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Qwest Communications Announces Dial Access Internet Services For Enterprise Businesses And Service Providers
Juno Uses Qwest’s Dial-Up Service Platform
DENVER, May 30, 2001 — Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE: Q), the broadband Internet communications company, today announced its new dial-up service platform designed to meet the steady demand for 56 kbps dial-up services in both the business and wholesale markets.
Qwest offers two separate services: Qwest Business Dial, which supports enterprise businesses, and Qwest Wholesale Dial, designed for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that want to expand their existing dial-up networks quickly and cost-effectively. Each has access to Qwest’s coast-to-coast service areas.
According to industry analysts, the number of business dial-up connections is expected to reach 10 billion in the United States by the end of 2002. Similarly, in the wholesale dial market, the number of residential dial-up connections is expected to reach approximately 53 million by 2002.
“The business and wholesale market segments are both growing rapidly, a significant portion of each is composed of dial services,” said Steve Harris, senior research analyst with IDC. ”While IDC's forecasts for broadband connections shows dramatic growth, dial access to the Internet will remain the primary access method. Service providers that offer multiple billing options, monitoring and control functionality, and reliable network services will take the lion's share of this market."
Qwest Wholesale Dial
With Qwest Wholesale Dial, ISPs can grow their networks quickly, without incurring the costs associated with network build-out, operations, maintenance and monitoring. The ISP traffic runs on Qwest’s global broadband Internet network, which is monitored around the clock and backed by industry-leading service level agreements.
Qwest has also announced that Juno Online Services, Inc. has begun using Qwest’s wholesale services as part of its national Internet access network. Juno has begun using Qwest’s wholesale dial platform as part of its national dial-up network for Internet access. Juno is one of the nation's largest Internet access providers, with 15.9 million total registered subscribers and 4.1 million active subscribers in March 2001.
Founded in 1995, Juno provides multiple levels of service, including free basic Internet access, billable premium dial-up service and (in certain markets) high-speed broadband access.
“Because of the company’s overall reputation and stability, we view Qwest as a key service provider,” said Wendy Rosenberg, Juno’s senior vice president for business operations. “The introduction of additional access numbers through Qwest makes it more convenient than ever for our subscribers to connect to Juno.”
Qwest Business Dial
This service provides local dial-up Internet access in major cities throughout the U.S., round-the-clock customer service and a secure and reliable connection to Qwest’s broadband Internet network. It also has a Web-based customer account management tool that allows authorized users to access billing information and add, delete or change end-user account information and passwords directly from a Web browser.
Setting a new standard for the industry, Qwest Business Dial has a cost-effective “inactive user” billing policy. If a customer does not use the service in a given month, the customer will be charged a $5 inactivity fee rather than the full monthly amount. This serves to lessen the burden on administering users while acknowledging some users travel intermittently.
“Our goal is to offer both business and wholesale customers high-performance dial Internet access services on our state-of-the-art dial network and IP backbone, which offers best-in-class reliability and security to our customers,” said Rick Weston, senior vice president of Qwest Internet Solutions. “With the addition of service offerings to our portfolio, Qwest can deliver solid performance to its wholesale and commercial customers.”
About Qwest
Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE: Q) is a leader in reliable, scalable and secure broadband Internet-based data, voice and image communications for businesses and consumers. The Qwest Macro Capacity® Fiber Network, designed with the newest optical networking equipment for speed and efficiency, spans more than 106,000 miles globally. For more information, please visit the Qwest web site at www.qwest.com.
Excel - Greg
Hi All! Below is a C&P from Matt the Admin. This is a nice review of the history behind the concept and a look forward to what the future holds for I-hub. I think you'll find this informative.
What is IH and where is it going?
Lately, there has been quite a bit of confusion as to what IH is, who is running it, and where it is going.
I will attempt to address what I think are important issues out there in folks mind.
Where did IH come from?
IH was born out of a passion for talking stocks and not having anywhere to do it. I got tired of the way things were ran on the current sites, so I figured I would fiddle around and build my own. I knew that I couldn’t be the only one who didn’t like what was out there. I found a group of about 100 or so who shared my distaste for the sites out there. We put our ideas together and started forming the foundation for this great empire. I ran into a programmer here in town and we got to work building a BETA version of what I (and my buddies) had drawn out.
Then, in about April 2000, we went live with the ‘draft’ version of the site. People started playing on it and offered suggestions. Plenty of them. So we started implementing all the cool ideas. It was just a hobby. Then around 2001 or so, things started to get real as we were running out of server horsepower in our curent location.
So I ran into the Italian guy. We put the site up on real Dodge Ram horsepower and were off to the races. That’s the short and sweet version of where we came from.
What makes IH different?
