>>Well I just sent out the first notice to those of you who registered for the
>>K56flex upgrade. So you should see it soon, if not already.
>
>
>I am glad we at least have some sort of date now. We have, as I am sure
>ALL PM3 users, been beat up on getting 56k going.
>
>We have lots of questions that need to be answered so we can make quality
>decisions on the deployment of these new DSP's:
>
> 1. As the notice got out 2 weeks late, does that mean we will hear
> something (get our tracking number) in 2-4 weeks?
Yes.
> 2. Does receiving the tracking number mean it has been shipped? If
> not how long after should we receive it. We have many many
> customers that are beating us up on the x2/k56 issue and I would
> like to be able to give them a date that we hope to have it online.
> We registered very early and our # is 18, so I assume we should get
> ours in the first group??
We're not sure of the _exact_ shipping dates as of yet. The 56K stuff is not
officially in beta as of yet. Things are progressing day to day and its
really difficult to give an _exact_ date. Our objective and plan is to get
everyone the upgrade in as close to real time once the product is production
ready. I expect official early beta testing to begin as early as late next week.
> 3. I am assuming that we will receive a NEW operating system with the
> new cards for the PM-3's that has the new modem code....and will
> this new code have already been alpha/beta tested by
> lucent/livingston?
Absolutely! As hopefully our history and reputation prove, we will not ship
something that is not ready for prime time. Obviously there are operational
environments that will be difficult to replicate in our labs ;-) but we
won't _rush_ this out the door. We will sacrifice time to market for
quality, this time and every time if necessary.
> 4. Will Livingston be able to make modem code changes for these new
> cards, or will we have to wait for lucent to release bug fixes for
> the DSP's?
I think the "bad rap" or concern in this area comes from modems that we're
integrated via ROM (read only memory) implementations in the past. This
solution _is_ a completely RAM based DSP and in that way _exactly_ as the
current standard. Our development relationship with Lucent will allow us to
provide and "modem fixes" that are possibly needed in a very time efficient
fashion.
> Livingston was VERY responsive during the PM3 release, because it
> was livingstons modem code.
Thank You! Hopefully we're _always_ VERY responsive!
> 5. Is the code for the new Lucent DSP cards going to be
> livingston or lucent code for the DSP's? If it is Lucents code,
> will Livingston be able to make changes to fit the PM3's DSP's??
The modem modulation code is Lucent code. We have the ability to manipulate
_any_ code specific to the PM3.
>I am sure you can tell we are VERY concerned about the NEW modem code for
>the DSP's. We were in a position of only offering the digital modems to a
>small group of TESTERS (That could be redirected back to our main dialin
>modems if thay had problems connecting to the PM3's) when we purchased our
>first PM3's. Now the PM3's are in our ring down from our analog lines and
>are used hard EVERY day.
I'll take this as a great compliment. Livingston not being a modem company
faced significant competitive skepticism that we could deliver the PM3
design as it had been promised to customers. Many of you that waited for
PM3's to be delivered definitely I think we're concerned that we'd be a good
modem solution provider as well. Our objective with the new modems is that
they be of equal or better quality both from a performance and inter
operability perspective of they won't get out the door. The beta process
will help to prove this, and the news (as it always does)! will travel very
quickly via this group I'm sure ;-)
>As everyone remembers there were lots of problems with the first batches
>of code for the PM3, and it took awhile before the code was stable for all
>to use.
What do you mean lot's ;-( I actually think if you consider the problems
that existed before PM3 with modems), that we've made a quantum leap in
designing out what had been acceptable bad modem designs. I get your point
though loud and clear!
>Because all of our PM3's are production units now, we will not have the
>ability to segment the NEW code to testers only.
Point taken.
>Will the code that will be shipped with the new DSP's have been tested
>by Livingston/Lucent prior to release with the new boards??
Again absolutely as described above.
>Thank you in advance for taking the time to give quality answers to our
>questions. We will use your response to make VERY important decisions on
>how we deploy these new cards.
Thanks for providing me a forum to answer these questions that are likely of
interest to a great number of those on the list!
>Regards,
>
>Steve Haynes
>CEO ExisNet, Inc.
>1-757-552-1009
Regards,
Joe Sasek
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Livingston Enterprises, Inc. Joe Sasek
4464 Willow Road V.P. Sales & Marketing
Pleasanton, CA 94588 joe@livingston.com
http://www.livingston.com/ (800) 458-9966
(510) 426-0770 Phone (510) 426-8951 Fax
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