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FYI eom Editor's Corner
November 13, 2006 · In: CDMA | Wireless Carriers | Wireless Internet | Wireless Regulation
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/editor-s-corner/2006-11-13
All may not go well in the aftermath of Auction 66.
The $13.9 billion auction that concluded in September saw T-Mobile win the bulk of licenses, bidding $4.2 billion for 120 licenses that are vital for its third-generation competitive position against rivals. It's looking to build out a WCDMA/HSDPA network quickly and have services up and running in mid-2007. But the operator and others on a fast-track to deploy services may run into radio interference they weren't banking on.
ISCO International has been conducting tests in the country's major markets and says some of these cities are rife with RF interference. Yes, ISCO is a maker of equipment that eliminates interference in CDMA2000 and W-CDMA networks but it has validated these results with independent parties.
What's the problem? Operators are relying on information from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Federal Communications Commission database, which consists of all of the known 1.7 and 2.1 GHz incumbent transmitters. The 1.7 GHz incumbents are all government users like the military, the FBI and the Department of Forestry and the 2.1 GHz band consists of about 5,700 licensed microwave links, according to Comsearch. The government database is basically a cross-reference and plot of all of the known transmitter sites, and carriers are using this information to relocate incumbents.
ISCO has been tabulating a significant amount of narrowband RF interference, primarily in the 1.7 GHz band, in some major markets. For instance, it's thought that there isn't a need to relocate incumbents in the Chicago market, but ISCO tests have picked up a hefty amount of RF interference. New York is a problem too.
"We don't know what is crowding these bands, but it doesn't show up on these public databases," said Neal Campbell, executive vice president of strategic marketing with ISCO. It could be that the paperwork never caught up with a lot of government operators. Now that's a shocker.
There's also another interesting twist to Auction 66. My friend Tammy Parker, editor and principal analyst at Informa, pointed out in a recent column that the FCC never set a deadline for service deployment in these bands, meaning some operators don't have to deploy services until they want to. Who might that be? The SpectrumCo consortium, consisting of Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Cox Communications and Bright House Networks, bid some $2.4 billion for 137 licenses but its owners have said they are quite content with simply holding on to the spectrum for the time being--probably until their joint venture with Sprint Nextel goes bad. It doesn't appear that Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless are in a hurry to deploy services in those bands either. -Lynnette
Check the news out on 6 million in revenues for the third quarter.
ISCO International to Present at Equities Magazine Transatlantic Conference Series -- New York, London, and Milan
Monday August 21, 11:30 am ET
ELK GROVE VILLAGE, IL--(MARKET WIRE)--Aug 21, 2006 -- ISCO International, Inc. (AMEX:ISO - News), a leading global supplier of radio-frequency management and interference-control systems for the wireless telecommunications industry, announced its participation in the upcoming Transatlantic Conference Series hosted by Equities Magazine, a 55-year-old publication and investor awareness company. The first session will be held at the American Stock Exchange in New York on September 15th, 2006, then on to the London Stock Exchange on September 18th and finally to the Borsa Italiana exchange in Milan on September 20th.
American Stock Exchange CEO, Mr. Neal Wolkoff, will be the keynote speaker in New York, along with the Head of Equities, Mr. John McGonegal. The London session will feature Mr. Martin Graham, Director of the AIM Exchange. Finally, the Milan session will feature Borsa Italiana CEO Massimo Capuano. ISCO is delighted to be one of twelve companies presenting at these events. These forums are by invitation-only and attended by analysts, portfolio managers, market makers, fund managers, and other professionals in the field.
Unprecedented cellular growth and increasing system complexity have led to dynamic interference environments for global wireless operators. The industry has struggled in its ability to deal with interference issues as the predominant sources of inter-technology interference are random and varying in nature, and typically change by day, time, frequency and amplitude due to changes in topology, cell-loading, site additions and competitive systems.
"With the worldwide launch of the digital ANF platform ("dANF"), we at ISCO International have taken the next step in our overall strategy of bringing highly differentiated, software-based Adaptive Interference Management ("AIM") products to the wireless industry. The overlay of data-centric networks has multiplied the problem, and the need for a solution, exponentially," said Neal Campbell, Executive Vice President, Next Generation Products. "We look forward to sharing our innovative solutions and products with the global investment community through Equities Magazine's Transatlantic Conference Series."
The dANF technology is compatible with all spread spectrum-based wireless technologies (CDMA, UMTS, WiFi). The product integrates seamlessly with all wireless infrastructure manufacturers' cell site equipment. Importantly, due to the flexible Linux architecture, it is possible to future proof carrier networks from new types and modes of interference as new wireless technologies are introduced. The digital Adaptive Notch Filter can provide significant performance gains for voice, and perhaps more importantly, data networks challenged by intensive real-time applications impaired by in-band interference. The ISCO adaptive interference management (AIM) platform provides the foundation for future applications of software-based filtering in WiMax, and other 4th Generation wireless systems.
A link to the conference:
http://www.equitiesmagazine.com/corporate-conference. php
ISCO International Announces Quarter Update
Friday September 8, 9:45 am ET
ELK GROVE VILLAGE, IL--(MARKET WIRE)--Sep 8, 2006 -- ISCO International, Inc. (AMEX:ISO - News), a leading global supplier of radio-frequency management and interference-control systems for the wireless telecommunications industry, provided an update on its fiscal third quarter.
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"We entered the third quarter with a healthy $1.8 million backlog, and have received more than $3 million in new orders thus far during the third quarter," said John Thode, President and Chief Executive Officer of ISCO. "We look to continue our trajectory and exceed expectations with a strong third quarter.
"This is what we have been talking about for the past year -- growing the existing business while investing in significant growth initiatives. We are seeing the first of those initiatives now in the marketplace with our digital ANF platform (dANF), and recently funded development activities for a fully digital product that we expect to greatly expand our addressable market. Based on feedback thus far, we believe the marketplace has both the need and interest for this type of solution," said Thode.
Safe Harbor Statement
Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have designed and built a novel electromagnetic trap for ions that could be easily mass produced to potentially make quantum computers large enough for practical use. The new trap, described in the June 30 issue of Physical Review Letters,* may help scientists surmount what is currently the most significant barrier to building a working quantum computer—scaling up components and processes that have been successfully demonstrated individually
Quantum computers would exploit the unusual behavior of the smallest particles of matter and light. Their theoretical ability to perform vast numbers of operations simultaneously has the potential to solve certain problems, such as breaking data encryption codes or searching large databases, far faster than conventional computers. Ions (electrically charged atoms) are promising candidates for use as quantum bits (qubits) in quantum computers. The NIST team, one of 18 research groups worldwide experimenting with ion qubits, previously has demonstrated at a rudimentary level all the basic building blocks for a quantum computer, including key processes such as error correction, and also has proposed a large-scale architecture.
The new NIST trap is the first functional ion trap in which all electrodes are arranged in one horizontal layer, a “chip-like” geometry that is much easier to manufacture than previous ion traps with two or three layers of electrodes. The new trap, which has gold electrodes that confine ions about 40 micrometers above the electrodes, was constructed using standard microfabrication techniques.
NIST scientists report that their single-layer device can trap a dozen magnesium ions without generating too much heat from electrode voltage fluctuations—also an important factor, because heating has limited the prospects for previous small traps. Microscale traps are desirable because the smaller the trap, the faster the future computer. Work is continuing at NIST and at collaborating industrial and federal labs to build single-layer traps with more complex structures in which perhaps 10 to 15 ions eventually could be manipulated with lasers to carry out logic operations.
The work was supported in part by the National Security Agency/Disruptive Technology Office (formerly Advanced Research and Development Activity).
Background on NIST quantum computing research: www.nist.gov/public_affairs/quantum/quantum_info_index.html
Source: NIST
Freescale Nails SanDisk?
Monday July 10, 2:52 pm ET
By Seth Jayson
Sometimes, stocks go down for pretty stupid reasons, and we may have one of those situations today with SanDisk (Nasdaq: SNDK - News).
The stock dropped as much a 6% earlier today, apparently owed to the news that Freescale Semiconductor (NYSE: FSL - News) is first to market with the Holy Grail of nonvolatile memory: magnetoresistive random access memory, or MRAM.
MRAM is like flash memory, in that it hangs onto data when the power's off. But it's also like the RAM in your computer, in that it's blazing fast (even faster than DRAM) and lasts a long, long time.
But it's unlike both of those in its lackluster capacities -- which investors need to keep in mind.
Freescale's current MRAM product has a capacity of 4 megabits. Unless my math is wrong -- and in the geeky world of bits, bytes, and such, it's possible -- Freescale's RAM killer sports a whopping 0.48 megabytes, at a cost of $25 per chip. For comparision, according to recent spot-market prices sent to me by a flash-market watcher, $31 gets you a flash memory chip of 1,907 Megabytes.
That means you won't be seeing Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL - News) filling up the iPod nano with MRAM any time soon, and it's why SanDisk, with partner Toshiba, doesn't have much immediate reason to fear MRAM, either. The same goes for the flash-memory partnership between Intel (Nasdaq: INTC - News) and Micron (NYSE: MU - News), which was jumpstarted by Apple's cash. Flash is generations ahead and will see increasing demand, which is why these firms, along with world flash production leader Samsung, continue to invest so heavily in capacity.
Freescale, of course, would like us to believe that the tech folktale of periodic doubling will soon bring MRAM capacities into line with established storage media. Unfortunately for them, flash producers, not to mention hard drive makers like Seagate (NYSE: STX - News), aren't exactly standing still. Their capacities will also swell. It will be a very long time before we see the future that MRAM proponents have long predicted -- a world where MRAM technology would replace everything.
Certainly, Freescale investors might see some benefits should the product find its way into the niches where it's useful -- cars, small tech devices that need ultra-fast, stable memory -- but a sea change in the storage industry, this is not. Invest accordingly.
Seth Jayson thinks there might be plenty of good reasons to sell SanDisk, but this isn't one of them. At the time of publication, he had shares of SanDisk, but no positions in any other company mentioned. View his stock holdings and Fool profile here. Intel is a Motley Fool Inside Value recommendation. Fool rules are here.
OK you wanted it now you got it!!!!!:
http://www.stock100.com/plotForecast.asp?symbol=ISO&=Submit&history=200&future=30
Amp'd Mobile's broadband wireless service (EVDO), combines clarity and coverage with the fastest download speeds in North America. Amp'd offers traditional services such as voice and text within a completely fresh user interface designed just for third-generation technology. With fully customizable handsets and content, Amp'd brings a more relevant, personal experience to wireless lifestyle with unique music, video, community, entertainment, sports and gaming plus pricing plans that make sense.
Software-defined radio could unify wireless world
13:29 03 February 2006
NewScientist.com news service
A device capable of skipping between incompatible wireless standards by tweaking its underlying code has been given world's first go-ahead for outdoor trials in Ireland.
Ireland's communications regulator Comreg has issued the licence for publicly testing a "software-defined radio" device, which has been developed by researchers at the Centre for Telecommunications Value-Chain Research (CTVR) in Dublin.
The device can impersonate a multitude of different wireless devices since it uses reconfigurable software to carry out the tasks normally performed by static hardware. "I'm interested in a future where a single device can use every possible frequency," says Linda Doyle, who heads up the CTVR project, which is one of several competing projects worldwide.
The technology promises to let future gadgets jump between frequencies and standards that currently conflict. A cellphone could, for example, automatically detect and jump to a much faster Wi-Fi network when in a local hotspot. Devices could even decide for themselves which standard to use and might even be able to tease information from overlapping, or interfering, signals.
Although software-defined radio devices use a normal antenna and amplifier to receive a signal they are fundamentally different from conventional radio-based equipment. An analogue-to-digital converter changes the signal into a digital format, which can be then be processed and manipulated by the software. And the software can reconfigure itself to let the device retrieve information sent at alternative frequencies or encoded (modulated) in a different way.
Allocated spectrum
The CTVR trial will involve testing communications between software-defined radio devices across the radio frequencies of 2.08 gigahertz to 2.35 GHz, at several sites across Ireland.
The researchers will try switching the radios between frequencies and modulations for different applications, such as audio and streaming video or data transmission, and will also let the devices automatically select the best standard to use.
The underlying technology has the potential to revolutionise wireless communications but has been difficult to test outside the laboratory until now as the majority of the radio spectrum has already been allocated. Licences are normally limited to a particular radio frequency and modulation but the one issued to CTVR permits a device to hop quickly between many different standards.
The CTVR trial will also test how easily frequencies can be dynamically allocated to different devices. One idea is for companies that own a licence to automatically "sublet" access depending on demand. "The licence means we will be the first research centre in the world to practically investigate the commercial potential of dynamic spectrum-allocation," Doyle adds.
A Motorola Chip as in integrated circuit?
Isco's digital filter algorith or one like it will someday soon be on a chip. One thing you can bet on is that as technology moves forward solutions to todays technological challenges get miniturized in space as well as cost.