Plenty of things. But I will just hit the main one. The Chairman of the Board concept. The CoB was my answer to the psychos, whackos, trouble makers, and looney toons. None of these folks should be part of any investment discussion. In the early days of SI, it was about having fun and learning. We all talked stocks and taught eachother what we knew. One cool thing about message boards is that you get to see what’s on people’s minds, instead of just what they would say in person. People are far more open and insightful over the computer than in person. So that leads to all kinds of interesting topics. Anyways, investing used to be fun. Then came the whackos. These are the folks that hang out on the boards and rooms just to harrass people and generally disrupt the place. They can’t keep a civil conversation and resort to the name calling, attacking, etc to destroy the flow. I don’t like these kind of folks. And neither do ‘normal’ people.
That’s where the Chairman concept came from. A basic annoyance with folks that have no place discussing stocks or have no intentions but to harras people. That’s what the Chairman concept weeds out. And very well I might add. The Chairman concept allows people to instantly, temporarily ‘hide’ posts from view that don’t fall within the User Agreement, for Admin review to decide if the post should be deleted. Think of a Chairman as the guy on the board with the instant TOS violation button. He doesn’t do the deleting, just the alerting. Admin does the deleting.
The CoB concept doesn’t enable pump and dumps. It just stops the non-sense. The reason people call it a pump and dump enabler is because of how fast it works. One Admin doesn’t have to watch after 100,000 posters. Instead, he just watches the deleted box and the Chairman. Far more effective. Far more efficient. And that’s what bugs people who are here to create trouble. They just aren’t very effective anymore. Take a look at some of the folks who complain about the site. Look at their posting history. It’s like finding a needle in a haystack to find a post about a stock. Yet this IS Investors Hub.
The CoB concept does need some fine-tuning. I admit that. But it isn’t going anywhere and it most likely isn’t getting watered down, until I see folks that post about stocks
complaining.
So who’s running IH now?
Me.
Where does IH go from here?
We’ve had a few bumps in the road. Not getting new features out on time. Launching a year late. Not having enough server horsepower. Flip flopping in the key Administrator position. But nothing we haven’t learned a tremendous amount from.
When you form a business, you pick out your target market. I am building something right in between SI and RB. Something that caters to the folks who like the various qualities of those two sites and like to talk about a wide scope of stocks. I want to build the team spirit of SI coupled with the activeness of RB.
Most Admin problems arise out of the OTC. Most fights, problems, everything. Because of it being so unorganized, it offers the most opportunity. That’s what I want. To bring order to a very haphazard group of posters. And create good, informative, insightful market talk out of it.
Order is already in place with the Listed stock folks. Once we have the platform refined and the traffic here, is when they will come this way on their own. When we are offering the real-time quotes, news, charts, and such is when I will turn my focus to the big-cap traders.
In short, we will continue to build the site as we always have, integrating new features,
and adding new content to the site. And responding to what the investment community wants in a stock site.
Things should start progressing forward now much quicker, as we have the Admin position filled, the company fully funded, and a clear direction of how this site will shape up.
Excel - Greg
Network Infrastructure
Telia in fiber-for-kit swap deal with Lucent
By Simon Marshall, Total Telecom, in Stockholm
29 May 2001
Telia International Carrier (TIC), the wholesale division of Swedish incumbent Telia AB, has detailed a far-reaching European and U.S. network expansion plan that includes an unorthodox agreement with Lucent Technologies to swap fiber for optical equipment.
TIC expects to expand its Viking network coverage beyond existing European power bases in Sweden and Germany to Eastern and Southern Europe, Russia and the U.S., but it is the deal with Lucent that will raise the most eyebrows.
President and chief executive Lars Rydin explained TIC had swapped fiber in Europe with Williams Communications and 360Networks, both carriers on the U.S. continent, in order to build its own U.S. network.
The relationship between vendors and carriers is becoming ever more complicated. Vendor financing: a necessity?
TIC then exchanged some of this U.S. fiber with Lucent to gain multiplexing equipment and boost U.S. capacity, leaving the New Jersey-based vendor giant with fiber assets.
“It means Lucent can sell dim fiber as a total solution package to its customers,” said Rydin, of what looks like a further development in an emerging trend of vendors looking to manage operator's networks. According to Communications Week International, Marconi may be negotiating with as many as 10 European facilities-based operators to acquire and manage their networks.
A spokesperson for Lucent said, "We can't elaborate on the terms of the deal done [with TIC] last May."
Most of Telia's U.S. extension is still under construction through Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Santa Clara and Seattle, and will be connected to Europe via existing nodes near New York City over the TAT-14 and AC-1 subsea cables.
“The U.S. network is fully-funded and we expect to have it finished by Q3,” Rydin told Total Telecom. “We've effectively transferred our production cost from Europe to the U.S.”
“In Europe, we're building from Dresden to Prague and Paris to the Spanish border, and by the end of this year, we'll have a network which covers all the major European cities,” he added.
