Patton, a major player in business and carrier-class VoIP, network access, connectivity, video surveillance and Ethernet extender equipment, has announced a permanent 20 percent price reduction on all DialFire Remote Access Server (RAS) equipment.

Officials with Patton (News - Alert) said that in addition to lowered pricing, the company is offering 20 percent off all DialFire brand RAS products until 29 October 2010 to promote its RAS catalog. “Dial-up is far from dead,” said Burton A. Patton, founder and executive V.P. at Patton, in a statement.

Patton said that Dial-up service remains essential, but the market has shifted.

He said that Dial-up still the lowest-cost alternative for low-bandwidth applications — especially machine-to-machine and remote-sensor communications. Company officials said that abandoned as obsolete by most vendors, dial-up is still an important data-network technology the world over.

New Research and Markets reports indicate dial-up Internet — despite declining usage — remains critical for many subscribers.

In hilly and valley-ridden terrain, wireless and satellite coverage is severely limited, according to officials with President Obama’s Rural Broadband Projects.

Employed almost universally as back-up against satellite, wireless, and terrestrial network failure, in many rural areas dial-up is still the only viable method of Internet access.

“Patton is just about the only player left in the game,” said Glen Flowers, product marketing manager.

Flowers said that many manufacturers are focused on the hottest new technology, but Patton is committed to real-world requirements.

He said that Dial-up is a robust technology. As long as customers need it, Patton will keep dial-up alive, he added.

Meanwhile, Patton continues to manufacture and provide free lifetime support for all RAS product lines, demonstrating an enduring commitment to the technology and its customers.

Patton’s enterprise-class DialFire RAS equipment supports 24 to 120 dial-up data connections.