Louisville, Colorado, May 8, 2000—Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (CableLabs®) and its members have launched the next phase of the home networking project initiative aimed at extending the broadband advantage of cable bandwidth ubiquitously within the home.

The initiative is the next phase of the CableLabs In-Home Networking project. It calls for cable operators to work with home networking product vendors to lay the technical groundwork to guide development of products that provide the best possible consumer experience of cable services while connected to home networks.

"We studied the terrain and, with CableLabs, we are now ready to work with home networking vendors to provide our guidance to rapidly develop home networking products optimized to cable-delivered services," said Tony Werner, executive vice president, Engineering and Technical Operations and chief technology officer of AT&T Broadband, a key leader of the project. "The fundamental advantage of cable is its bandwidth, and AT&T Broadband is keenly interested in the ability to offer in home networking products for consumers that recognize the bandwidth and service platforms available on the cable network."

"CableLabs has been very successful in establishing the CableLabs Certified cable modem, OpenCable, and PacketCable platforms that deliver cable customers advanced broadband data, interactive television, and multimedia services," said Mark Coblitz, Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning for Comcast, another key leader. "Those projects have helped the supply community with an efficient path to new product development. We now want to replicate that efficiency and rapid deployment with cable-optimized in-home networking products and services," he added.

David Reed, Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning for CableLabs and the in-home networking project leader said, "To meet this challenge, we have already identified the cable service requirements pertaining to network performance, quality of service (QoS), and network management that are necessary to extend cable services over home networks. These requirements extend beyond DOCSIS quality of service and PacketCable support issues across home networks, for example. We are seeking vendor input on the degree to which existing products satisfy these requirements."

Under the direction of Terry Shaw, Senior Advisor, Network Systems for CableLabs, CableLabs and its members intend to work closely with technology suppliers to develop the interface specifications necessary for home networking solutions to deliver cable-based services with carrier-grade quality. CableLabs requires that technology developers interested in participating in the specification process sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with CableLabs. Equipment vendors who are interested in applying for NDA status may do so online through the main web page located at www.cablelabs.com. For further information on the NDA, contact CableLabs by email at HomeNetworks@cablelabs.com or, for other inquiries, contact Shaw at 303-661-3811.

About CableLabs: Cable Television Laboratories (www.cablelabs.com) was founded in 1988 by members of the cable television industry. A non-profit research and development consortium, CableLabs is dedicated to pursuing new cable telecommunications technologies and to helping its cable operator members integrate those advancements into their business objectives. Cable operators from around the world are members. CableLabs maintains additional web sites at www.cablenet.org, www.ebif.tv and www.tru2way.com.

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