Subject: HP Telepace Workstation, Deal With AT&T 04/05/95

From: [email-masked] (Administrator)
Date: 05 Apr 1995 22:22:24 GMT

(NEWS)(TELECOM)(BOS)(00006)

HP Telepace Workstation, Deal With AT&T 04/05/95
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1995 APR 5 (NB) -- Hewlett-Packard
has unveiled an HP 9000-based telecommunications workstation 
called Telepace, plus a series of related deals with LCI International,
Northern Telecom (NT), and AT&T that collectively call for the
development and worldwide delivery of "intelligent network"
applications like voice-activated dialing, personal number
services, and virtual private networks (VPNs).

Telepace is the first off-the-shelf Unix workstation to combine the
Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus with Virtual
Module Eurocard (VME), maintained Richard Campbell, HP's manager of
business development for intelligent networks, during one of a
series of interviews between Newsbytes and HP and LCI officials.

The new workstation is specifically designed for telephone company
central offices (COs), an environment that until now has been
primarily PC-based, he reported.

Along with adding the power of a PA-RISC processor and Unix
operating environment, Telepace allows "configurability" for
meeting specific CO needs, noted Bob Musor, product marketing
manager for HP's Telecommunications Platform Organization, in
another interview with Newsbytes.

Under the deal with LCI, the two companies will work together and
with third-party developers Precision Systems Inc. and Summa Four
Inc. on additional intelligent network applications to support the
long-distance carrier's toll-free 800 and VPN intelligent network
services, according to Campbell.

Precision Systems Inc., for example, is developing applications for
both voice-activated dialing and personal number services, he said.
DGM&S and Telecom Premium Services Inc. have also committed to
creating applications for Telepace.

Musor told Newsbytes that, under a separate but related agreement,
Northern Telecom will initially deliver its ServiceBuilder Service
Control Point (SCP) for intelligent network services on HP-9000
servers, workstations and Signaling Switch 7 (SS7) platforms.

The ServiceBuilder SCP will allow telephone carriers to deploy
intelligent network services such as VPN, personal number services,
and local number portability from a central location, according to
Musor. The SCP will also be offered on NT's DMS Supernode platform.

VPNs are customized private business networks. Personal number
service allows callers to reach a personal number subscriber
wherever that person is located: at home, at work, in a car using
a cellular phone, or out-of-town.

Northern Telecom has also agreed to deliver its Integrated Service
Management System (SMS) and ServiceBuilder Service Creation
Environment (SCE) on HP's computing and SS7 platforms, according to
Musor.

Under a third pact, he said, AT&T and HP have agreed to provide an
interface between AT&T's SMS and HP's SCP and SCE for the
"worldwide delivery of intelligent network services."

"We'll be marrying our intelligence," noted Musor. SMSs provide
administration, operations, and provision support for intelligent
network services, according to the HP executive. SCEs are
workstation-based systems for creating and modifying intelligent
network systems.

SCPs are computers that provide call-routing instructions to
network switches: for example, sending 800 calls to different
answering centers based on where the call was placed. SCPs also
validate calling card numbers and perform other functions related
to storage and verification of billing information.

Matt Wald, director of business development for LCI, told Newsbytes
that HP's Telepace will support LCI's "core telephone switching"
with "best in class" workstations for the deployment of intelligent
network applications.

Also under the HP/LCI deal, LCI has agreed to purchase up to $10
million in Hewlett-Packard products over an initial five-year
period.

"We want to take all the latest advances in intelligent networks,
and apply them to traditional telephony applications," Wald explained.

HP's Telepace telecommunications workstation is outfitted with: a
PA-RISC 7100C 100 megahertz (MHz) processor; up to 256 megabytes
(MB) of random access memory (RAM); fixed-media mass storage of up
to eight gigabytes (GB) capacity; removable media mass storage for 
digital audio tape (DAT) tape; CD-ROM; or 3.5-inch floppy disk drives; 
and dual 48-volt or 60-volt DC power supplies.

The workstation also includes eight EISA expansion slots and four
VMEbus expansion slots (with two slots used by the processor board).

Telepace is compatible with Ethernet 802.3, ThinLAN (local area
network) or Ethertwist at 10 megabits-per-second (Mbps). The system
is equipped with the following interfaces: small computer systems
interface (SCSI)-II, serial, parallel, speaker, audio, keyboard,
video, and mouse. The unit fits into a standard 19-inch or 23-inch
rack, and includes three rackmount configurations. Telepace is
available now, for pricing starting at $30,000.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19950405/Reader Contact: Hewlett-Packard, 
415-857-1501; Press Contact: Jim DeNike, Cunningham 
Communications for Hewlett-Packard, 408-447-6167)

Sent via the Newsbytes BBS On The Internet at 199.86.32.158 3004