If any of you remember AT&T Bell 212 modems with their clumsy acoustic couplers...well that 80's technology, although by todays standards crude, set the stage for the internet. Now modems are on chips(integrated circuits)
The reason Isco's technology is gaining traction and HTS filters was abandoned and now being fazed out is because digital filter sampling rates are fast enough to closely aproximate superconductivity. As microprossesors become faster and more powerful and memory becomes smaller and cheaper the difference between virtual superconductivity and absolute superconductivity becomes for practical applications one and the same.
This is why AMR can demand and get paid the big bucks. Those who have a command and understanding of digital filter technology and can practically and commercially apply it to todays 3g..4g...5g... communications issues are in major, major demand. I for one am glad to see Amr stay...he would not be easily replaced.
Isco on an integrated circuit(maybe one of Motorola's).
This just makes too much sence....Every one thinks of Motorola as the 2nd largest seller of cell phones, and they are but they are much much more than that. They are a major player in anything communications, especially wireless.
The more influence Motorola past, Isco's present exec's have in shaping isco's corporate vission...Board of directors decision making and workforce into an entity that will easily assimulate into or the very least emulate Mother Motorola's corporate culture....
The easier it will be for Isco to compete, gain corporate and investor confidence,visability, success, and partners in the Digital filter wireless market place.
This also brings into light the possibility of Isco working in direct partnership with or possibly being brought back under mother Motorola's domain.
Remember there are no coincidences...All these Motorola execs are going to work for Isco for a reason... one because they believe Isco presents major opportunities and chalenges.
Yes for monetary compensation but money is only part of it... most executives in technology are driven and addicted to the sence of accomplishment and their love of engineering and cutting edge technilogical advances. If Isco didn't present these opportunities Motorola's presence wouldn't show up in such a big way.
These executives arn't sitting around watching penny flippers bash and tout their positions, bickering over the latest nonsensical posting.
They are working long hours making a difference in this world. With out them, we wouldn't be able to sit home in our warm confines at our lap tops or out on holiday with our blackberry's flipping pennies and insults.
Thode and Amr recieving 9.5 million potential shares of stock seems extreme for a job well done and for a company whose market cap is only 65 million.
The shares if awarded could only be justified if Isco is to grow into a much larger corporate entity.
http://www.motorola.com/content/1,3306,274,00.html
by: zzzshebop
Long-Term Sentiment: Strong Buy 01/10/06 06:29 pm
Msg: 104314 of 104316
1) Product(s) with little or no competition;
2) Burgeoning market;
3) Outstanding management.
I've seen this a 100 times in my 30 years of stock investing, companies on the verge of blasting off to a 100 fold increase in share price. ISO is positioned perfectly.
Telecom will blast off this year after being the worst performing sector the last few years. Companies servicing the the telecoms (like ISO) will be even hotter, even after 2005 where ISO had a >400% increase in revenues.
Primary market for ISO technologies is in its' infancy, untapped and burgeoning worldwide (3G networks). Only competition is SCON's inferior technology, higher cost product, so ISO could have a monopoly.
ISO cost-effective technologies (patent protected) optimize wireless network (Verizon, Sprint, Cingular, Alltel, etc.) coverage and service quality (>30% improvement in range, >50% improvement in dropped calls, minimize noise, increase data throughput, etc.). Demand for this technology is just starting with 3G deployment (for video to cell, etc.).
When the market takes notice of ISO's performance and prospects, the share price will soar back to the all-time highs of $30+ (achieved in 1996 and 2000), due to the small float (outstanding shares) relative to share price (supply/demand).
Top Notch Management:
1) the entire management team consists of Ph.D's in engineering and business from top universities who recently left top positions at premier companies like Motorola to join ISO;
2) CEO Thode received his BSEE from the University of Illinois, his MSEE from Illinois Institute of Technology, and his Master of Management/Master of Business Administration from J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He joined Motorola in 1979, and for the next 25 years held numerous titles throughout its wireless industry businesses, including the Wireless Network Systems Group and the CDMA Systems Group. He has broad experience in wireless network infrastructure and handsets. He has led large product development and engineering teams. He has also negotiated substantial supplier and customer contracts and structured numerous strategic relationships. Most recently he served as Vice President & General Manager, 3G Consumer Products, Personal Communications Sector, where he created Motorola’s UMTS product lines. Before that, he was Senior Director & General Manager, Wireless Access Systems Division;
3) The rest of the managment team has qualifications, education and experience similar to that of Mr. Thode.
Technicals:
1) Technicians take notice as ISO breaks 50, 100 and 200 DMA's;
2) New yearly high soon;
3) Increasing volume on way up, decreasing volume on consolidation.
Fundamentals:
1) Reported great progress (new customers, products and sales);
2) Just completing best year in company history;
3) Financing in place for years;
4) New CEO and management team from Motorola introducing hot new products;
5) Company has performed spectacularly since new CEO Thode and management team came on board less than a year ago and reinvented ISO;
6) New CEO's stated goal is sequential yearly growth;
7) Enormous insider buying recently, more than 21 million shares;
8) Biggest insiders can't sell for months; leaving a small stock float;
9) On verge of first profitable quarter in company history;
10) Just announced new contract win with two others pending.
ISO is the most undervalued, oversold and overdue stock out there, a once in a lifetime opportunity - the next Microsoft/Motorola.
Re: ISO Will Have a Monopoly?
Please, go back to bopping sheep, and leave the pumping to the pro's!!!
But, let me respond to just a few:
1) Reported great progress (new customers, products and sales); - hasn't done jack shit for the sp
2) Just completing best year in company history; just completed worst year (or close to?) in history for the sp
3) Financing in place for years; Loans are now not due until March 2007? However, cashflow may still be an issue?
4) New CEO and management team from Motorola introducing hot new products; they may be introducing them, but to date, not enough people are buying them, or they cost too much to produce, so as to leave ISCO still Cash Flow Negative. Granted, this COULD change in the future, but hasn't yet, even after their BEST YEAR EVER.
5) Company has performed spectacularly since new CEO Thode and management team came on board 11 months ago and reinvented ISO; Depends on your perspective. If you were a shareholder at $.43 when Thode took over, you're down 26% since then. Perhaps you'd care to give a definition of what you measure "performance" with - management doesn't want to share their's with us.
6) New CEO's stated goal is sequential yearly growth; Actually, he stated sequential growth. Q2 and Q3 were actually down from the previous Q, and Q4 isn't in yet.
7) Enormous insider buying recently, more than 21 million shares; These shares were used to FINANCE an additional 5 million in debt you moron. The current shareholders, through dilution, picked up the tab. The INSIDERS got their 20 million shares at 22?/ 23? cents?
8) Biggest insiders can't sell for months; leaving a small stock float; Uhh, we're down to under 23 days - NOT months.
9) On verge of first profitable quarter in company history;Unfortunately, leaning the wrong way
10) Just announced new contract win with two others pending. But didn't anounce any $$$ amounts. Have announced "Pending" before that never materialized (Sprint, Q1 2001?)
ISO is the most undervalued, oversold and overdue stock out there, a once in a lifetime opportunity - the next Microsoft/Motorola. - you are truly a f'ing idiot to state this!
Share price on its way back to all-time highs of $30+ (achieved in 1996 and 2000). - See prior comment!
ISO Will Have a Monopoly?
by: zzzshebop
ISO Technologies (patent protected) optimize and wireless network coverage and service quality (>30% improvement in range, >50% improvement in dropped calls, minimize noise, increase data throughput, etc.).
Primary market for ISO technologies is in its' infancy, untapped and burgeoning worldwide (3G networks). Only competition is SCON's inferior technology, higher cost product.
Four-fold increase in yearly revenue for Thode's management team in their first 11 months. Outstanding - probably unmatched by any other company. The recent contract win with two others pending bodes well for continued spectacular results in 2006.
I've seen this a 100 times in my 30 years of stock investing, companies on the verge of blasting off to a 100 fold increase in share price. ISO is positioned perfectly:
Top Notch Management:
1) the entire management team consists of Ph.D's in engineering and business from top universities who recently left top positions at premier companies like Motorola to join ISO;
2) CEO Thode received his BSEE from the University of Illinois, his MSEE from Illinois Institute of Technology, and his Master of Management/Master of Business Administration from J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He joined Motorola in 1979, and for the next 25 years held numerous titles throughout its wireless industry businesses, including the Wireless Network Systems Group and the CDMA Systems Group. He has broad experience in wireless network infrastructure and handsets. He has led large product development and engineering teams. He has also negotiated substantial supplier and customer contracts and structured numerous strategic relationships. Most recently he served as Vice President & General Manager, 3G Consumer Products, Personal Communications Sector, where he created Motorola’s UMTS product lines. Before that, he was Senior Director & General Manager, Wireless Access Systems Division;
3) The rest of the managment team has qualifications, education and experience similar to that of Mr. Thode.
Technicals:
1) Technicians take notice as ISO breaks 50, 100 and 200 DMA's;
2) New yearly high soon;
3) Increasing volume on way up, decreasing volume on consolidation.
Fundamentals:
1) Reported great progress (new customers, products and sales);
2) Just completing best year in company history;
3) Financing in place for years;
4) New CEO and management team from Motorola introducing hot new products;
5) Company has performed spectacularly since new CEO Thode and management team came on board 11 months ago and reinvented ISO;
6) New CEO's stated goal is sequential yearly growth;
7) Enormous insider buying recently, more than 21 million shares;
8) Biggest insiders can't sell for months; leaving a small stock float;
9) On verge of first profitable quarter in company history;
10) Just announced new contract win with two others pending.
ISO is the most undervalued, oversold and overdue stock out there, a once in a lifetime opportunity - the next Microsoft/Motorola.
Share price on its way back to all-time highs of $30+ (achieved in 1996 and 2000).
Great News Mixed Trading "ISO"
by: Filthy_Rich_Tycoon 12/22/05 11:48 pm
Msg: 102920 of 102920
Listen. As sure as night follows day and day again follows night this stock will head higher. Something was steming upward movement today and I would say it was limit orders. A few probably didn't like the trend and set limit orders before leaving town to enjoy the Christmas Holidays...my bet is that they will be disappointed when they get back.
Penny stocks are notoriously erratic movers. This news will hit a few trading groups and it should tick higher.
I would say that there will be another PR at the begining of the year regarding the website. The company may also attract another analyst...This is a time to be patient - the fundamentals are as sound as can be. What more can you ask for...ahhh yes a little coverage and news in the markets to drive the bid...time - only a matter of time. This will tick higher...some big people want in and they don't want to pay a premium.
Also - Amr didn't put in the Christmas sale!!! He must be holding for a reason.
Believe me, I have itchier fingers than most...but this is a buy and hold.
A little dose of MHO,
ISCO INTERNATIONAL PROVIDES UPDATE FOR THE FOURTH QUARTER 2005
Elk Grove Village, IL (December 22, 2005) –ISCO International, Inc. (AMEX: ISO), a leading global supplier of radio-frequency management and interference-control systems for the wireless telecommunications industry, provided an update on its business operations.
Fourth Quarter Status
"We are very proud and excited to announce that the Company has shipped $10 million in annual revenue for the first time in its history. This is a significant milestone for the Company and it will complete a year during which ISCO will have enjoyed its four best quarterly results", President and CEO John Thode said. Thode added that the Company was still working on a few opportunities that may close this quarter so final results would not be available until early in January.
"While 2005 was certainly an historic year for ISCO we continue to raise the bar for ourselves, as we know our investors would expect, and look forward to 2006 with great expectations and optimism", said Mr. Thode.
Business Development
Thode also provided brief but important updates on several engagements the Company has recently highlighted with three large US operators.
"After nearly a year of intense business development activities, we have successfully penetrated a significant new account despite the presence of a long-term incumbent vendor", Thode reported. He added, "This new customer has allocated a significant amount of its 2006 business to ISCO and we are extremely excited about the opportunity to continue to build this relationship. This is a big win for us and will be an important new source of revenue for 2006."
Thode went on to provide updates regarding the Company's engagement with a large PCS operator. He said the Company was in ongoing commercial discussions regarding its PCS portfolio with the entity. In addition, based upon the outstanding results of the PCS commercial trial, that this customer had asked ISCO to engineer an additional solution targeted at a systematic issue they had with another area of their network. "This relationship has continued to expand very quickly and we have high expectations for the opportunities it will present for 2006", Mr. Thode said.
Finally, Thode updated the RFP process the Company has been engaged in for a very large customized filter opportunity. He said that ISCO has formally submitted its response to the customer and continues to make preparations with its strategic supply chain partners to deliver the solution. He added that final awards would not be made until later in the year but expected a short list of suppliers sometime in the next 90 days and he felt optimistic about ISCO's prospects.
Thode concluded his remarks by saying. "2005 was a very positive step for ISCO, but we are not satisfied. We will settle for nothing less than substantial year-over-year growth in 2006."
Unity Wireless Receives Purchase Orders From an Existing North American Tier-One OEM Customer
Unity Wireless Corporation (OTC BB: UTYW), a developer of integrated wireless subsystems, power amplifiers and coverage enhancement solutions, today announced that it has received two purchase orders from an existing customer that is a North American-based tier-one original equipment manufacturer of wireless networks.
