Louisville, Colorado, October 10, 2000—Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (CableLabs®) announced today that it has qualified three new cable modem termination system (CMTS) companies, re-qualified another, and re-certified a company for one of its cable modems.

The newly qualified CMTS companies are RiverDelta, Riverstone and Terayon Communications Systems. Motorola was re-qualified for a CMTS and was re-certified for a cable modem. There are now eight companies with qualified CMTS products.

The cable headend or CMTS qualification process parallels the CableLabs-managed process, CableLabs® Certified™, that certifies cable modems for retail sale. CMTS qualification consists of interoperability, stability, specification conformance, and product manageability.

Certification provides the retail customer with assurance that the cable modem they purchase complies with the DOCSIS™ 1.0 specification (Data over Cable Service Interface Specification) and will interoperate with other certified modems and qualified headend systems. So far, more than 90 models of cable modems from about 36 manufacturers have been "certified" interoperable with each other for retail sale.

The qualification process provides the cable operator or broadband service provider with information on how the CMTS will interoperate with multiple vendors' certified cable modems using different silicon.

Qualification is based on the following factors: (1) Vendors provide a signed affidavit affirming that their CMTS meets the published specification and will interoperate with all CableLabs® Certified™ cable modems. (2) The CMTS has exhibited satisfactory performance in various cable operator field trials. (3) The CMTS has passed CableLabs' audit tests in the areas of interoperability, stability, and specification conformance. The qualification program will continue allowing more vendors' CMTS units to be qualified. Qualification does not constitute a CableLabs endorsement or recommendation to purchase. CableLabs member companies may purchase any CMTS they choose.

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 delivers innovations that enable cable operators to be the providers of choice in their markets. Cable operators from around the world are members. CableLabs maintains additional web sites at www.cablenet.org.

CableLabs® is a registered trademark of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. Other CableLabs marks are listed at http://www.cablelabs.com/certqual/trademarks. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.