Lucent offers first ISDN transformer to fit PC card form factor

BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J. -- A tiny transformer package introduced today by
Lucent Technologies is helping reduce the complexity and manufacturing
cost of the card-type modems some "road warriors" use with their laptop
computers for high speed access to their office computers or the Internet.
The new device fits inside the card instead of being molded into an
attached telephone cord.

The new transformer package -- less than one fifth of an inch high (4.445
mm) -- is part of a family of components that Lucent Technologies
Microelectronics Group is marketing to makers of credit-card-sized PC
Cards used to communicate over a high-speed telephone connection called
Integrated Services Digital Network, or ISDN.

"The 2800-Series is the first ISDN transformer small enough to fit into the
standard credit-card PCMCIA format," noted Bill Dean, transformer products
manager at Lucent's Power Systems unit in Mesquite, Texas. "This enables
the PC card manufacturer to reduce the manufacturing cost of this
convenient communications accessory and to help attract users to ISDN
services."

The 2800 PCMCIA ISDN Dual S/T Interface Transformer is an innovation of
Bell Laboratories, Lucent's research and development arm. It is available
in five varieties designed to be compatible with the electrical
haracteristics specified for leading ISDN communications chip sets
(including Lucent Technologies' T7250C, T7256, T7234, T7903 and T7901
ICs).

The Dual S/T Series of transformers is designed to meet North American and
global ISDN standards, enabling manufacturers to use the same device for
products destined anywhere in the world. ISDN allows users to take
advantage of transmission speeds that are typically four times as fast as
the latest generation V.34 modem rates now offered over ordinary analog
phone lines.

In addition to the PC Card application, Lucent Technologies is offering
dual S/T ISDN transformers for other types of access equipment like
external terminal adapters, routers and ISDN cards designed for desktop
computers. The through-hole (2768 Series) package and surface mount (2798
Series) are available now at $2.50 and $2.30 in 100K quantities.

The 2800-Series PCMCIA products are sampling to large volume equipment
manufacturers now and will be in production in 3Q96, priced at $5 in 100K
units.

For product literature, Lucent customers may call the Microelectronics
Customer Response Center, 1-800-372-2447, Dept. P91 (in Canada, 1-
800-553-2448, Dept. P91); fax number +1-610-712-4106 (especially for
callers outside of North America); or write to Lucent Technologies, Room
21Q-133BA, 555 Union Boulevard, Allentown, Pa. 18103. Product support can
be reached at 1-800-526-7819 or via fax, 1-214-284-2317.

Lucent Technologies is a new company created as part of AT&T's
restructuring into three separate, publicly held companies. In addition to
transformers, its Microelectronics Group designs and manufactures
integrated circuits, optoelectronic components, power systems, and printed
circuit boards for applications in the telecommunications and computing
industries. Lucent Technologies also offers public and private network
telecommunications systems and software, and consumer and business
telephone systems and devices. Bell Laboratories is the research and
development of the new company.

Bell Labs expertise yields first dual S/T ISDN PCMCIA transformers

Advances in molding design by Bell Laboratories engineers enabled Lucent
Technologies to fabricate the industry's first dual S/T ISDN interface
transformer that meets PCMCIA Type II size requirements.

Darin Winterton, a member of technical staff at Bell Labs, said the major
challenge of the 2800-series transformers was the device's mechanical
parameters. "We had to design a package small enough to meet the PCMCIA
card specifications, yet include the magnetics for the two transformers
required to support the S/T interface," he said. "In addition, the package
had to be easily assembled. In the end, cost drove the design so that the
2800-Series transformers would be competitive to other products on the
market that are not PCMCIA-compatible."

PCMCIA standards allow a PC card device to be no more than 0.175" high, in
contrast to current S/T interface devices that are up to 0.5" high. "We
used our experience in mechanical and process design to develop a package
that is 0.003" under the standard," Winterton said. "That may not seem
like much to some, but given the tight tolerances, we think that's pretty
impressive."

Lucent Technologies PCMCIA-compatible 2800-Series transformers, which
includes five products 2800A through 2800E, measure 0.945" long, 0.715"
wide, and 0.172" high.

An S/T interface device interfaces the digital data stream of the laptop to
the ISDN digital telephone line network. The ISDN basic rate interface
(BRI) has a multiplexed output of 192 kb/s. This output includes two
B-channel data streams of 64 kb/s each, a D-channel signaling and data
stream of 16 kb/s, plus network overhead signals.

An S/T interface device has several functions:

 Provides voltage isolation between the ISDN workstation and the
 NT1 telephone line.

 Matches the digital waveform of the S-bus transceiver, and

 Matches the impedance of the network telephone line to the impedance
 of the laptop chip set.

The 2800-Series products are designed for the electrical specifications of
five Lucent Technologies chip sets, plus selected chip sets made by
Siemens, National Semiconductor Corp., Mitel, Mietec Alcatel, Advanced
Micro Devices, SGS-Thomson, and Motorola.

This press release was issued in the U.S. Although Lucent Technologies
sells its products worldwide, specific products may not be available in
all regions at the same time, and pricing may vary by region.

For product information or to order, customers should contact:

Customer Response Center
1-800-372-2447, Dept. P91 (U.S.)
1-800-553-2448, Dept. P91 (Canada)
1-610-712-4106 (fax)

Product Support
1-800-526-7819
1-214-284-2317 (fax)
 
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