One purchase order is for product that the Company previously developed for this customer. The second order is for the development of a new wireless subsystem. The combined orders are valued at US$66,000 and are scheduled to ship in the first quarter of 2006.
Ilan Kenig, President and CEO of Unity Wireless, commented, "This customer's ongoing demand for current product, as well as their desire to have us develop additional products for them, signals to us that we are making progress on winning more business with this customer moving forward."
About Unity Wireless www.unitywireless.com
Unity Wireless is an ISO 9001:2000 certified developer of RF (radio frequency) power amplifiers, components, integrated front-ends and coverage enhancement solutions for wireless communications networks. Our products are an integral part of the base station and repeater infrastructure that comprise the backbone of wireless communications networks around the world. From analog cellular to 3G mobile and fixed wireless applications from 450 MHz to 3.5 GHz, Unity Wireless products deliver enhanced efficiency and performance with field-proven quality and reliability in tens of thousands of base stations and repeaters around the world.
Forward Looking Statements
Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "believe,""expect,""feel,""plan,""anticipate,""should" and other similar expressions generally identify forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, inability to raise the funds necessary for the Company's continued operations, changes in external market factors including the economy and other risks and uncertainties indicated in the Company's most recent SEC filing on form SB-2. Actual results could differ materially from the results referred to in the forward-looking statements.
Chip makers drive race to $20 cellphones by 2007
By Lucas van Grinsven
European Technology Correspondent
Tue Dec 6,11:36 AM ET
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Prices of mobile phones will drop sharply over coming years with $20 handsets available to consumers as early as 2007, chip companies said on Tuesday.
Mobile phones may even be produced as cheaply as $10, but the major phone vendors seem reluctant to do so because they will have to use cheap parts and the lower quality may hurt their brand image, said Horst Pratsch, vice president for Entry Platforms at German chip maker Infineon (IFXGn.DE).
"Low quality is not an option, but accepting fewer features is," he said in a telephone interview on the fringes of an ultra low-cost handset conference in Brussels.
Low-cost handsets have been a major driver of the cell phone market in 2005, with vendors such as Motorola (NYSE:MOT - news) selling models for less than $50 to consumers in emerging markets who could previously not afford to buy a phone.
Infineon, and rivals such as Philips (PHG.AS) from the Netherlands, are striving to integrate the key functions of a mobile phone into a single chip of around $5.
This will help phone producers assemble a complete phone with far fewer components than the 150 used now, Pratsch said.
"In 2007, we can do 50 components," he said, unveiling the next step of Infineon's roadmap to cheaper phones.
The company said in July that by early 2006 it would start selling a low-cost phone platform with less than 100 components for handsets that cost less than $20 to produce, versus $35 now.
PRICES AROUND $15 IN 2007
With the component count halving in the next year, the production price will come down sharply.
"In 2007 we are, for sure, significantly below $20," Pratsch said.
With production prices at that level, the wholesale price of a handset, which includes distribution and other costs, will be at or below $20, he estimates. Most consumers get their phones directly from their wireless operator, and the retail price is based on the wholesale cost to mobile carriers.
Philips estimates it will be 2008 when it can supply phone vendors with a design which enables handset production below
$15.
Chip makers have become more important than ever to phone vendors, as they now supply them with complete reference designs as well as core software for basic phone models.
Semiconductor makers squeeze costs out of their designs by integrating all key functions on a single chip, but also by reorganizing the remaining components more cleverly on a smaller surface which also speeds up test procedures.
Analysts estimate some 810 million mobile phones will be sold to consumers this year, up from around 680 million last year. Close to 2 billion people now carry one.
Even cheaper handsets will open up new markets.
"There are around 3.5 billion people living in areas with mobile phone coverage who cannot afford their own handset," said Ameet Shah, strategy chief for emerging markets handsets at the GSM Association which represents the world's mobile carriers.
Phone vendors can drive down costs by using weaker batteries, lower-grade plastics and stripped-down software, similar to cordless phones for the home. But the big vendors are hesitant to do so, because they fear that unhappy customers will switch brands when replace their first phone, Pratsch said.
Telecom Italia to test WiBro technology at Turin Olympics
December 5, 2005
MILAN (Reuters) - Telecom Italia has signed a deal with
South Korea's Samsung Electronics to run trials of new Wireless Broadband (WiBro) mobile technology at the 2006
Winter Olympics in Turin.
Telecom Italia, racing to claim a bigger slice of the mobile market, said on Monday it would be the first in Europe to offer WiBro, the South Korean version of the wireless broadband service WiMax.
WiBro is designed to provide broadband on the go, offering access at speeds of up to 30 megabits per second.
South Korea, a pioneer in broadband Internet services, launched a trial WiBro service in locations -- including buses -- last month, as Samsung unveiled its new phone designed for WiBro.
The Turin Olympics will run from February 10 to February 26.
Seeking to offset weaker fixed-line revenues and strong competition at home, Telecom Italia's mobile arm TIM invested 710 million euros in innovation in the first nine months of 2005.
Verizon Goes with FLO
Thursday, 2005 December 01
@ 09:52:24 PST
Sam Churchill
Cellular Technology
Qualcomm and Verizon Wireless today announced that Qualcomm and its subsidiary MediaFLO USA, are working with Verizon Wireless to bring its customers real-time mobile video over the MediaFLO multicasting network in the United States.
Qualcomm and Verizon Wireless expect to launch mobile TV services over the MediaFLO network in approximately half of the markets already covered by Verizons' EV-DO-based broadband network. Verizon Wireless will be the first U.S. wireless service provider to offer MediaFLO when the network is commercially available in 2006.
Following the initial launch, Qualcomm and MediaFLO USA Inc. will continue to expand the MediaFLO network throughout other markets that cover the Verizon Wireless' VCAST and BroadbandAccess service areas.
Qualcomm expects to launch its U.S. network, MediaFLO Technology in the 700 Mhz band, by October of next year. They demoed the first live, over-the-air demonstration of FLO (Forward Link Only), earlier this year.
Qualcomm claims FLO features include:
* Support for at least 20 streaming channels of QVGA (240x320 pixels) quality video at 30 frames per second, 10 stereo audio channels (HE AAC+ parametric stereo) and more than 800 minutes of stored, short-format video clips called Clipcasting(TM)
* Low power consumption, 4 hours of viewing time on a standard 850 mAh battery, without unacceptable degradation to talk or standby time
* An average channel switching time of 1.5 seconds without buffering or progress bars
MediaFLO and DVB-H are really mini television stations. Instead of trying to stuff video onto a cellular channel like MobiTV, GoTV and Verizon's VCast, these new mobile video services use standalone wireless networks. MediaFLO operates at 700 Mhz (channel 55), and Crown's DVB-H operates at 1.6 Ghz. They can broadcast (multicast) to millions, simultaneously. That frees up the cellular channels for voice and data and enables better video and faster datacasting.
"MediaFLO USA's network will allow us to provide compelling real-time multimedia services to wireless customers, complementing our industry-leading wireless voice and data services - including our successful VCAST broadband multimedia service," said John Stratton, vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless.
Qualcomm's MediaFLO can fit 20 channels while DVB-H can fit only nine over a 6 MHz channel, say Qualcomm's technical white papers. DVB-H proponents dispute those exact numbers, saying that many factors determine how many video channels can be shoved into a particular swathe of spectrum.
Qualcomm's service may have an inherent coverage advantage using 700 Mhz at 716 MHz-722 MHz (UHF channel 55). Fewer transmitters (perhaps 3 in metro areas) may be required. Qualcomm's disadvantage is the availability of the tv spectrum and a larger antenna. Crown Castle's nationwide DVB-H service in the L band (1670 MHz to 1675 MHz) has the same bandwidth (6Mhz).
MediaFLO is a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm, offering interactive wireless multimedia services to consumers in cooperation with U.S. wireless operators. The nationwide network, based on Qualcomm's FLO technology, will deliver multimedia content to mobile devices in the 700 MHz spectrum for which Qualcomm holds licenses with a nationwide footprint.
Samsung has joined the FLO Forum, Qualcomm's 700Mhz mobile video network and Sprint may also climb on board.
Dual band SmartBridge
Friday, 2005 December 02
@ 20:36:59 PST
by Sam Churchill
Community LAN Tech
SmartBridges has released the airPoint Nexus PRO with an integrated multi-band antenna. The dual band access point is capable of seamlessly merging the license free bands in 2.4 or 5.1-5.8 GHz frequencies in IEEE 802.11 a/b/g standards. It provides as much as 25 Mbps of data throughput and a range of up to 10 miles (16 km).
Multiple SSIDs provide control access and allows the service provider to segregate and prioritize user traffic. In addition, multiple service profiles allows upstream and downstream bandwidth to be allocated based on individual time-of-day profiles for each client, thereby maximizing bandwidth usage. The airPoint Nexus PRO TOTAL can support up to 128 clients while blocking client to client communication.
The Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities enables operators to offer triple play services with low latency and jitter while the intelligent networking features and flexible configurations provide for remote video surveillance, Voice over IP and residential IP services.
Adjustable receive sensitivity gives better signal quality and noise rejection. With receiver sensitivity as low as -95 dB, the range is effectively increased.
NEC Elec develops 55-nano chip technology
Sat Dec 3, 9:43 PM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's NEC Electronics Corp. has developed a technology to make advanced microchips with circuitry width of 55-nanometres, or billionths of a meter, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily said on Sunday.
Finer circuitry decreases the size of a chip and cuts per-unit production costs. It also helps chips process data faster.
NEC Electronics, the world's eighth-largest semiconductor maker, aims to start manufacturing the chips on a commercial basis in 2007, the newspaper said.
Officials at NEC Electronics, 70 percent owned by Japanese electronics conglomerate NEC Corp., were not immediately available for comment.
On even more advanced 45-nanometre chips, NEC Electronics and seventh-ranked Toshiba Corp. announced plans last month to co-develop the cutting-edge products so as to share hefty development costs and cut time to market.
Costs for development and production equipment are expanding rapidly as chip makers move to narrower circuitry, making it difficult for microchip producers, except for a few giants such as Intel Corp., to shoulder the burden alone.
Intel, the world's largest chip maker, said on Thursday it would build a 45-nanometre chip factory, which would cost more than $3.5 billion, in Israel -- its second such plant after one being built in Arizona.
The three ISCO opportunities aren't factored in here is there investment thesis.
INVESTMENT THESIS
We are initiating coverage of ISCO International (ISO) with a PERFORM rating and a 12-
month Target Price of $0.63 based on a Price-to-sales multiple of 8x our 2006 revenue
forecast. ISCO has improved financial performance over the last three quarters but is not
profitable. We believe ISCO will be on the cusp of profitability in 2006 and could do even
better, depending on its success in translating three immediate sales opportunities into new
revenue. Longer term, substantial sales opportunities exist for ISCO's products and
technologies due to telecommunications industry consolidation and integration requirements,
integration with 3G systems requirements, as well as international opportunities.
Positive near-term developments include three immediate sales opportunities announced by
the company this month, any one of which could potentially boost sales significantly. Longer
term catalysts for sales growth include 1) the need for technologies and products required for
system integration due to industry consolidation, 2) opportunities for ISCO solutions that
facilitate systems integration due to deployment of 2.5G and 3G systems, and 3) increased
opportunities for existing products in new markets.
Despite positive industry developments and encouraging near-term potential, we cannot be
more bullish in our rating of the stock due to the Company’s lack of profitability, the
illiquidity of the stock, and the uncertainty of ISCO’s sales outlook. As we expect the
Company to be on the cusp of profitability in 2006, better-than-expected performance early in
the year could trigger a positive reevaluation of our investment opinion.
NEW YORK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 11/29/05 -- ISCO International, Inc. (AMEX:
ISO) is a leading high-tech Radio Frequency (RF) system company that is a full-service provider of radio link conditioning, interference management and optimization solutions.
Revenues are forecast to grow from an estimated $11.1 million in 2005 to an estimated $14.4 million in 2006. Net earnings are forecast at $370,000 for 2006.
ISCO International's competitive strengths are based on unique expertise, patented technologies and products, expanding product lines, strong business relationships, nearly untapped international opportunities and experienced management team.
CentreInvest Inc. is an equity research and brokerage firm located on Wall Street in New York City. CentreInvest Inc. is registered as a securities broker/dealer with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is a member of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD).
Any recommendation contained in this report may not be suitable for all investors. This document is solely intended for informational purposes.
Neither the information nor any opinion expressed herein constitutes an offer, or an invitation to make an offer, to buy or sell any securities or any options, futures or other derivates related to such securities. While the information and opinions contained herein are based on materials believed to be reliable, we make no representation as to the accuracy or completeness of such information and opinions. CentreInvest Group and its affiliates accept no liability in relation to the use of this information.
CentreInvest and/or its officers and directors, stockholders, and employees, and/or members of their families may have a long/short position in the securities mentioned in this report. The Company paid a retainer of $6,000.
