Taicom Data System Co., Ltd. expressed May 25 a giant Japanese Internet manufacturer has placed a huge order with the company for ISDN TA and ADSL products. Under the terms of the order, Taicom is to ship some 20,000 to 30,000 sets of ISDN TA each month beginning July this year. The company plans to have ADSL products mass-produced in the 4th quarter of this year while research and development for DSLAM is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of next year.

Taicom President Chen Chia-yuan said on May 25 wireless LAN products looked very promising in the Japanese market. For this year, said President Chen, Taicom has set its goal of ISDN TA products for the markets of Japan and Europe. The order that Taicom has received from Japan is sure to boost the revenue at Taicom this year and, as a result, its forecast of NT$2.5 billion goal may be revised.

Apart from ISDN TA, expressed President Chen, mass production of broadband retrieval products at Taicom are to begin any time soon. Scheduled for the 4th quarter are ADSL modem and router. In the initial stage, Taicom will act as an OEM for ADSL products while the plan calls for Taicom's own brand name to be marketed in mainland China and Europe in the near future. Shipment of router for this year is approximately 100,000 sets. Apart from regular delivery to European countries such as Germany and France, earlier this year the giant Japanese manufacturer Omron had placed an order for 60,000 sets, 20,000 sets of which were shipped in the first quarter.

According to Taicom's Vice President Hung Hsiao-hsing, Taicom is to integrate VoIP into router and negotiations with prospective manufacturers for possible alliance are currently under way. The strategic partner alliance is expected to be signed in July.

President Chen said apart from the broadband retrieval device at the subscriber's end such as ADSL, Taicom would also begin gradually to work on the DSLAM, a local office device. Unlike the DSLAM developed by international giant Alcatel and the like, Taicom's DSLAM would be for community LAN only and the research and development for DSLAM at Taicom is slated to begin in the first quarter of next year.

At present Taicom's paid-in capital is NT$515 million. The company has plan to go public to be traded at the OTC market in the third quarter of next year after a capital increase of NT$100 million in cash in June this year. The capital increase is planned for use in purchase of manufacturing facilities to expand production lines so as to attract new strategic partners. By the end of the year, the production lines at Taicom are to increase to six from the present three.

The revenue target at Taicom this year is set for NT$2.5 billion, a huge increase compared to last year's NT$1.8 billion. Products of ISDN TA is estimated to account for 20%, ADSL router 15-20% and the analog modem is down to 50% from last year's 60%.