Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!uwmcsd1!marque!studsys!kowals
From: kowals@studsys.mu.edu (kowalski)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
Subject: Courier HST rebuttal
Keywords: HST BLAZER
Message-ID: <415@studsys.mu.edu>
Date: 21 Feb 89 12:19:06 GMT
Organization: Marquette University - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Lines: 49


I am posting the following letter for my employer SST Data. Any replys
will be given to them and they will reply thru this account :

The U.S. Robotics Courier HST/ix modem/software package for UNIX systems
has been the subject of recent controversy on USENET.

The Courier HST/ix provides high speed dial-up communications for a
variety of UNIX operating environments.  The modem uses V.32-style
trellis coded modulation at 9600 bps, which, combined with a very
efficient compression scheme in the bundled datacom software package,
results in error-free throughput up to 30,000 bps.

U.S. Robotics apparently has struck a nerve with Telebit Corporation,
whose multicarrier modem is an entrant in the UNIX market.  Michael
Ballard of Telebit recently issued a notice of USENET ostensibly to set
the record straight on the USR Courier HST/ix modem.  It's evident that
Mr. Ballard is the one who needs straightening out.

Ballard asserts that he helped design the datacom package bundled with
the Courier HST/ix, and that is was named for the Trailblazer modem.
Both of these assertions are untrue.  Mike Myers, VP of Engineering for
SST Data Inc., Mequon, WI, is the program's sole author.  Myers says that
Ballard "was not involved at all in the design of the program."  The
program's original brand name, "Handshake Blazer," was selected through
an employee contest at SST.  Myers says any similarity to Telebit's
product nomenclature is coincidental.

Ballard also claimed that the Courier HST/ix is not available for a
number of systems, specifically Sun, 3B5/15, AIX, Pyramid, Altos and
Apple.  This, too, is untrue.  In addition to the preceding systems
Courier HST/ix is available for Fortune, AT&T 3B1/2 and 6386, SCO Xenix,
Interactive UNIX, Unisys 5000/30, 50, 60, 85, 90, IBM RT and 6150, Plexus
and NCR Tower 32 and XP.

Additionally, Ballard tried to make an issue of the Courier HST/ix's
performance with UUCP.  U.S. Robotics has never claimed that the Courier
HST/ix improves the performance of UUCP.  The HST/ix, though, does make
UUCP much easier to use.  Mike Myers of SST says the HST/ix software was
designed as a high speed alternative to UUCP that provides benefits such
as the ability to restart a file transfer from the point of interruption
(a capability not offered by UUCP).

For any additional information on the Courier HST/ix, please call USR's
Director of North American Sales, Bob Polychron at 312-982-5233.  Or call
Mike Myers, Vice President of Engineering, at SST Data, Inc. at 414-242-
3999.  With a retail price of $1,295, the Courier HST/ix modem/software
package delivers the best price-performance ratio available to users of
UNIX systems.