Upon distribution of the initial report, the Company will pay to CentreInvest, Inc. $1,500 per month for the creation and dissemination of research reports. CentreInvest, Inc. is not a market maker and does not currently have an Investment Banking relationship with the company mentioned in this report and was not a manager or co-manager for any offering with in the last three years. Applicable current disclosure can be obtained by calling the telephone number listed below or at www.cigresearch.com.
William Herlyn
Vice President
212-809-8707
Dow Jones 10,890.72 -40.90
S&P 1,257.46 -10.79
NASDAQ 2,239.37 -23.64
By: cv64 Market Wire on Reuters
CentreInvest Inc initiates coverage of Isco International
with a perform rating and a 12 month target (No mention)
Forecast revenues 11,1m usd in 2005 14,4m usd in 2006
Forecast net earnings for 2006 370000 usd
good luck
Stock Insight
Sunday, November 27, 2005
STOCKS TO WATCH – Week of November 28, 2005
1. ISO - Closed at .38, up .01 on Friday. On the list again this week for obvious reasons. As I mentioned last week, the volume and PPS continues to increase here, along with improving technicals (Golden Cross, RSI, and MACD). The stock seems to be setting up for a powerful move up. While the current action could be occurring on positive technicals alone, there is a chance that it is an indicator of good news coming. On November 3rd, the company issued a PR where the CEO mentioned three promising deals that could come to fruition soon. In his words "each of these opportunities is orders of magnitude more than we've dealt with in the past. While nothing is certain until it is done, we are optimistic and have high expectations." So there are a number of reasons why this stock is on the list for the upcoming week.
2. EXTR - Closed at $4.96, down .07 on Friday. New to the list. For more information, see yesterday's Stock Spotlight on EXTR (previous post). Additionally, one positive thing I forgot to mention yesterday, was the increase in institutional ownership over the last quarter. It has grown by 2.8%.
3. SPSC - Closed at $1.02, up .02 on Friday. This one is on the list again this week, for two reasons. One, the company filed an 8-K on Wednesday, that among other things announced the end of the SEC investigation into the company, with no violations cited. There is a good chance that since the release was made Wednesday afternoon (the day before Thanksgiving), that many investor's will not see it until tomorrow. Secondly, a PR on this positive event, as well as the 3rd quarter earnings is expected soon. Hopefully, that will occur this week. A possible sign of things to come based on this news, is the fact that the stock traded as high as $1.05 on Friday. That's it's best mark since November 10th.
4. AOB - Closed at $5.16, up .14 on Friday. After being off the list for a week, I have put the it back on. The stock had pulled back to just above it's 50 DMA ($5.25) on Monday at $5.28, and then began to resume it's upward climb, as expected. The stock made it all the way up to $6.36 on Wednesday, when the company announced a private placement of their stock. The placement was priced at $4.80 per share, and the stock proceeded to plunge all the way down to $4.68 after the news. However, by the end of the day the stock was able to close above $5.00, and Friday it continued to make progress rebuilding it's share price. I think if the stock can hold the $5 level, and surpass it's 50 DMA again (which is now $5.26, and was Friday's high for the day), it will start to make another move to $6. The company is still involved with the bird flu epidemic, and should now have a floor of $4.80, so your loss if you purchase in the low 5's, should be limited. There should also be some good opportunities for some short term swing trades with this one next week as well.
5. VPHM - Closed at $17.73, up .03 on Friday. On the list again this week. The stock did not quite make it to my $19 target for last week, as it only went as high as $18.74, and then had a sharp pullback all the way down to $17.31 on Friday. I think the pullback was overdone, and was pleased that the stock was able to move higher after some consolidation. I would expect another attempt at $19 or so this week. There will be initial resistance at $18.00, and support should be around $17.50.
6. HIET - Closed at .59, up .04 on Friday. This one was on the list back in October and early November. It was profiled in our Stock Spotlight feature at around that time as well. The stock had made a nice move from about .58 to .69 around that time, on some positive news. Afterwards, with the lack of any new announcements, the stock began to pullback, and hit as low as .55 last week (the 52-week low). The stock successfully re-tested this mark, and made a nice rebound on Friday to .60. As I mentioned in the Stock Spotlight in October, the company was scheduled to submit a proposal to the U.S. Army for it's robotic IED finder on October 31st. Typically those contracts are awarded within 30 days. That time is now almost upon us (11/30/05), so it is possible we will be hearing something soon. Of course, there are awards that can take longer than 30 days, or that get extended. Keep a good eye on how HIET trades this week for clues on whether the announcement is forthcoming. A contract win should be a big positive for the stock, and it could drive it as high as .88, or more. Look for initial resistance at .60, then .69, on the way up.
That's the list for this week, have a great rest of the day!
Stock Insight, November 27th, 2005
http://stockdollars.blogspot.com/
Nokia Wins USD 141 Million GSM Network Expansion With Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) in India
Thursday November 24, 3:36 am ET
ESPOO, Finland, November 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), one of India's leading telecommunications companies, has awarded Nokia a comprehensive GSM/EDGE and GPRS network expansion project in North India. The expansion, valued at USD 141 million, will include core and radio network equipment, and an extensive range of services.
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The expansion will enable BSNL to significantly increase its network coverage and capacity in the states of Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh (both east and west circles), Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. It gives BSNL the chance to introduce the benefits of mobility to 2 million new Indian subscribers, and underscores Nokia's commitment to the dynamic Indian market.
"This is an important network expansion to BSNL as we strive to offer the best network coverage and capacity to our subscribers," says GS Grover, Director Commercial & Marketing, BSNL.
"We are delighted to strengthen our successful cooperation with BSNL," says Ashish Chowdhary, Country Head, Networks, Nokia India. "This expansion provides BSNL the ability to enhance its network coverage and capacity, and shows the strength of Nokia's full range of service offerings."
Services play an important role in the contract, including complete network planning and optimization, infrastructure design, supply and implementation, and commissioning as well as systems integration and Nokia's over-the-air (OTA) device management solution. This expansion is an extension of a USD 284 million GSM/EDGE and GPRS contract signed by Nokia and BSNL in 2004.
Nokia's operations in India include networks and terminals sales divisions, three Research and Development facilities and an upcoming manufacturing facility in Chennai that will produce both terminals and GSM infrastructure equipment. Nokia also plans to open a Global Networks Operation Center in India by the end of the year.
About Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)
BSNL is India's No. 1 telecommunications company and the largest public sector undertaking in India with authorized share capital of $3.6 billion and a net worth of $13.85 billion. It has a pan-India network with over 42 million subscribers across 5000 towns and almost 12.5 million GSM cellular subscribers. www.bsnl.in
About Nokia
Nokia is a world leader in mobile communications, driving the growth and sustainability of the broader mobility industry. Nokia connects people to each other and the information that matters to them with easy-to-use and innovative products like mobile phones, devices and solutions for imaging, games, media and businesses. Nokia provides equipment, solutions and services for network operators and corporations.
www.nokia.com
From Frank of ISO!
We have proceeded carefully, in part for that reason, and in part for other reasons such as taking cash out of country and complying with a growing list of local taxes and regulations. We have terminated discussions with others in the past because of these and other related concerns.
Relevant comments:
- being first to market is critical. Someone playing the catchup game is going to be presenting the wrong generation of technology at the wrong time.
- we have a highly efficient model already created. Labor is minimal. That is the primary feature of lower Asian production. We are already enjoying benefits on the materials side. Bottom line - our solutions are inherently less prone to cheap duplication that others.
- naturally we are taking some other protective measures, both legal and otherwise, including deciding which technology to introduce when.
- finally, John Thode brings experience with both international distribution and IP protection on a global stage.
Take care,
Frank
By: ebob_01: I don't particulalrly hold much optimism for ISCO achieving much in Asia. Some of the big Asian players simply take western IPR rather than paying for it. We have been here before with GC. Ebob.
------------------
China's latest boom industry: spying on British businesses
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,7369,1639929,00.html
China's latest boom industry: spying on British businesses
• Size of delegations to UK raises alarm at MI5
• Espionage focused on technology and security
Richard Norton-Taylor and Nils Pratley
Friday November 11, 2005
The Guardian
The president enjoyed all the pomp and protocol that traditionally come with a state visit, reflecting the importance of the man, and the emerging superpower that he represents. But as China's Hu Jintao tucked into his filet de sole pompadour during the banquet at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, and again as he flew back to Beijing yesterday after his three-day visit, Britain's security services were left pondering a more delicate issue: how many of the president's entourage had been left behind?
Article continues
While on the diplomatic and commercial level relations between the two countries appear to be flourishing, with British ministers and businesses eager to cash in on China's booming economy, the security services are concerned about what is happening under the surface.
MI5 has become increasingly anxious about an increase in spying by the Chinese. Officials are unsure how widespread it is, and what impact it is having. The agency believes that "at least 20 foreign intelligence services are operating to some degree against UK interests", and say the Chinese and Russians concern them most.
The Chinese, security sources said yesterday, have become supreme opportunists, hoovering up information on the "grains of sand" principle: picking up the smallest pieces of information whether relating to business, industry or security and closely analysing them back home.
Justin King, managing director of C2i, a UK counter-espionage consultancy, said yesterday that businesses were all too aware of what is happening, particularly when they hire Chinese staff.
"The Chinese are desperate to find out everything about how western companies operate and how they are structured. It is old-fashioned human intelligence gathering - it's thousands of years old and it works. Employers should plan for the fact that there is a strong likelihood information, even if it is low-level stuff, will be fed back to China."
Whitehall officials cited examples:
• After the deaths last year of 21 Chinese cocklers at Morecambe Bay, the Chinese government sent over what was described as a "police delegation" to help identify the dead men and offer any other assistance to their British counterparts. However, the delegation was suspiciously big, leaving MI5 worried that it contained spies. "MI5 took certain measures to counter them," said a well-placed Whitehall source.
• After 58 Chinese stowaways were found dead in the back of a lorry in Dover, the Chinese government again sent a large delegation to help Kent police identify the men before the trial last year. A member of the team was later found logging on to the police national computer. It is unclear what he found out.
• One British company anxious to develop its business with China recently invited a delegation to visit its factory in the UK. The Chinese authorities sent a delegation, but only a few of them turned up. The rest were believed to have travelled around Britain inviting themselves to defence and research establishments.
Security sources say if a British company creates a fuss about visitors who fail to turn up, the Chinese threaten to cancel the company's licence to trade.
The Chinese are interested in particular in scientific and hi-tech developments. "The Chinese economy is booming but what they are short of is information technology and modern processing, manufacturing and design skills," said Mr King.
When Chinese nationals work in the west, he added, "our clients' experience is that they have mixed loyalties".
Mr King said: "We have come across cases where Chinese nationals are working at the heart of British companies' IT security departments with access to entire databases. To my mind, that is a business risk too far."
In Britain, China is said to be focusing on niche products, including security and surveillance systems, and especially dual use equipment - items that have a civil as well as military use.
But the FBI is also growing anxious about the impact of Chinese spies within the US. In February the bureau's assistant director of counter-intelligence, David Szady, urged US businesses to help the service stop the theft of business and technology secrets. He cited Russia, Iran, Cuba and North Korea but focused mainly on China, saying there were about 3,000 front Chinese companies in the US.
Security sources say the speed and effectiveness with which the US conducted the 1991 Gulf war was a "wake-up call" for the Chinese.
Mr Szardy said US companies should "partner up" with FBI agents to protect security. But some would always get through, he said. "Even as we increase our numbers of agents, we can't possibly totally stop it. If you have a little national asset, whatever it is ... they want that little thing that you produce. And they need it to make their missile fly straight or so they can compete in electronic warfare."
Transcript of November 3rd Conference call. eom
ISCO INTERNATIONAL
November 3, 2005
4:00 p.m. EST
Coordinator Good afternoon. My name is Malaika and I will be your conference facilitator. At this time I would like to welcome everyone to the John Thode, President and CEO, ISCO International conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers’ remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. Mr. Thode, you may begin your conference.
J. Thode Thank you, Malaika, and good afternoon, everyone. First of all, let me turn it over to Frank to read the usual Safe Harbor statement, and then I’ll have some opening comments and we’ll go right into Q&A. Frank?
F. Cesario Thanks, John. We’d like to advise you that the discussions we’ll have today will include forward-looking statements as that term is defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. What we and the Act mean by forward-looking statements are all statements we make other than those dealing specifically with historical matters; that is, any statements we make about the conduct of our business, operations and finances up to this moment. All other statements we make are forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements include any information we provide on future business operations and other guidance regarding the future financial performance of the company.
All forward-looking statements mentioned are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ, possibly materially, from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Some but not all of these risks and uncertainties are discussed from time to time in the press releases and securities filings of the company with the SEC, particularly in our Form 10-K as amended. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. John?
J. Thode Thanks, Frank. Once again, good afternoon, everyone, and welcome. Let me start by saying we continue to make progress in the third quarter, recognizing there’s always more to do. The third quarter was our third-best in the company’s 15-year history, and revenue for the first nine months was triple the full year of 2004. Our revenue for the third quarter of 2005 tripled to $2 million from $700,000 that we achieved during the third quarter of 2004; and our revenue for the nine months of 2005 quadrupled to $7.8 million from the $2 million of the first nine months of 2004.
