Teradyne Announces $6M Backlog for Celerity ADSL Loop Qualification Test System; $6M in Orders in First Month of Availability

DEERFIELD, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 19, 2000--Teradyne, Inc. (NYSE: TER) today announced that it has a backlog of $6M from multiple customers for Celerity, a DSL test system that augments line record systems to enable accurate pre-qualification of copper loops for DSL services, since the June 5 launch of the product. Celerity accurately qualifies millions of lines in hours enabling Local Exchange Carriers (LEC's) to test every line exposed to DSL every month. Celerity enables LEC's to deploy more DSL sooner by increasing the pool of available DSL-ready lines and increasing the productivity of the provisioning process. Celerity also provides LEC's the capability to meet the quality and cycle time requirements of the FCC's recent ruling on line sharing, at reduced cost.

"Celerity directly addresses the business issues of ADSL loop qualification and service assurance," said Wayne Lasson, general manager of Teradyne's Telecommunications Division. "The technology was proven in a major field trial and customers see the real value that Celerity has to offer for speeding up ADSL deployment."

Today, using current records systems, service providers classify lines suitable for DSL services primarily by length. These systems generally conclude that short lines are more likely and longer lines less likely to support DSL. Based on this, Celerity can augment the value of record systems in three ways:

1. Find more good lines: through more accurate testing and the ability to determine the line's maximum DSL speed, Celerity reduces "false negatives" - long lines that, in reality, can support DSL with no additional conditioning work but were judged incapable by records systems.

2. Faster cycle time on lines that are uncertain: for a significant percentage of lines current record systems are unable to determine whether the line is qualified. Celerity reduces the work and cycle time associated with manual qualification for these medium length lines.

3. Fewer bad lines are provisioned: Celerity reduces "false positives" - shorter lines that were thought able to carry DSL but because the actual distance is too long or there are speed impairments present, the line will not support DSL.

Trial results indicate that Celerity can increase good lines by 15% - 30% through reduction of false negatives and reduction in the number of lines deemed uncertain. The trial also demonstrated Celerity's ability to reduce false positives by approximately 15%.

Celerity consists of a Test System Controller (TSC), and a number of central office-based Loop Diagnostic Units (LDU). The LDU executes specialized narrowband test techniques through the existing low frequency test bus in today's switches. The TSC contains expert system software and an array of cable and modem models. With this capability, Celerity can determine the presence of DSL speed impairments such as load coils or bridged taps, as well as determine the transmission speed of the line by telephone number. Celerity's distributed architecture enables the system to access thousands of lines simultaneously and thereby perform tests on millions of lines in hours. Celerity is a self-contained test system, delivering information that is immediately useable through standard OS interfaces to data warehouses.

About Teradyne Broadband Test:

Teradyne Telecommunications Division develops state-of-the-art broadband testing capabilities that support service provider's goals to sell and deploy more services sooner and improve the efficiency of qualification, provisioning, and customer care. Teradyne's seven years of Internet protocol testing experience enhances its 27 years experience in providing test systems that support voice customer care for over 110 million voice lines worldwide.

“Celerity directly addresses the business issues of ADSL loop qualification and service assurance”