TIC is now actively looking for partners in “middle sized” European cities to offer local loop connectivity, and will build what it terms 'low production cost' metropolitan networks in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Warsaw and Hamburg.
Expanding its Viking network to the Czech Republic and Poland are seen as a priority, but a framework decision has been made to build to destinations in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal. New POPs are being built in Warsaw and Prague for customers wanting to buy wavelengths on the network.
“With this European network, we can go on to use it for [fiber] swaps or get other parts of the geography covered and see how we can strengthen our position over the Atlantic,” said Telia AB's chief executive Marianne Nivert.
“It's a long-term business, of course, and you can't look at it from one quarter to another,” she added, referring to TIC's plans in general.
Although she doesn't consider Telia a “global actor for all services,” the incumbent depends on its 20% stake in California-based service provider Infonet to achieve connectivity along those lines.
Fellow stakeholders in Infonet, including Dutch incumbent KPN, have indicated they want to sell their respective holdings, but Telia appears keen to distance itself from them.
“There are no such plans,” a Telia spokesperson told Total Telecom when asked if it still wanted to sell its stake.
Telia International Carrier is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Telia AB.
Excel - Greg
Lucent, Alcatel Merger Talks Off
Copyright 2001 "The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of the Associated Press."
By ALAN CLENDENNING
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- Merger talks between French telecommunications giant Alcatel SA and Lucent Technologies Inc. were called off Tuesday after intense negotiations over the long holiday weekend failed to yield an agreement.
In a statement, both companies said that the negotiations in Paris had failed, but didn't disclose why they ended the talks.
Sources said disagreements over how to share control of the combined company were the main roadblocks preventing what would have been one of the largest takeovers of a U.S. company by a foreign concern.
Lucent officials apparently balked because Alcatel refused to treat the deal as a merger of equals.
"Lucent was negotiating a merger, not an acquisition, and when it became clear that was not the way things were going the company decided to pursue its own path," said one source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Another source said Lucent wanted equal representation among the combined company's senior managers and on its board, but Alcatel would not agree to those terms.
Analysts had said the new company would have a work force of more than 200,000 but would probably have had to cut 20,000 to 30,000 jobs to trim costs.
Since the start of the year, financially plagued Lucent has announced plans to reduce its work force by as many as 16,000 jobs as it streamlines operations and sells off some of its factories.
Analyst Steven Koffler of First Union Securities said Lucent faces an uncertain future without the backing Alcatel would have provided.
"This is going to be tough because of a lot of internal problems they're having and because of the state of the industry right now," he said.
News reports set Lucent's price at between $23.5 billion and $32 billion.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the talks centered on a deal at the lower price that would have excluded Lucent's 58 percent stake in Lucent subsidiary Agere Systems, a maker of semiconductors used in communications systems.
Murray Hill, N.J.-based Lucent, which was spun off from AT&T Corp. in 1996, is the second-most widely owned stock in America, owned by 5.4 million investors. The first is insurer MetLife.
Lucent's research arm, formerly known as Bell Labs, has been a wellspring of U.S. technological innovation over the years. Its 30,000 scientists have had a role in developing such landmark inventions as the transistor, the laser and superconductors.
But Lucent has fallen on hard times amid a string of strategic missteps and profit disappointments that led to the ouster of chief executive Richard McGinn and a major restructuring. The company's shares are hovering at about one-tenth of their all-time high hit in late 1999.
What made the "deal possible is that Lucent is weakened, both financially and strategically," said Jean-Claude Delcroix, a Brussels-based telecommunications expert at technology research firm Gartner. "It made poor investment decisions in the past, while its strategic vision for the future has floundered."
Analysts said that a deal by Alcatel, which chief executive Serge Tchuruk has built into a diversified maker of cell phones, high-speed telecommunications equipment and Internet switches, would have made it a major player in the U.S. market.
More than half of Alcatel's sales are in Europe, while 23 percent of its revenue comes from the United States.
In trading Tuesday afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange, Lucent shares were down 11.5 percent, or $1.08, to close at $8.32 a share, while Alcatel's U.S. shares were down 70 cents, or 2.5 percent, at $27.41.
In extended trading Lucent shares rose 2.8 percent, or 23 cents, at $8.55 a share, while Alcatel's U.S. shares were up $2.34, or 8.5 percent, at $29.75.
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Excel - Greg
Mosconiac. I'm sorry I should have left a link or had the wire service listed. Found it searching for articles. Can't remember.
Excel - Greg
THE SECRET PLACE OF THE MOST HIGH
In the midst of the fire, by despair I was bound
But I heard an angel’s voice
“Come, we’re going to higher ground!”
Just hold my hand and don’t let go
For where I take you few men know.
I reached forth my hand leaving all hurt behind
For the love and peace He promised I would find.