Our net loss for the quarter improved by 65%, to $600,000, from the
$1.7 million loss in the third quarter of 2004, and the net loss of the first nine months improved by 62% to $1.9 million from the $5 million loss in the first nine months of 2004. Of particular note, our gross margin showed substantial improvement. For the quarter, we had gross margins of 62%, up from 34% during the 2004 quarter; and our gross margin for the first nine months was 50%, up from 38% during the first nine months of 2004.
Finally, from a cash perspective, both quarter and the first nine months were close to breaking even at approximately $260,000 to the negative. While we are all clearly in this business to make money, by any historical measure this continues to be a very positive accomplishment, so we’re pleased with these results overall, but certainly not satisfied.
Earlier today we updated our progress for Q4. Revenue and orders in hand at the end of October stands at approximately $600,000, roughly the same as for all of Q4 2004. As I indicated in the press release, while we didn’t get off to as quick a start in Q4 as we would have liked to, we are ahead of our Q3 pace and are actively engaged with a number of near-term opportunities which we are well equipped to deliver very quickly given the speed of our fulfillment capabilities.
Let me move beyond financial results for just a moment to highlight some of the opportunities that we have been developing over the last several quarters that can expand our customer and product base, as well as provide significant growth for the company. Two are with U.S. operators who we have completed extensive commercial trials over the last two quarters that by any measure were extremely successful. These initiatives have had corporate-level sponsorship and visibility in both cases. We feel we are well positioned with both, and hope to be making additional announcements over the next several months, with initial shipments potentially beginning by the end of the year.
In addition, we are in an RFP process for customized filter solution with a significant multiyear demand beginning next year. The requirements for the solution are extremely complex, but using some novel technology, we have completed a full working prototype and are currently optimizing it for manufacture. We’ve been working this opportunity in partnership with the carrier for some time and we’re hopefully optimistic about becoming a finalist and ultimately a supplier of the solution. We’ve just started evaluating how we might leverage this technology, but we feel there are several other similar applications that it can be applied to.
Finally, I would be a bit remiss if I didn’t mention progress we’ve started to make outside of the United States. While still very early, we have been getting some pretty good traction in Latin America and China, and with any luck, we will embark upon our first commercial field trial outside of the U.S. before the end of the year.
Rather than taking too much more time, I’ll forego updates on some of our other internal R&D initiatives that we’ve discussed on the last call and provide more of an update in the next quarter. Since I’m sure there will be a lot of follow-up questions, let me wrap up my comments.
Just to summarize, we feel we continued to make significant progress in Q3 on a number of fronts, but we also recognize that we have and will do more. Thanks for taking part in the conference call, and now let me turn it over for some questions. Thanks.
Coordinator Thank you. One moment, please, while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from Mark Matarnowski, private investor.
M. Matarnowski Just a couple of quick ones here. One, I was surprised of the delay between the conference call and the release of the results. I surmised that you were sitting here waiting for a closed deal to be ready to be announced, and you were simply waiting for it. Was that the case that we are that close and that you were hoping to have some better news to share for us? Otherwise, I guess what I, even though those are great numbers, that’s pretty much what you told us and released a week and a half ago, and I’m trying to understand the reason for the delay in the conference call.
J. Thode I think scheduling was more of an issue with the conference call than anything, and I’m not – kind of being new to this, I’m not sure if there was much of a delay or not. But obviously, Mark, at every opportunity, we’re hoping to share information and I think the third quarter has had some good results, and we look forward to improvements, if possible, in the fourth quarter.
M. Matarnowski Okay. You talk about having, for new business, the potential for orders of magnitude, difference in – I’m assuming in quantity of product placed and revenue. Could you better define and put a size on that order of magnitude that you’re using? Are we talking ten times more than what we’ve done in a quarter before? Are we talking potentially 100 times more?
J. Thode I would not say 100 times more, but certainly more than historically has been the case for this company, Mark. It would be premature, and as I said before when we’ve had discussions on guidance, it’s a little premature for me to kind of best-guess where this is at, given how many vendors that an operator may choose for a particular opportunity; but it will be substantial relative to our historical performance, and certainly substantial relative to the expectation we have for this year.
M. Matarnowski I guess, John, I’m not trying to pin you into a specific number, but what I am trying to do is get a better definition. You guys use a lot of terms which sound good but are really pretty nebulous, and for an investor, you just don’t give us a whole lot of meat for us to sink our teeth into here. Well, I’ll leave it at that, I guess. I’m glad that you can certainly increase the sales, but there’s an awful lot of float out there, and the more specific you can be, the better, I guess.
Let me move on to some of those other future business opportunities. You said that you were in trials with a couple, you had great trials, and you’re basically just waiting to hear if you’re going to be picked as their supplier. Does it sound like the situation whereby they are only going to pick one supplier, put all their eggs in one basket? Or would they typically go with a couple suppliers, just in case there’s a problem or a production issue? Not that you guys have that, but by the nature of this big order, I guess I was of the understanding that the carriers typically spread some of it around, assuming they could get like product from different vendors.
J. Thode Again, I don’t want to speak for a particular customer. In most cases they’re not going to give us that kind of detail. But I think in some cases it depends on a particular carrier, and it depends on what the solution is and on how many vendors are available. I think in most cases, a carrier would definitely like multiple sources; but I think in other cases, in terms of managing their own supply chains and inventory and roto-pool and everything else, if they’re comfortable enough with a single-source solution, and with the caveats that go along with escrowing and all the other kind of things that they would have to manage their risk, I think that in some cases they will go with a single source. So I think it’s opportunity-specific and I think we’ll see all of those variants with a number of the opportunities we’re talking about here.
M. Matarnowski Regarding the all-U.S. lines that are possibly opening up here, I guess I recall a contract with, I think it was Farfan over in Ireland or England somewhere, and you had someplace in Asia, and you had an office in Japan a while ago and none of those really panned out too great. Can you tell us what you’re doing different now that is getting you excited to think that we’re actually going to be having sales going through these partnered entities that you’re hooking up with? What’s different now than what we did, say, four years ago?
J. Thode I wasn’t here four years ago, so I’m not sure that I’m the best guy to answer the question. But what I can say is –
M. Matarnowski Maybe Frank can help out, too.
J. Thode So let me go ahead and then ask Frank to add to it. What I would say is, it’s a different product family than it was four years ago, that’s the first thing. Second of all – and I’ve said this before and I’ll emphasize it again – we have absolutely – four years ago we had to do everything ourselves and everything was “not invented here.” Today it’s a much different business model and a much different philosophy and culture in the company.
What I want to emphasize again that I’ve said before is we will not spend a great deal of money doing this. In fact, most of the arrangements that we have set in place, they’re only rewards and compensation for success. There is very little if any cost on our behalf to be able to go support it, and that’s ultimately the kind of deals we like and ultimately puts the right kind of incentives in place to be successful. So it’s a very different product, a very different model and a very different approach that we’re using now than I’m sure was used four years ago.
M. Matarnowski Okay, and that’s a great answer, and I thank you for that. Does that mean that – I forget the exact number, was it 62% or something like that, that you had on your mix of margin? Do you think you’ll be able to maintain that, going through these external non-U.S. vendors, or will the margin possibly drop down a little bit, only because you have to supply them with incentives to sell the product?
J. Thode I think it’s too early to tell. Ultimately the margin will drop down a little bit, but the bottom line is the bottom line; and that is, if we have no cost of sales in SG&A and marketing, then a lower margin still drops through to the same bottom-line contribution, and that’s really the most important thing.
M. Matarnowski Sure. Then finally, gosh, you’ve come on, you’ve made a lot of big strides forward here and I appreciate that. One of the things that you stated when you came on, though, is one of the goals that you’re really pushing for is sequential growth going forward, and you actually stated that I think in first quarter. Although we’ve had great numbers compared to past quarters and past years, I’m a little concerned that the actual quarterly revenues have been decreasing sequentially each quarter. And again, I realize we’re in a flux with everything, but is that something you see as – is that something that concerns you at all, and do you see that changing?
J. Thode Sure, it concerns me. Just from being somebody who’s used to winning and a competitor, I never like going backwards at all, so sure, it concerns me, and we put a lot of energy and attention into making sure that we do all we can to not support that kind of reverse movement. But to be honest with you, without sounding too optimistic, I think the company is probably in the best shape it has been for a long time, with the opportunities that are out there; and we’ve just got to go execute upon them and win our fair share, and I think you’ll be very happy.
M. Matarnowski I’m thinking I will, too. And I guess just to support – I’m not as concerned that perhaps you had a decline in your quarters. You could have just had some great quarters that are tough to beat, and therefore, gosh, we did 100% more than what we thought we would do, and so the next one only came into 98% -- well, that’s fine, too. It’s just based on the guidance that you did give, which has been minimal, the only thing I really have to sink my teeth into is your stated goal of sequential growth, and that’s where I’m coming from.
J. Thode I understand that, and I appreciate the comment.
M. Matarnowski Okay. I’ll wait and maybe get some questions in later. Thank you very much. Get out there and sell some product, guys.
Coordinator Your next question comes from Steven Spence with Sentry Invest.
S. Spence Congratulations on your announcement today. The three opportunities that you described sound absolutely terrific; and actually, that’s one of the things that I wanted to ask you about. I wondered, for these three, is there a financial or other resource limitation that you have that would prevent participation in all three of these opportunities if you get all three contracts?
J. Thode No, I don’t think so. Again, given our sourcing model and our manufacturing model, we’re a very scalable business, extremely scalable, flexible and fast – and I emphasize the “fast” part. So I don’t have any particular concerns with any of them. So to answer your question, no, I’m not concerned at all, and it would be great if we got all of them.
S. Spence I hope so. I think it was in your recent S-3 from this week, you described your cash needs, and I think there was a statement that said, given the existing business or the existing business model that your cash should last through 2006. I wondered if any one of these new business opportunities would be such a deviation from your existing business model that it would require additional financing.
F. Cesario This is Frank. I’ll kick in for that one. To the extent we derived significantly more revenue than our current pace – and we have this language in the S-3 – then, yes, that could require us to go get working capital solely for producing inventory for the time between when we pay our vendors and we get paid by our customers. Experience says that that’s a good conversation to be having. A lot of people are willing to fund growth with customer orders in hand. So, yes, we may have to go get capital, but that is the happiest conversation that we can be having.
S. Spence Terrific. Let me back up and go back to your third quarter and the gross margin improvement. A portion of this was due to operations in China; is that right?
J. Thode A portion of it was due to our sourcing strategy for our components. We diversified our supply chain, including some critical suppliers in China, yes.
S. Spence Can you tell me about what proportion of those costs are in China?
J. Thode What proportion of those costs?
S. Spence Of your cost of goods sold.
F. Cesario At this point you’re talking about less than 15%. We really don’t track it on those terms. It depends on a lot of different things, particular products that are coming out, timing. All we’re saying is that we have expanded the supply chain; we will continue to expand the supply chain to look for the best deals.
J. Thode The other thing I would add is that by having multiple suppliers, it also allows you to leverage your supply chain across the board. And so we’ve seen benefits in that area as well.
S. Spence Great. As you move towards additional international suppliers, perhaps, how do you – or even the ones you currently have in China – how do you pay them? Do you pay them in dollars, or is there potentially at some point going to be a currency exchange issue?
F. Cesario Most of the world operates in dollars, so it’s very, very rare that we do not operate in dollars, and I think that’s true of most entities that do business globally. It’s still the international currency, at least when you’re not in Continental Europe.
S. Spence So you do everything in dollars.
F. Cesario Yes.
S. Spence That makes it easier, doesn’t it? Okay, that’s all my questions. Thank you very much.
Coordinator Your next question comes from Thomas Geiger with ISCO [sic] International.
T. Geiger Hello, guys, how are you?
F. Cesario Hello, and welcome to the company.
T. Geiger Thank you very much. My second time participating. Just following up on some of these last conference call issues. You made reference to bringing on some new PR people or organization; has anything like that happened?
J. Thode Yes. On a case-by-case basis, we continue to look at when we need to bring on PR help for particular point solutions. What I would say is, with the blessing of the board, we’ve embarked upon a more broad analysis of our whole IR strategy, and we’re kind of in the middle of that right now, all the way from the elements starting with our Web page, which I frankly don’t want to diss too much, but I think is a piece of junk.
T. Geiger You answered my second question in reference to that; thank you.
J. Thode Yes. So first things first, which is to get the business in place, get customers in place, get opportunities in place, get the team in place, get a strategy in place, get money in place; and I think we’ve done a great job doing all of that over the first nine months. Now we’ve just got to get a better picture in place and a better way to communicate it. So with all due respect, I think we’ve done a much better job as we’ve gone throughout the year, but acknowledge that we need to do more there, and we will do more.
