themselves
>into a niche.
>
>There are already more ISPs signed up for K56flex than X2 - Livingston
>is at the 600 mark.
>
>USR is claiming 500 X2 ISPs now. Livingston alone has passed them - and
>that does count the hundreds of ISPs who have Ascend gear, or Cisco gear,
>or any of the others who will be upgrading.
>
>Also note that there is overlap - there are ISPs supporting BOTH
>protocols.
>
>If you were to add up all the ISPs planning on K56flex from the various
>vendors, it is easily over 1000. Note that pominent providers, like AOL,
>which USR heralded as X2 sites - are now introducing K56flex servers
>alongside the X2 servers.
>
>- -MZ
USR does this every time there's a new standard to be set. They
did it way back when with the USR HST protocol. They did it again with
the V.FAST/V.FC protocols, and now they're doing it again with X2.
History does repeat itself. I've never been sorry for holding off on USR's
proprietary designs and I'm sure I won't be sorry this time.
-Scott
+-----------------------+--------------------------------+
| Scott Lampert | System Administrator |
| scott@ioa.com | Internet of Asheville |
|(704) 274-1196 Ext 126 | http://www.ioa.com |
+-----------------------+--------------------------------+