Up to the mountain where angels sing
There I was in the presence of the KING.
Communing in the stillness of his love,
Soaring
where devils dare to go.
Joy that could only come from above
Thank you JESUS, for now I know.
Author Holy Spirit
Vessel debbie jones 6/85
Excel - Greg
San Diego March 7th New transmission technology improves standard 26 gauge phone line performance.
Phone companies may be able to provide Internet, voice and video connections at nine times the distance of cable companies if field trials conducted later this year prove a new technology usable in the real world. New Wheel Technology Inc., a subsidiary of New Visual Entertainment Inc., recently received independent third-party verification by Lucent Technologies of its patent-pending transmission technology. The company's Cu@OCx broadband transmission technology transmitted data over a standard 26-gauge copper telephone wire pair for about 9,000 feet at a speed of 54.445 million bits per second. It probably will be transmitted at "very high rate digital subscriber line," or VDSL, rates at 52 megabits for 9,000 feet. Others in the industry have transmitted at 52 megabits for 1,000 feet or 26 megabits for 4,500 feet. "We're doing at least a nine times improvement," said C. Rich Wilson, New Wheel's vice president of marketing. New Visual is developing a proprietary broadband transmission with the mission to utilize existing copper telecommunications infrastructure to deliver high-data content to the home or office at VDSL, or fiber optic data transfer rates. The technology will allow the bundling of voice, video and data over existing copper telephone wires, thus potentially eliminating the need for fiber optic cable to the home or office. Its initial development efforts include VDSL.
Excel - Greg
Gates loses the broadband plot
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 24/05/2001 at 13:48 GMT
Bill Gates reckons the cost of broadband is holding back the development of home digital entertainment services but predicts good things for broadband Britain.
Speaking yesterday at the Fifth Annual Microsoft CEO Summit in Redmond, Gates said: "There is no hardware limitation that will hold this (digital home entertainment) back - with one exception, and that's the cost of broadband communications primarily to the home and that's an area where progress continues to be very slow.
"Yes, cable modems are selling better; yes, DSL is starting to get together, but even if you took a reasonably optimistic forecast over the next four years, you'd still only see perhaps 20 percent of US homes connected up to broadband and in very few other countries, maybe Korea or the UK, would you see anything close to that level."
Excel - Greg
34Simmonds. If I understand it right. From what I gathered from others it is the release of the restricted shares. If I'm incorrect would someone please correct me.
Excel - Greg
If we can make broadband cheaper? And I sure do think we can since we will help others service more people making a better return rate so the price goes down. Then alot of these problems will disapear. I can't help but think our timing into the market will be perfect!
Wednesday May 23 12:42 PM ET
Living Without Broadband, And Happily So
By Andrea Orr
PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Last month, Quokka Sports Inc.(Nasdaq:QKKA - news), which had been broadcasting live sporting events over the Internet, joined the ranks of dot-com companies to suspend operations, citing ``circumstances beyond our control.''
It is fair to say that one of those circumstances was Quokka's inability to get its video to the kind of hard-core sports fans who would want log on to watch baseball or snowboarding competitions any time they are near a computer.
Like so many other Internet companies that have failed, Quokka offered a service that was dependent on its customers having not just any Internet connection, but a broadband connection, so that the video it broadcast would be smooth and steady rather than choppy and snowy.
Broadband can do a lot of other things, too, like make it faster to download Web pages than is possible with a standard dial-up connection, play interactive games, send messages in real time, transfer large files and listen to music. But to the chagrin of many companies that built their businesses on the assumption of universal broadband access, most consumers are quite happy to live without it.
THE PRICE IS WRONG
Only about 10 percent of U.S. households -- 5.4 million -- had a broadband Internet connection at the end of last year, according to the Yankee Group, a technology research division of Reuters Group Plc. (RTR.L) (Nasdaq:RTRSY - news) And while several individual broadband providers say demand remains robust, there is, in the aggregate, a growing sense that broadband is not going to transform the Internet the way many had forecast two years ago.
At least not any time soon.
``When we ask consumers if they are satisfied with dial-up Internet, they are actually pretty satisfied,'' said Jupiter Media Metrix analyst Joe Laszlo. ``There will be a point when almost everyone will have broadband, but it is probably in the 10- to 20-year time frame.''
Like Laszlo, many people who watch the industry say there remains a lack of a ``killer ap'' -- a service that consumers deem essential -- to drive demand in the short term. While getting Internet access was a killer ap that drove PC sales in recent years, some of the services that broadband providers have touted, like video on the computer, have been met with a ``take it or leave it'' response by consumers.
In other words, people will take it if the price is right, and pass on it if it costs too much. In the case of Quokka, customers may have enjoyed watching sports online if they had a broadband connection to start with, but they were not likely to sign up for broadband just to watch the Americas Cup.