T. Geiger Oh, absolutely, and I concur with you wholeheartedly – or I should say we do; I represent about 20 investors that do invest with ISO. Getting back to some of the other questions I had last time, you still couldn’t elaborate on those as far as some of the potential – for instance, I raised or one of the members raised the Cingular prospects, and that was something you were actively pursuing or were obviously aware of. So we still can’t – or can you? – elaborate on any potential contracts, with who the vendors or the retailers are, or can you just not do that? Or can you elaborate on any of the new products yet?
J. Thode Let me just start with opportunities. We’ve gotten as specific as we can potentially get at this point in time, but I can assure you that as those customers make their decisions on some of their key projects, there will be more specific announcements at that point in time.
T. Geiger Okay. That also would cover particular product line that’s being developed and rolled out, etc.?
J. Thode Yes, to a great extent that will cover the product for that particular customer. In terms of our new product direction that we’ve spoken about on our last call, and I made mention to in my opening comments, let me just say we are actively engaged with tightening up our story there. So let me just spend a moment on that.
As I said, we’ve been a little bit reluctant to get into too much detail, for competitive reasons. But at the end of the day, we think we’ve developed a compelling multiyear strategy for ISCO, and I think that’s augmented by opportunities we see in the near-term that are, frankly, more substantial than I thought they would be. So over the last quarter, we have spent a considerable amount of additional management time flushing this out, and we’re getting pretty close to developing a detailed product market strategy and roadmap. I personally have been spending a lot of time on identifying gaps in our core competencies and developing strategies on how to fill them, both through hiring and other means.
That’s really all I can say for now, but hopefully next quarter we’ll be in a position to roll that out more completely. But as I said, while we’re trying to give investors and all our constituencies as much information as we can, I don’t think I want to give my competitors anything that they don’t need before the time they need it.
T. Geiger Oh, absolutely not. Thank you very much, and I have one other comment from one of the members. They made reference to the Wall Street interview that you did in September. The person who was interviewing you asked you a question why ISCO’s stock price seemed so depressed or suppressed, given all the positive news and all the great things that have been happening. ISO’s been scratching back for years, and we have some rather astute investors in the group; that’s all they do. They made reference to that question, and the note is that it doesn’t appear to be ISO’s fault or their employees’ fault, but apparently the stock is being diluted by the big boys, or whoever the big players are in the game. There may be something to that, I don’t know; but I just thought I would throw that out there, that in our group they’re very optimistic and they didn’t think that was any fault of ISO’s as far as the share price is concerned, which should be substantially higher.
J. Thode Thank you. I don’t exactly remember what I said, but I think we’re definitely making progress, and any objective view of our stock price I think would say that it probably hasn’t reflected all of that progress, so I think that’s a fair statement.
T. Geiger Very good. Thank you very much for your time. Everything looks great and we’re with you all the way. Thank you.
J. Thode Great. Thanks a lot.
Coordinator Your next question comes from William Mysheed with Phase Line Publishing.
W. Mysheed One of the rumors – and rumors always fly around – that one of the people that you’ve been working with and testing some of your solutions with was Sprint, and Katrina blew out New Orleans and Sprint had a major switching center there. Did Katrina and the problems that Sprint and other carriers had from that, did that set back your deployment schedule?
J. Thode I can’t speak for them, but I don’t think so.
W. Mysheed So the hurricanes and the destruction in the Gulf area were not an issue in being able to close on any of these orders and move on deployment, then?
J. Thode No. Maybe indirectly. I’m not speaking from direct knowledge here, but I think that’s a bit of a red herring.
W. Mysheed Okay, that’s good. You talked about that you were working with somebody on a custom solution and you were hoping that they would go with you to supply it, but that you thought that you would be able to use the technology elsewhere for other situations. My question is, it seems that when you are working with a company to supply them with a solution, you are maintaining intellectual property rights to what you’re doing; is that correct?
J. Thode Oh, absolutely.
W. Mysheed Then the next question is, since you were talking about the vendor possibly choosing you or someone else, it sounds like what they’re doing is they’re putting out a specification for bid and you’re putting forth your technology to meet that specification; and that doesn’t mean that every vendor is going to use the exact same technology solution, but they all meet the specification. Am I correct in that assumption?
J. Thode Yes, that’s correct. What I would only say is, as a small company, one of the benefits we have, again being fast and nimble, is we’re able to focus on individual opportunities and as often as we possibly can, also try and influence the direction of a specification so that it’s advantageous to our technology and our differentiation. So, yes, we try and go even beyond your characterization of it.
W. Mysheed I understand. Now that you’re talking about moving into South America and Asia, are you talking about – and you talked about a trial somewhere; I think it was South America. Is that correct?
J. Thode China.
W. Mysheed China. Is that using an existing technology solution, or is this another one of these where they came to you with a problem and you tried to build a technology to met the solution?
J. Thode A little bit of both. The trial specifically has to do with a variation of the RF2 product line, attached to a different infrastructure. But it’s a variation of the current product line. But in that engagement, we’ve also had discussions about problems that the customers had that we might be able to help them alleviate. So this is part of changing the culture of our company, rather than trying to go in and bash and be engineering-focused and just sell exactly what we have; we kind of turn the tables and ask the customer what they need and try to bring some of our technology to bear on that. This really has served us well over the last year or so.
W. Mysheed So even in these situations, you’re looking at maintaining the integrity of your intellectual property and your manufacturing process, and you are just going to supply them with finished product; you’re not engineering a solution and then getting a royalty while they build it for themselves?
J. Thode No, no, that’s certainly not the direction we’re headed in.
W. Mysheed Okay, just wanted to clarify that and make sure. I might have something later, but I’ll give other people a chance to ask some questions. Thank you.
Coordinator Your next question comes from Donald Weiss with Levitz Furniture.
D. Weiss John, China. I’m really interested in what you guys have going in the future, let’s say the next 18 months, in China. What do you see happening over there with your new products?
J. Thode That’s a pretty broad question, with our new products or with China? Let me just back up with China for a moment because I don’t want to expand too far in that direction. We see strategic opportunity in China, given our relationships there, really in two ways. One is, we have an existing portfolio of products that is applicable and easily adaptable to the broad CDMA and wideband CDMA market that’s emerging in China. We want to make sure that we get an opportunity to participate there. That’s with the existing product portfolio. It’s the kind of thing that if we have a properly incented partner, we think we can make up some ground fairly quickly.
On the flipside of the coin, we also see some opportunity from the supply chain in China, both for supplying parts in subsystems, but potentially supplying other products where we might partner in such a way that we could become a distributor for those products in a value-added way outside of China. So we’re approaching it in a couple of different ways.
D. Weiss Sounds good, but what percentage of your business do you think you can get out of having China as a major purchaser?
J. Thode It’s so difficult to say. We’re on a growth path right now, and it’s the kind of thing that could be, with a well-developed opportunity, a substantial portion of our business. But I think it’s way too early to kind of give too much guidance on that, but –
D. Weiss Well, I just said I wanted to know about 18 months out. That’s a year and a half from now.
J. Thode If I knew what was going to happen 18 months out, I’d be giving a lot more guidance than I’m giving today.
D. Weiss All right, thanks. Appreciate it.
Coordinator You have a follow-up question comes from Mark Matarnowski, private investor.
M. Matarnowski I just saw recently – I think it’s Cingular – is rolling out their large – the acronym is HSDPA network. I’m not quite sure how that fits in with CDMA, which I know you’ve got RF-2 filters for, and how PCS, which you’ve got, it sounds like trials with somebody who’s run it through and said yes, it’s real great. Is HSDPA just something on the 1900-megahertz band, or is that a whole other avenue of an opportunity for us?
J. Thode Both. Let me just emphasize again that our products are primarily RF products, so they’re adaptable to almost any technology; it really is more spectrum-dependent. So HSDPA is a 3G technology that does run in the 1900-megahertz band, and all of our product lines have some applicability to it. We are, as we’ve said before, actively discussing opportunity with every major U.S. operator, including Cingular, and obviously some of the discussions are focused on where they have most of their energy, which is deploying their 3G services relatively quickly.
M. Matarnowski A lot of the press I see, I guess, with these cards they’re deploying for laptops and PC’s is you can get video on demand, you can get all this kind of stuff which years ago we said would be the kind of application that would really fill the air waves with data, and then that would I guess accelerate the need for interference management. Do you still see that happening, such that even with these different spectrums, there’s only so much bandwidth available, and that the quicker they accelerate to use that, the sooner they’re going to run into a pinch where they need filtering?
J. Thode The short answer is yes.
M. Matarnowski Okay, that’s good enough for now. I’ll try to keep following on that as I can.
F. Cesario Mark, it’s Frank, if I can interrupt. There’s one longer answer, though, that’s a little different from a historical view that someone who’s been around the company for a long time might not see immediately. We’ve talked about interference for many, many years, but the fact is, a great deal of our present and near-future business opportunities deal with the integration of a base station, the integration of multiple spectrums, multiple types of architectures, multiple technologies in the same place. It’s a tremendous opportunity for us, and really one of the ways that this business has grown over the last year. So I would think of each of those as a real opportunity for us beyond interference, in just integrating the activity in two or sometimes three frequencies in the same base station.
M. Matarnowski And with the recent closure of some of these deals that had been pending for quite a while, do you see that as a roadblock that now gives you the direction to go ahead and pursue that, or had the companies in those deals pretty much been working with you all along anyhow? Or somebody?
J. Thode Yes.
M. Matarnowski Along the integration line, I guess.
J. Thode Yes.
M. Matarnowski Okay, and just a couple housekeeping things here: Regarding the proxy statement that recently came out, we’re to vote for board members on there. This is something I asked last year: I’d love to have a great board working for a great company. It’s hard as a shareholder to know exactly who to vote for if I don’t know what their contribution is. We’ve heard in the past that some of these people know different industry heads and all these other kinds of things, but it would really help if you could somehow publish or share with the shareholders what the contribution for these various board members is. Then we can try to decide is it a good fit for them or are they – whatever. So that would help.
I’m also concerned about the potential 17 million additional option shares you were asking for, for I guess compensation awards here coming out in the future. While I won’t go into all the details of what’s fair compensation and what isn’t here with you, I would like to – again, going back to what you stated, John, and that’s again all we have go to on – you stated that you see no reason ISCO can’t be a $100 million company here, or that’s your goal, to get us there; and I would simply state that if that’s really the case, then with some of the options that are granted out there already, you guys will do quite well if you hold onto them and wait for that fruition to come also.
The place I work, we have an opportunity, everyone can buy into the company; but we buy our own shares, we get a 15% discount on them. There’s some IRS plan – I forget the number for it – that allows you to do that. I guess I’d much rather see at least the majority of the options being handed out, being handed out with some skin involved, too. Now, to the extent that some of that is just part of your compensation, and when you get to your level – I’ll go along with that; but I guess just try to keep in mind that this stuff isn’t candy to be passed out, and every option you give out, at least at this point, is something a shareholder is paying for, and we’ve been paying for a long time, so – off my high horse. Thank you.
J. Thode By the way, I appreciate that, and with a much longer discussion I could demonstrate to you that I think we’re being really good stewards. And I don’t disagree with your comment about ultimately getting to be a very successful company will have its own rewards. But as I said, I think we’re being very good stewards, without trying to sound too high on the horse here. But equally so, it’s been a long time since we’ve refreshed that pool, and if we’re really going to get to be a $100 million company, we’re going to have to add some new talent and some new skill sets. And people aren’t going to come here just on kind of a promise for something to come in the future. I mean, there is going to have to be some risk/reward benefit for them, and that’s the primary purpose of refreshing the pool to a great extent.
M. Matarnowski Sure, and I also want to make clear to everyone that you’re not saying, give us 17 million, we’re going to go #### them away. You’re saying give us 17 million and we may use them as we see fit, where necessary; and there’s a big distinction in that.
J. Thode Absolutely, and I think historically if you looked at when the last time was that we refreshed the pool and what our burn rate has been relative to our peers in the industry, I think you’ll find we’re very, very good stewards and plan to continue to be so.
M. Matarnowski Okay. Lastly, the other forum that came out today about Amr’s termination, again just a clarification: You’re renegotiating a deal with him, probably something longer than one year; is that correct?
J. Thode Let me first clear up something: He hasn’t been terminated. He’s still the CTO and EVP of Engineering and Operations. What we’ve done is we’ve terminated his previous employment agreement; actually we’ve given him notice of termination. His current agreement is still in force through the end of the year, but a provision in the agreement made it automatically renew if we did not give him notice 60 days before its end. I’m fully confident that we’ll come up with a new agreement that’s both beneficial for him and the company, and acceptable to both before the end of the year.
M. Matarnowski That just goes back to a comment I made a few conferences ago, where I asked, is Amr happy? As long as he’s happy, I think where he goes, so go the shareholders here as far as the future potential of this company here, given his talent. So thank you for taking care of him.
J. Thode You’re welcome.
Coordinator At this time there are no further questions. Are there any closing remarks?
