Rockwell, Northern Telecom to Develop Faster Modem

COSTA MESA — Rockwell International Corp. and Toronto-based Northern Telecom Ltd. said Monday they plan to develop a high-speed modem by next year for receiving and sending data over the Internet.

The companies said they will work together to harness the power of Rockwell’s modems with Northern Telecom’s networking equipment.

The companies claim the new modems will allow computer users to receive information from the Internet 17 times faster than the fastest modems available and send information at least two times faster, surpassing the performance of products made by rivals such as Motorola Inc. and Lucent Technologies Inc.

Northern Telecom said although the high-speed modems are being built into its new communications equipment, the initial marketing campaign will concentrate on the residential market to attract consumers who want to send and retrieve information quicker.