Yet at a time of such customer ambivalence, most service providers are not in a position to offer deals. Bogged down by debt, high operating costs or pressures to turn a profit, many of the biggest broadband providers, including Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - news) and SBC Communications Inc.(NYSE:SBC - news), have recently adopted steep price hikes. Verizon, which had 720,000 broadband customers by the first quarter, says the price hikes have not slowed demand.
CHICKEN OR THE EGG
Others say higher rates are bound to have some impact.
``Consumers clearly want the benefits of broadband, but they want real benefits, at an affordable price, from providers they can trust,'' said Nick Donatiello, President of Odyssey, a San Francisco market research group that studies the user experience. ''Right now broadband provides none of those things.''
Along with the high price -- most broadband services are more than $40 a month -- and the marginal benefits, broadband suffers from a general consumer dislike of the cable and phone companies that provide the service, Donatiello said. In fact, customer complaints over the poor service they encounter trying to get high-speed Internet access have become so common that they are now documented in a number of Web sites, such as DSLreports.com. (http://www.DSLreports.com).
Most of the companies building broadband applications now recognize that video over the computer (a ``traffic cam'' in the corner of your PC screen, for example) will not, by itself, drive broadband adoption. But, they say, it is a quagmire trying to come up with something better.
Most services are quite costly to launch; and, with current broadband subscriber numbers, they may not be worth the investment.
``It is really a chicken and egg situation,'' said Seth Cohen, director of market strategy of ExciteAtHome Corp.(Nasdaq:ATHM - news), which offers a broadband Internet service over cable lines and had 3.2 million subscribers at the end of the first quarter. ``Up until this year, the content developers have been building services for the lowest common denominator.''
ExciteAtHome said it has started identifying specialized uses where broadband shines. Online gaming appeals to a sizable niche, downloading software is another application the company is experimenting with. While online shopping generally works fine on narrowband connections, certain types of shopping, like grocery shopping, which involves multiple items and selections, works a whole lot better when consumers can download Web pages quickly.
Of course, the online grocery industry has had its own share of problems attracting customers.
And some other applications, such as video conferencing, depend on widespread adoption beyond where the market is today.
``It's like a fax machine,'' said Verizon spokesman Larry Plumb. ``If you are the only one who has one, it doesn't do any good.''
Excel - Greg
Baskiboat. Thank You for that. Interesting.
Excel - Greg
In my conversation last week with John Howell I asked him if the shareholder meeting will be video taped. His answer was yes. It will be put on the website after meeting. I didn't ask for a timeline. So it may be a few days. Just happy to know those of us who can't attend will be able to see it.
Excel - Greg
Digital Cable's Flaws Aren't Likely to Be Worked Out Soon, Experts Say
Source: The News & Observer
Publication date: 2001-05-19
May 19--Chuck Davis likes to watch nature shows on TV, but for the past seven months, ever since he got digital cable, the colors on all the sky shots get blotchy. The picture freezes, too. And sometimes the flesh tones on the screen are so scrambled that actors look like cartoons.
Somehow, this didn't feel like the new video revolution.
"One technician came out, scratched his head and said he had it at his house, too," said the Cary homeowner. "They went through everything, including digging up my yard to replace the cable. Nothing worked."
Davis is one of Time Warner's 150,000 digital cable subscribers in a 19-county area that includes the Triangle. He upgraded his service from regular analog cable, lured both by the promise of a clearer picture with more channels, and the discount he could get for bundled Internet service over the same wire.
The distorted picture he sometimes gets was not supposed to be part of the deal.
What Davis described is as common for some digital cable customers as "snow" is for the analog cable set. Digital cable, which costs about $10 more a month, does offer a better picture. The service also includes more programming services such as CD-quality sound, on-screen menus, video on demand and parental controls.
But digital cable is not without flaws, and the kinks aren't likely to be worked out for some time, experts say.
"Overall, digital does not promise perfection," said John Gannon, technology editor for Stereophile Guide to Home Theater, a Los Angeles-based trade magazine. "There are still too many interference problems. Something as simple as where the connection hits the wall could cause the picture to degrade."
Time Warner's marketing campaign hit the Triangle full force about three years ago, pushing its new service as the answer to satellite TV's digital offerings. By the end of last year, Time Warner had more than 1.7 million digital service subscribers in the United States. About one-third of all its customers in North Carolina have made the upgrade and, according to Pat Hourigan, a vice president based in Raleigh, the company continues to sign up customers at a "violent" pace.
Part of what makes digital so attractive is that, because it travels as compressed data encoded into a series of 1s and 0s, more information can be sent down the wire, resulting in a clearer picture and a larger number of channels. The trouble is that if anything in the system is amiss, the data could get garbled. The result is what Davis saw, called "pixilation."