J. Thode Once again I appreciate the investment in time all our shareholders make, and the great questions and comments, and more importantly the interest in the company. Thanks again for taking time, and we look to talk to you again in the near future. We’ll keep you updated along the way, so thanks again for the support of the company. Take care and have a good afternoon.
Coordinator This concludes today’s conference call. You may now disconnect.
By: wgm2001 ISO
While perusing the CC, note the importance Thode placed on having new suppliers and their ability to ramp up product very quickly. You do this because you expect to sell a lot of product, but you also do it ahead of time, like Thode did, so you can meet the new demands and keep the customer happy by being able to deliver product in quantity and on time.
People sometimes forget how important creating the infrastructure is to successfully growing a company. I see Thode building infrastructure to support the expansion to a $200 million dollar plus company.
I think he talked about a $200 million company in the past CC because he thought it was readily achievable in 2-3 years. What he isn't talking about from my perspective is his real goal, building a $billion plus company. Hints about there being a larger market than expected for some of their newer technology point beyond $200 million since their current plan builds out to that figure. Surprises, like he hinted at, point to the next goal, the next level of a company.
There are two major transitions in growth for a company like ISCO. To reach $200 million they will become a different company with all of the infrastructure in place that small companies do not need. That is incrementally being set in place now. However to go from $200 to a $billion, they will need another major and somewhat difficult restructuring. While we are all happy they appear to be growing toward their stated goal, I hope that when they succeed they don't succeed too quickly and overstress the developing infrastructure.
We have $9 million this year. $20-$50 million next year would be nice and even doable, and then somewhere in the $50-125 range in 2007 would be real nice but it would strain them significantly, as long as they remain only a manufacturer.
The hint at putting filtering in the handset would likely be a licensing deal where ISCO did not manufacture the chips only own the rights to the licensed technology. That type of growth as well as the hinted software possibilities is easier to manage and I believe Thode wants to grow that side of the business. It is easier to scale intellectual capital than physical production and supply chains up above $100 million with our level of product. That is just too many physical filters moving around with all the desing/build/inventory problems involved, even with his outsourcing model and multiple suppliers.
Somewhere along this growth curve we will begin to see a new ISCO that markets intellectual capital along with its physical products. That is the only way I see them growing much beyond $100 million and meeting Thode's stated goal and it will be absolutely necessary for him to meet what I believe is his unstated goal.
Just a few thoughts from the rim as I digest the information from the last few weeks.
By: mozerd
03 Nov 2005
Thode highlighted three
very significant proposals ISCO International has outstanding for the US market.
http://www.quote.com/qc/news/story.aspx?symbols=AMEX:ISO&story=200511031845_IWR_0100135
[begin Thode QUOTE]To put this in perspective, each of these opportunities is orders of magnitude more than we've dealt with in the past. While nothing is certain until it is done, we are optimistic and have high expectations. [end Thode QUOTE]
I really like Thode's style --- I like it so much that I am now going to triple my holdings in ISO because I do believe that in the 4Q the conversion rate is going to be greater than the sum of the parts
Good Luck to ALL ISO Longs.
..DM..
ISCO International's booked revenue for the fourth quarter of 2005, based on customer orders already shipped or expected to ship during the quarter, stands at approximately $0.6 million through the end of October. This is roughly the same as the revenue for the entire fourth quarter of 2004, said CEO John Thode.
"While we didn't get off to as quick a start in Q4 as we would have liked, we are ahead of our Q3 pace and have visibility to a number of near term opportunities. Having significantly improved the cycle time and efficiencies of our supply chain, we will also be prepared to fulfill orders we receive late in the year, a phenomenon we often see in our business as operators complete their budget cycle," Thode added.
Business Development
Thode highlighted three very significant proposals ISCO International has outstanding for the US market. "First, we have completed an extensive commercial trial with a new customer, at the corporate level, for our new PCS equipment. The results, by any measure, were outstanding. Commercial discussions are scheduled during the next several days that could lead to a significant deployment with this entity over the next year, with initial shipments that might start as early as the end of this quarter. Second, we've been informed by a large US operator, with an extensive history of purchasing RF conditioning equipment across all of their markets, that we are one of two finalists to supply their future needs. We expect their decision very shortly. Finally, we are in the RFP process, and expect to be a finalist, for a customized solution that offers more revenue potential over the next two years than any of the other opportunities we are pursuing," said Mr. Thode. "To put this in perspective, each of these opportunities is orders of magnitude more than we've dealt with in the past. While nothing is certain until it is done, we are optimistic and have high expectations."
Briefly updating progress outside of the US, Thode added, "We've been working with our new partners in Latin America and China to get those businesses up and running very quickly. While we expect it to take sometime to fully develop these markets, we have already achieved some early success and expect to begin a field trial in Tianjin with a large CDMA operator before the end of the year with a version of the RF2 family. This customer has a number of additional RF conditioning needs that we are also discussing," added Thode. Thode concluded by saying, "as we begin to build the business, we have started to become a more attractive, viable partner and this has started to open the doors to opportunities previously untouchable for the Company. While the entire Company is impatient to accelerate our progress, from any historical perspective we continue to make outstanding progress."
nlightn: What's with this? Free WiMAX?
The WiMax Price Club http://www.wimaxpriceclub.com/
by Shelly Palmer, Thursday, Nov 3, 2005 10:30 AM EST
THEY'RE POPPING UP ALL OVER America--in backyards everywhere--it's the latest do-it-yourself craze, the WiMax Price Club. Want free Internet access for life? No problem. Just go to http://www.WiMaxPriceClub.com and order your tower kit online. When it arrives, get your building permit (if required by local zoning laws) and erect your new 80-foot antenna tower in your backyard or on your rooftop. Just plug in the included WiMax repeater and you'll be online in a jiffy! Imagine over 70 megabits up and down, FREE for life! Nothing else to buy; no salesman will call you. Offer void where prohibited. Your actual results may vary. Batteries not included. This is the first mutual Internet access club. It represents the total democratization of Internet access and the total disintermediation of the established telephone and cable infrastructures. The WiMax Price Club has purchased a bunch of dark fiber from a defunct CDN and lit it up with its own hardware. The Club's central offices are conveniently located very close to your home, so your tower and repeater are all that is needed to surf free and download at will. Share the connection with your friends; you can charge them a small override or just let them enjoy the fruits of your labor. Maybe they'll kick in a few bucks and help you purchase your tower and erect it. After all, free is free--but that doesn't mean you can't make a little money! Put up your own portal software, and you're the master of your 70 megabit domain and the 10-mile Area of Dominant Internet Access around your house.
Imagine free telephones using Skype, free movies and videos using BitTorrent, free surfing for all of your Wi-Fi-enabled devices--and pretty soon, free wireless VoIP handsets to replace your cell phones. This is the brave new world, and nothing can stop ordinary citizens from becoming part of the whole for the greater good. Free is very pro-consumer; it's time to take control of that nasty content bill. Why pay hundreds of dollars each month for cable television, landline telephones, old-fashioned broadband? Get connected to the only Internet that's for the people, by the people--the WiMax Price Club.
Do you think this is science fiction? It is nowhere near as far-fetched as it sounds. Yes, the new 802.16 (WiMax) specification is super exciting, unapproved and very misunderstood. But this type of technology and my hypothetical homegrown technological rebellion could easily happen. In fact, commercial versions will absolutely happen--well before 2009.
We are living in a world with several old (mostly mortgaged) infrastructures, and our very high monthly bills help pay down that debt. The cable systems and telephone companies have operated for the better part of the last three decades under the belief that we had nowhere else to go. Now, they are fighting among themselves: cable vs. satellite, satellite vs. telco, telco vs. cable--and the CE manufacturers have yet to weigh in. While these various factions duke it out, they will not be paying too much attention to Google, trying to give everyone in San Francisco free Internet access or a similar business plan like the WiMax Price Club. But, we do have choices. It may not be WiMax, it may not be an existing protocol or specification, but as soon as the prices get too insane, it will be something.
Internet access is a commodity, and the downward price pressure on it is extreme. When everyone has almost free wireless broadband Internet access, we are going to have an explosion of new technologies unlike any that has been seen since the beginning of the industrial age. You name the category, and there is a need for free two-way wireless connectivity: Medical, Education, Automotive, Telecom, Media, Entertainment, Manufacturing, Retail, the list is practically endless. When will the WiMax Price Club become a reality? As soon as you will it to happen. All you have to do is join. Visit the Web site (I created it) and get on the mailing list today!
Shelly Palmer is Managing Partner, Advanced Media Ventures Group LLC.
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=35876&ar....
By: MrMag
31 Oct 2005,
A thought...
it seems rather obvious to most, that there must be a reason the cc is being delayed as long as it is from the Q3 numbers release.
So, why might this be?
Some have surmised they have a (big?) contract that was in the process of being finalized, and it will be done by 11/1. While this is certainly possible, they have been "close" on contracts before, only to see them fizzle out or never come to fruition. Can you imagine how silly they're going to look if the contract once again gets delayed, or, they announce another 500K sale to some rural Telco?
I can.
Having shredded their credibility in the past, I think Thode would want to make damn sure he had something before it was announced.
So, I started thinking, what else is going on in the Telcom world around 11/1? Could it be that ISCO actually HAS a signed contract in the bag, but due to non-dislcosure or simply the clients demands, need to stay quiet?
While listening to the NVTL cc last Wednesday evening, they stated that they would start shipping their HSDPA-Enabled PC Data Card to Cingular, STARTING November 1st. I wonder in Cingular has some big rollout planned, ISCO is part of it, and has to stay quiet until Cingular breaks the silence?
I could be all wet, but at least in my mind, this explains why the delay, and also the growing hope that they actually have something of significance to announce.
I guess we'll find out soon enough.
If anyone else knows about any other big events in the Telco world tied to 11/1, please post away!
nlighn: Does Mr. Viterbi really believe what he's preaching... or just buying time?
Qualcomm Co-Founder Skeptical Of Broadband Wireless Potential
By Dylan McGrath, EE Times, Oct. 27, 2005
The technology is likely to be too expensive to become as popular as existing mobile phones, said Qualcomm's Andrew Viterbi.
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=8296682
WiMAX Makes a Mesh
TopTechNews.com, October 27, 2005
As Wi-Fi hot spots have evolved and have become more frequent in a variety of locations -- not only private residences, but also retail locations, public spaces, office buildings, stadiums and other venues -- mesh networks subsequently have evolved to become the architectures of choice for the rapidly increasing number of municipal wireless networks.
The world is getting used to Wi-Fi . A few years ago, the idea of a Wi-Fi hot spot seemed pretty cool, especially as they were still few and far between. The idea of Wi-Fi access in the consumer home, let alone the local coffee shop or city park, was enough of a rarity that, had anyone had the thought, there wouldn't have been a point in trying to link those hot spots together for greater continuous coverage.
However, within the last few years -- and in less than a decade after Wi-Fi debuted as a commercial technology -- the concept of Wi-Fi mesh network architectures has gained quite a following. In a mesh, dozens or more Wi-Fi access points are linked together and interconnected in an expansive topology to cover an area as large as a small town or a metroplex, though a mesh consisting of hundreds or thousands of access points could be used to provide coverage to even a large city.
The mesh network also is able to act as its own backhaul mechanism, and in some cases, automatic routing throughout the mesh helps to keep service disruptions confined to a minimum area.
Mesh architectures originally seemed most viable for remote or topographically challenging communities that were difficult to reach with other forms of broadband access.
"We have deployed mesh in pretty much the toughest environment possible for a network -- the foothills of the Sierra Nevada," said Larry Bowman, co-founder and partner in SkyWest Broadband, a wireless ISP (WISP). "We're in a place that's hard to serve with anything else."
But, as Wi-Fi hot spots have evolved and have become more frequent in a variety of locations -- not only private residences, but also retail locations, public spaces, office buildings, stadiums and other venues -- mesh networks subsequently have evolved to become the architectures of choice for the rapidly increasing number of municipal wireless networks.
"The places where we have seen hot spots are moving to become hot zones," said Norm Bogen, senior analyst at InStat. "And it's not just municipalities or their public-safety agencies that are driving this trend. The WISPs are driving it, too." Bogen said telcos also will play a role. "All of the RBOCs are watching this trend with mesh technology, and they will want to do something in a mesh architecture," he said.
Although municipal governments often are the catalysts behind projects, those administrations usually are not looking to dictate a specific kind of network design. It is the ISPs, other service providers or mesh vendors that make the decision to use a mesh architecture.
Though most municipal Wi-Fi mesh networks are still in their infancy, usage trends will force these architectures to evolve in different ways as they mature. In many early cases, municipal mesh networks have been constructed with the primary purpose of lending operational efficiency to distributed municipal government offices and functions.
But Chuck Haas, co-founder and CEO of MetroFi, a company that specializes in building, operating and managing networks for municipalities, said these networks will also rapidly evolve to become "mixed-use" networks, supporting both the large enterprise-like needs of a municipal government as well as the citizens of that municipality.
"You see cities wanting to build networks for their own operational benefits but then wanting to open it to public use," Haas said.
