IBM Research to Revolutionize the Computerized Exchange of Information by
Businesses and Consumers

NEW YORK, N.Y., Jan. 12 . . . Fifty years into the Information Age, the
human appetite for more information at faster speeds continues without
limit. Businesses and consumers are demanding affordable technology that
enables them to:

* connect multiple computing sites 24 hour/seven-days-a-
  week for non-stop operation;
* distribute full-motion video;
* store and distribute medical images such as CAT scans;
  and,
* speed access to the information superhighway;

all without a corresponding increase in cost.

IBM Research today unveiled MuxMaster, the first commercial prototype of a
new fiber optic technology to solve these business demands. This new
technology employs multiple colors of light to offer faster, less
expensive information exchange and, at the same time, deliver ex-
traordinary new levels of speed and capacity.

MuxMaster enables users to send up to 20 simultaneous data streams -- such
as text, video, audio, and image files -- over a single optical fiber.
Previous technology allowed only on stream at a time. Most importantly,
companies using MuxMaster will realize a twenty-fold increase in the
capacity of each optical fiber, while potentially saving 95 percent in the
cost of leased fiber.

To demonstrate the potential savings, the current cost renting a single
fiber starts at $150 -$300 per mile per month. Assuming $150 per mile per
month, a MuxMaster user needing a 10-channel two-way link over 10 miles
could save $342,000 per year in fiber costs.

"Growth in information processing capabilities and storage capacity created
a demand for the communications power necessary to link multiple users and
multiple sites," said Paul Green, manager of optical networking at IBM
Research. "Optical technologies, such as MuxMaster, provide customers a
cost-effective solution to their information transmission needs. When
business takes advantage of fiber's full capacity, it will prompt
development of applications previously unthought of, or impossible, due to
capacity limitations."

Optical fibers are hair-thin strands of glass that are becoming widely used
to transmit information over long distances at the speed of light. First
implemented for telecommunications, fiber optics today represent the best
way to link computers for fast exchange of vast amounts of information on
both the business and consumer levels.

Current transmission methodologies barely tap the potential capacity of
optical fiber because they are based on thirty-year-old technology that
transmits a single stream of data at one optical wavelength through each
fiber. This process means that only .008 percent to .02 percent of the
total capacity of each fiber is being utilized.

Working with two customer partners, Morgan Stanley and Bank of Austria,
MuxMaster is currently undergoing strenuous testing in fast-paced business
environments. These financial organizations are using IBM's new technology
to support rapid disaster recovery by providing real-time mirroring, or
duplication, of data between computing sites on a level that was
previously cost-prohibitive. It allows for 24 hour/seven day-a-week
availability of up-to-the-minute information vital to the survival and
success of the business.

"Our customers are looking for leadership that will not only solve today's
problems, but will provide a backbone for future technologies," said Jeff
Jaffe, IBM Research Vice President, Systems. "IBM is deeply involved in
creating business solutions to solve network overload caused by exploding
demand for information. We view technologies such as MuxMaster as only the
first step leading to all- optical networking."

Another experimental technology, "Rainbow-2**," is being installed at Los
Alamos National Laboratories for the interconnection of supercomputers,
each communicating at a rate of one gigabit per second.

IBM Research

The IBM Research Division, with laboratories in Yorktown Heights, N.Y.;
Almaden, Calif.; Zurich, Switzerland; Tokyo, Japan and Haifa, Israel
carries out work in the areas of computer sciences, communications,
storage technologies, system technology, manufacturing research, physical
sciences and mathematical sciences.

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