With a traditional analog set (to which the information travels over the broadcast spectrum), if there's a problem in the transmission caused by, say, high winds or driving rain, the TV picture might seem fuzzy. Most people know it as "snow."
Sets with digital cable are susceptible to the same problems. Bad weather could interfere with the signal on its way to Time Warner's dishes. The cable Time Warner has in place could have problems. Or the homeowner could have faulty wiring. But instead of producing snow, the picture pixilates.
"You know if you take a picture and look at it and blow it up and blow it up, and eventually you're looking at these big squares of color? That's pixilation," said Rob Steinruck, director of operations for Raleigh-based Consolidated Electronics International, a TV repair shop. "If the data is corrupted, it's only going to unencode to a certain degree, and you're looking at a corrupted version of the picture."
It usually lasts for only a few frames, though, and then new data overtake the corrupted stuff and paint a clear picture. But it can be annoying, Steinruck said, especially because the pixilated effect is foreign to customers used to seeing snow.
Nancy Dail said the problem plagued her for six weeks straight until, fed up, she canceled and went back to regular cable.
"I noticed it especially with the music channels," said Dail, who recently moved from Durham to Pittsboro. She liked listening to some of the 40 CD-quality, commercial-free music stations Time Warner offers over its digital service. But "there would be breaks in the music where you wouldn't be able to listen to a whole song," she said. "It was very sporadic. That bothered me."
That's not what caused her to cancel, though. It occurred after her attempts to order movies. "You'd be watching the movie, and all of a sudden, there would be no sounds and the screen would freeze and then 10, 15 seconds later, it would catch up."
She called. Time Warner sent someone out -- three times. "The subcontractor said he had run into this problem so many times he couldn't even count." That's all she needed to hear.
Hourigan said he could not comment on individual cases but acknowledged that there are numerous circumstances under which problems could arise. Time Warner's equipment could be faulty. The consumer could have bad or substandard wiring in the house. If the cable has been spliced, even nicked, the picture could suffer.
"It's not an ongoing, systemic problem," he said. "There's no such thing as a perfect world. We engineer it and design it for a quality of service that is extremely high in terms of reliability. But occasionally, things do happen."
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Excel - Greg
Video-on-Demand: Coming To
A MTU Home Theater Near You
Forget about going to the video store for the latest blockbuster film, a virtual video store may soon be as close as your own television set.
by Jim Thompson
[May 18, 2001]
Using a combination of DSL access, streaming video and set-top boxes, Copper Mountain Networks and InfoValue Computing have partnered to enable broadband service providers to bring video-on-demand and high speed ADSL services to Multi Tenant Unit (MTU) buildings.
"By bundling streaming video capabilities with high-speed Internet access, in-building broadband providers can offer a mix of services," said Bob Beliveau, product marketing manager at Copper Mountain Networks, Inc.
New niche
For customers, it's a convenient way of getting the latest films and special event programming along with high-speed Internet access. For programming providers, it offers a secure system for delivering their products to a new audience. For ISPs, it means a new niche market for services and an additional revenue stream.
On the hardware side, the system includes Copper Mountain's CopperEdge 200 and 150 DSL concentrators (DSLAMs) using a full-rate ADSL line card.
"We have a 200-Mbps full-duplex feed over an IP-based network going into the InfoValue server, so there is plenty of bandwidth," noted Beliveau. "Coming out of the DSLAM we have an interface going to the video server along with a number of other interfaces which allow you to connect to the Internet via a T-1 or OC-3. So the customer can surf the Internet while watching a movie, all over the same line."
The DSLAMs can distinguish between real-time video and "best-effort" Internet traffic and then forward it to and from the video server or the Internet as required. This eliminates the need for providers to install a separate router or switch to deal with the video stream.
Less cash upfront
Additionally, broadband Internet traffic can be run on a single permanent virtual circuit through the network backbone and into the point of presence (POP). The result is a significant decrease in the normal cost and the time needed for provisioning, as well as a reduction in the hardware requirement of the backbone.
<Click> to talk about
the MTU DSL business. The Copper Mountain hardware interoperates with InfoValue's QuickVideo streaming software and third-party ADSL customer premise equipment (CPE). A set-top box provides both video and Internet access to the customers.
The actual movies are stored on video servers, which are normally housed inside the building. Generally, you need approximately 8-Mb to store each second of DVD quality video or about half that—approximately 4.5-gigabytes for a two hour film—for "near broadcast" quality.
New films are added to the mix at regularly scheduled times over the Internet. MPEG-2 streaming video along with other video-coding technologies can be used to deliver pay-per-view VHS or DVD-quality video to customers.
"Our software loads onto off-the-shelf hardware to deliver video-on-demand or streaming video," said Thomas Eng, manager of business development at InfoValue. "Because you don't need a specially built super computer, maintenance is low and there's a larger selection of additional components, like encoders and decoders, available."