A municipal Wi-Fi mesh network can support a wide variety of high-bandwidth applications, and though Internet access might be the predominant application right now, voice, video conferencing and other kinds of business and entertainment applications are likely to become more common, especially as these kinds of networks launch in major cities like Philadelphia and San Francisco.
At the same time, citizens wanting to use a municipality's public mesh network will bring a greater influx of traffic onto the network, and the larger amount of traffic combined with the commonality of richer applications will create a need for better backhaul technology in areas where there previously wasn't much need for it.
That's where WiMAX will come into play, with the first WiMAX Forum-certified products based on the 802.16-2004 standard coming to market late this year and throughout next year.
Mesh networks traditionally have been fairly isolated with low enough overall usage that portions of the mesh could be used to provide backhaul for other parts of the mesh network. However, as mesh networks become more common and more frequently trafficked, operators of these networks will be looking for better backhaul options, as well as a long-haul mechanism capable of linking islands of mesh networks together.
Bruce Gustafson, vice president of marketing for WiMAX and mesh at Nortel Networks , said that 3G networks have provided an example in which the amount of backhaul bandwidth many operators need to support 3G traffic is much more than what they expected.
"In a mesh, if you're using a portion of the mesh for backhaul and there gets to be enough traffic, you could conceivably get to the point where the mesh gets overloaded," Gustafson said. "You want to have a lot of drains out of the mesh."
Nortel is in the process of taking its mesh network algorithms and incorporating them into its WiMAX technology.
Thus far, two smaller vendors, SkyPilot Networks and Strix Systems, also have announced plans to incorporate WiMAX technology into their mesh architectures.
SkyPilot Networks, a broadband wireless equipment vendor that traditionally has been a supplier of point-to-multipoint fixed wireless gear, recently launched its first product effort in the burgeoning market for municipal wireless mesh networking. That platform, the SkyExtender DualBand, is a dual-band radio mesh architecture based on a marriage of the company's synchronous mesh protocol and advanced antenna array technology.
Such dual-band solutions hint at how WiMAX and traditional mesh technology will be integrated. The SkyExtender DualBand currently employs Wi-Fi backhaul in the unlicensed 5.8 GHz band and the 4.9 GHz band for public-safety communications, with dedicated access via 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi, to avoid interference with the backhaul portion of the network, said Brian Jenkins, vice president of product management for SkyPilot Networks.
Most first-generation mesh architectures aimed at municipal applications have been single-band solutions, in which backhaul and access use the same 2.4 GHz frequency. Now, after a couple of years during which mesh networking has begun to gain traction and during which the list of major municipalities pursuing wireless networks has grown rapidly, dual-band solutions like those from Strix Systems and now SkyPilot represent a second-generation approach to mesh networking.
SkyPilot's dual-band radio approach may fit the description of a second-generation municipal mesh networking architecture, but the company has already set its sights on the third-generation move to incorporate WiMAX.
In September, the company announced that it had chosen Fujitsu Microelectronics America's WiMAX system-on-a-chip to power a WiMAX mesh solution SkyPilot has under development for a planned launch next year. SkyPilot's current plan is to create an architecture employing the capabilities of the 802.16d-2004 standard and having the platform ready to submit for WiMAX Forum certification in April 2006. The company has long been a member of the WiMAX Forum.
SkyPilot's Jenkins added, "What we're doing now is a Wi-Fi metro mesh architecture that will evolve to WiMAX. WiMAX will become the mesh backhaul, and Wi-Fi will provide the access to clients."
Strix, which currently offers a dual-band radio mesh, announced in early October it will also use WiMAX in its dual-radio approach (As with SkyPilot's system, 2.4 GHz is used for access while 5.8 GHz is used for backhaul). Furthermore Strix uses a frequency-division duplexing scheme for mesh, with dedicated radios for transmitting and receiving.
This helps keep latency to minimal levels and allows it to minimize network points of presence (to the transport network) down to one for every 60 Wi-Fi nodes, according to Cyrus Irani, vice president of advanced development and strategy.
Irani said that Strix doesn't consider WiMAX a superior technology to Wi-Fi when used in a mesh network, and Strix is capable of getting WiMAX-like performance using optimized 802.11g technology. But there are benefits to WiMAX in that it can be deployed over licensed spectrum, which will be in far greater demand when wireless local area network and metropolitan area network unlicensed frequencies start getting very crowded, Irani said.
The unlicensed 5.8 GHz and licensed 3.5 GHz bands are the first ones being targeted by the WiMAX Forum in its ongoing product certification process.
Regardless, the use of multiple bands in a single WiMAX/Wi-Fi mesh environment will provide important service benefits for service providers.
"You really can't use one radio for access and for backhaul as well; you need a second radio," said MetroFi's Haas.
MetroFi is currently using SkyPilot's new SkyExtender DualBand system in deployments in Santa Clara and Cupertino in California, and Haas said he eventually wants to evolve the company's backhaul method to WiMAX.
A WiMAX backhaul solution also would have an economic edge to which all municipalities and their network builders can relate. Wireless backhaul overall is usually much less expensive than using a T-1 or fiber link for backhaul, and it gives service providers an operational cost savings that ultimately translates to lower-cost service.
"We have to sell broadband for $20, and that's the reality of the situation," Haas said. "If you've got radios that provide 400 square feet to 600 square feet of coverage, you'll need 20 to 30 radios per square mile, and then you've got backhaul."
If WiMAX and Wi-Fi technologies can work together in a mesh environment, it would bring at least a temporary resolution to the issue of whether or not the technologies are actually competitive with one another. It seems that as the wireless newcomer, WiMAX always has been viewed as being potentially competitive with every other wireless broadband access technology, including 3G and Wi-Fi, but using WiMAX as the backhaul method in a Wi-Fi mesh topology will prove the two technologies to be complementary.
Even though companies like Intel and groups such as the WiMAX Forum are pushing for WiMAX to become the next great end-user broadband access technology, the large and growing variety of Wi-Fi-enabled laptops and other consumer electronics devices suggests that WiMAX will have to wait in line for a few years, InStat's Bogen said.
"It's already happening, but in 2006 and in 2007, Wi-Fi coverage is going to be everywhere, and Wi-Fi connectivity is going to be in all kinds of devices," Bogen said. "By 2009, WiMAX will be getting penetration into more consumer electronics devices, but by that point, there could be 10 times or 20 times as many Wi-Fi devices."
"We don't expect WiMAX to be an important subscriber technology for a while yet," added Craig Mathias, senior analyst at the FarPoint Group. "In the meantime, the majority of the access will be Wi-Fi."
Nortel's Gustafson agreed. "The advantages of Wi-Fi don't disappear just because WiMAX shows up. The two will coexist," he said.
Network operators like MetroFi also like the idea of bringing WiMAX to the metro backbone and leveraging Wi-Fi in the access realm.
"Trying to do WiMAX to the notebook PC or to the home wouldn't provide any benefit to my customers or at least it definitely won't in 2006," Haas said.
Eventually, the hybrid WiMAX/mesh architectures of the near future will give way to mesh networks completely consisting of WiMAX technology, many believe. That gradual migration will start with the certification of equipment based on the 802.16e Mobile WiMAX standard.
"The kind of WiMAX that is used in backhaul will not be the kind of WiMAX that goes to the end user," Mathias said.
Irani said Strix is planning to develop an 802.16e WiMAX mesh system at the same time it is building its 802.16-2004 version, in order to be ready for the Mobile WiMAX market to take off.
It could be 2008 before that happens to a large degree. However, Bogen said that while Wi-Fi access will remain dominant for the foreseeable future, the move to WiMAX remains the long-term destination for mesh.
"WiMAX will be used as backhaul for mesh for now, but it could also emerge as a competitive technology," he said. "That will happen at some point, but Wi-Fi mesh has a couple of years of growth ahead of it."
http://www.toptechnews.com/news/WiMAX-Makes-a-Mesh/story.xhtml?story_id=12300CHMWNLC
nlightn: ALVaRion & MOTorola... Since both use Intel chips, do their WiMAX products compete or complement?
Would their working together to develop and promote WiMAX make any sense? Any benefit to ALVR? to MOT?
Motorola and Intel Team to Promote Adoption of Mobile WiMAX Technology... http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=8262664
From Mozerd on ISO, Margins are good.
Expenses low (every category of expenses as a percentage of revenue went down). They have plenty of cash. What they need now is to build the revenue stream. If they can get a predictable stream of say $3 mil, we are in business.
http://www.quote.com/qc/news/story.aspx?symbols=AMEX:ISO&story=200510252005_IWR_099126
[begin quote] Product gross margins improved to 62% during the third quarter 2005 and 50% for the first nine months of 2005, up from 34% and 38%, respectively, for the comparable periods of 2004.[end quote]
Any time a small company like ISO can generate $2 million in sales IN A QUARTER and EARN 62% in gross margins WHILE at the same time CONTROLLING EXPENSES THAT confirms a compelling and viable VALUE PROPOSITION at work.
IMO this milestone signals that the LEADERSHIP is outstanding --- and moving forward will certainly be eventful.
Your reliance on the "big contract" is wishful or exploitive ... big contracts will come when the VALUE Proposition’s have been reinforced multiple times -- that is the way it works ... however in business the BIG CONTRACT can happen without any help from wishful thinkers or exploitive traders
..DM..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
richn2006 :re sales are coming slowly
Do you have any IDEA how hard it is for a small company like ISO to EARN 62% gross margin on 2 million in sales -- in a quarter -- competing in a field like communications where predatory practice can nibble you to 35%?
I believe that 99.9% of the people posting here have no idea whatsoever how business works --- however I do know that Industry Types have certainly taken an interest in ISO.
I see a lot more accumulation building.
What could the latest SIRI hire lead to?
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=8248988
Comcast, Cox, TW Sprinting to Wireless?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Mike Farrell 10/24/2005 12:02:00 AMThe nation’s three largest MSOs are close to signing an agreement with Sprint Nextel Corp. to supply wireless-telephone service to their subscribers.
The deal, if completed and executed rapidly, would make Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications Inc. the first large suppliers of four major forms of communication: television, Internet access, telephone and, now, wireless services.
According to a cable-industry executive familiar with the negotiations, the cable consortium will likely sign a Mobile Virtual Network Operator deal -- essentially a wholesale agreement -- with Sprint Nextel, which could occur in November.
The deal will initially involve giving the cable operators the right to resell Sprint Nextel wireless-telephone service under their own brand names and bundle it along with their current offerings of video, voice and high-speed-Internet service, the executive said.
The agreement with the three operators allows for the relationship to expand and include additional products and services.
While no details have been worked out, one such future service could allow a cable network to handle the handoff of a call from a network inside the home to the cellular network outside of the home, making it possible to use a home phone that uses Internet protocol to communicate to act simultaneously as a mobile phone.
The cable operators are trying to cash in a fast-growing piece of the telecommunications market in which they do not yet participate.
Domestic spending on wireless communications is expected to reach $158.6 billion in 2005 (a 9.3% increase over 2004), growing to $212.5 billion by 2008, according to the Telecommunications Industry Association.
Among cable operators, only Cablevision Systems Corp. and Mediacom Communications Corp. offer some variation on the quadruple play.
Cablevision allows its cable customers to order Sprint cell-phone service via its Optimum Store (www.optimumstore.com), but it does not bundle wireless with its triple-play voice, video and data package.
Mediacom has the right to resell Sprint wireless service in conjunction with its own voice-over-IP service (which uses the Sprint backbone), but Mediacom only began marketing any phone service about a month ago.
Time Warner Cable has been testing a similar Sprint-branded service in its Kansas City market, but it is unclear how much, if any, revenue that service is bringing in.
For its part, Sprint Nextel gets access to a large base of potential customers. The three cable operators combined have 38.7 million TV subscribers and pass a total of 70.8 million homes. Sprint Nextel, the third-largest wireless carrier in the country, currently has about 44 million wireless subscribers.
The cable companies joined forces last October to investigate offering a wireless service, including whether to buy a wireless carrier outright. While the group initially toyed with the idea of buying out Nextel Corp., according to cable-industry executives with knowledge of the consortium’s thinking, that idea was scrapped after considering the cost of such a deal and Sprint’s announcement that it would buy the carrier in December.
The consortium originally included St. Louis-based Charter Communications Inc., but it no longer does, according to the cable executive familiar with the negotiations. Other operators could get in on the deal at a later date.
Officials from Charter, Comcast, Cox and Time Warner all declined comment.
Sprint Nextel spokesman Nick Sweers declined to comment on whether a new deal is in the works, but he said his company is always open to expanding its relationship with cable operators.
“We continue to establish a growing number of relationships with cable companies,” Sweers said. “We have been since 2003.”
Kent Gibbons contributed to this story.
For more on Comcast, Time Warner, Cox and Sprint Nextel, please see Mike Farrell’s story on page of Monday’s issue of Multichannel News.
Yep, love it. I hate wires. eom
So you have EVDO service? Congrats!
Cellular internet...cdma, 3G. High speed
in most big cities. Offered by Verizon and I think Sprint has the same/similar thing. $60 a month but works virtually everywhere.
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