The InfoValue server software, which is supported by Windows NT, Windows 2000, Linux and HP-UX, provides significant system performance. In a benchmarking test, conducted by InfoValue, they delivered 950-Mbps of simultaneous video from a single Intel server.
Edge effect
InfoValue also offers the capability of content distribution. "A user can pull content from edge networks," noted Eng. "If someone requests a video that is not stored locally or is not on an available edge network, the network server can pull it from a central repository or a peer network. It's then delivered to the local area network and streamed when it's available."
The result is a much larger title list available to the customer and a greater potential revenue stream for the provider.
"The solution allows an ISP to leverage the copper wire infrastructure in a hotel, apartment building or even a cruise ship to provide video and Internet access at a relatively low cost," said Eng.
"Consumer interest in video-on-demand is high, and the MDU market is ripe for broadband service deployment," said Erik Keith at Current Analysis. "The Copper Mountain/InfoValue solution for video-on-demand over MTUs installed copper phone lines enables providers to quickly deploy this highly appealing service and bundle it with high-speed Internet access to offer a very compelling value proposition for prospective subscribers."
The system is tentatively scheduled to be tested in a real-world environment this summer in the Washington, D.C. area.
Excel - Greg
The End of the Web as We Know It?
Less than 60 percent of the households in the United States, the world's most wired country, have Internet access, but already the CEO of Forrester Research is predicting the death of the World Wide Web and the dawn of a new, application-based Internet.
No one doubts that Internet usage has boomed, but most of the access to this point has been through e-mail and Web browsers. But Forrester predicts the Web's days are numbered as the Internet will move to a second round of expansion beyond the browser. Two new waves of innovation -- which Forrester calls the "X Internet" -- will eclipse the Web: an executable Net that greatly improves the online experience, and an extended Net that connects the real world.
"The problem with today's Internet is that it's dumb, boring and isolated," said George F. Colony, CEO and chairman of Forrester. "News, sports and weather imparted on static Web pages offer essentially the same content presented on paper, which makes the online experience more like reading in a dusty library than participating in a new medium. Now that the novelty has faded, business executives and consumers are going back to reading newspapers and watching TV. Ultimately, the Net hasn't truly become a part of our real worlds."
The first stage of Forrester's X Internet is an executable Net, which will allow users to get real-time, interactive experiences over the Net through disposable code -- programs they use once and throw away -- downloaded to their PCs and handheld devices. These quick downloads will allow users to carry on extended conversations with Net services, a stark contrast to today's transactional Web services.
"Today, users are trapped in Web-only thinking," said Carl D. Howe, research director and principal analyst at Forrester. "It's a little like the early days of television when programming was just radio with pictures of announcers. But executable applications will give users tools to experience the Net in more entertaining and engaging ways. For example, imagine a corporate buyer navigating a virtual marketplace with a Doom-like user interface -- buyers could simply shoot the deals they want. That's a far cry from today's Web."
Forrester also foresees an extended Internet emerging through online devices and applications that sense, analyze and control the real world. Thanks to inexpensive chips and a worldwide Internet backbone, nearly every device that runs on electricity will have an Internet connection, using both wired and wireless networks. By 2010, Forrester predicts the number of Internet devices will boom from today's 100 million to more than 14 billion.
"The extended Internet will reshape technology's role in business," Howe said. "Most firms struggle to understand and act upon what is happening in their business now -- they're lucky if they know what happened last week or last month. Extended Internet devices will provide real-time information about what is going on and provide knobs and levers for companies to control their businesses. A data center business in California might combine real-time data from both the power company and customers to reduce the power consumption of their air conditioners when power demand peaks -- all through extended Internet devices."
May 17, 2001
Excel - Greg
Poorboy. You are right. That would be the proper procedure.
I looked at the vote as a done deal and went ahead and did it. If I turn out to be wrong..............................LOL!
Excel - Greg
Thank You Matt! Now that is service!
Excel - Greg
Yes I will contact administration right away. Thank You for you two bringing it to my attention.
Excel - Greg
Mosconiac. Yes I did. There was some 30 different combos of excel32 or something like that. But mine was taken anyway. there was another excel in lower case letters. He hadn't posted since March of 99. I started in September of 99. So RB with all their obtained wisdom from the back side of a ceral box decided to take my name. And I presented these facts to them. I got back one of their form letters. Idiots!
Excel - Greg
Just so there is no confusion I didn't write that post about New Visual and how it relates to to Mr Orwell. I found it in my computer after much searching. Read it a couple of times. It carries quite a message if you listen well. I also found this in my computer. WOW!
http://www.1112.net/lastpage.html
Excel - Greg
Sherman. That is good for NV. Shows their is a market wanting more broadband. That tech isn't anything close to speed of what we have.
Excel - Greg
For years we have heard about the day we would have interactive video as part of daily communications. More than 40 years ago George Orwell wrote about a futuristic society that uses video walls in every home and in public places, to permit real time video communications. His Book, “1984”, assumed technology would advance more rapidly than it has. Fortunately, in 2001, New Visual is finally developing the technology that George Orwell envisioned to be in place by 1984. With the introduction of the New Visual technology into the telecommunications infrastructure, they can facilitate the development of products that will permit interactive video communications. The really good news, it can be done using existing copper telephone wire.
This is in part made possible due to the advancements in equipment to improve the performance of the Internet and in part due to the bandwidth available in the fiber optic long haul and municipal area network sectors. This solution takes advantage of the municipal area fiber optic network and transports that fiber optic rate to the end user, using existing copper wires.
With the recent proof of concept demonstration that Lucent Network Care Professionals verified as an unprecedented accomplishment, New Visual is now tasked with identifying partners and developing products to bring George Orwell’s technological vision to a reality.
Today’s consumers, whether business or residential, are psychologically prepared for making video a part of daily communications. The fact that television can be added to the same telephone wire is just a bonus…a bonus that allows the telephone companies to add television programming to the services offered to their telephone customers.
This is a huge opportunity. New Visual has a head start with a proven concept and patent pending protection. As they forge alliances and identify products to meet specific needs, it is done without fanfare and hyperbole. They pursue the engineering to implement their technology into the existing system, recognizing their reward comes from results, not futuristic images of society. They are in the process of doing, and look forward to announcing accomplishments. Affecting the look and feel of global communications is a rare opportunity. As with most rare things, the passing of time adds value. So it will be with New Visual’s contributions.
Excel - Greg
So now that you know the name you probably have an opinion. LOL! Well let's think the thought process through here.
Remember the first time you heard the name Microsoft? Did you think big deal? Well sure you did. Who is this company. Why are they important to my future?
Until they branded windows. Get my point?
Excel - Greg
GENERAL
Our Board has unanimously approved, and recommends that the
shareholders adopt, a proposal to amend Article I of our Restated Articles of
Incorporation (the "Restated Articles") to change the name of the company from
New Visual Entertainment, Inc. to New Visual Corporation. The text of the
proposed amendment (the "Amendment") is set forth in the Articles of Amendment
attached to this Proxy Statement as Appendix A.
REASONS FOR THE NAME CHANGE
The Board of Directors believes that it is in the best interest of the
Company to change its name in order to reflect its current and future business
activities and strategic direction.
Prior to November 1, 1999, we were principally engaged in the business
of producing and distributing 3-D films, utilizing a low cost 3-D production and
exhibition technology. In November 1999, we refocused our business plan to
pursue certain new content telecommunications technologies. In accordance with
this plan, we acquired New Wheel Technology, Inc. in February 2000, and have
focused our financial and other resources on continuing their research and
development activities.
18
We have since developed a proprietary technology for significantly
extending the range over which high-speed digital signals can be transmitted
over metallic media, such as the world's existing network of copper telephone
wires. Through our New Wheel Technology, Inc. subsidiary, we intend to design,
develop, manufacture, license and market products based upon this proprietary
technology, known as Cu@OCx.
While we intend to complete our filmed entertainment projects under
development and continue to distribute our existing library of 3-D content, our
primary focus will be on our broadband business. Consequently, we believe that
the name change will better reflect our intent.
For the above reasons, we believe that the name change is in the best
interests of New Visual and its shareholders.
Excel - Greg
Dear Shareholder:
I am pleased to invite you to New Visual Entertainment's 2001 Annual
Meeting of Shareholders. The meeting will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday,
June 27, 2001 at the San Diego Marriott, 333 West Harbor Drive, San Diego,
California.
At the meeting, you and the other shareholders will be asked to (1)
elect directors to the New Visual Entertainment Board; (2) approve an amendment
to Article I of our Restated Articles of Incorporation to change the company's
name from New Visual Entertainment, Inc. to New Visual Corporation; and (3)
ratify the appointment of Grassi & Co., CPAs, P.C. as our independent auditors
for the current fiscal year. You will also have the opportunity to hear what has
happened in our business in the past year and to ask questions. You will find
other detailed information about us and our operations, including our audited
financial statements, in the enclosed Annual Report.
We hope you can join us on June 27. Whether or not you can attend,
please read the enclosed Proxy Statement. When you have done so, please MARK
your votes on the enclosed proxy, SIGN AND DATE THE PROXY, and RETURN it to us
in the enclosed envelope. Your vote is important, so please return your proxy
promptly.
Excel - Greg
By Matthew Fordahl
Associated Press
May 14, 2001
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Not long ago, the prophets of our digital future were touting digital subscriber lines as one of the hottest tickets to a broadband revolution that would utterly transform telecommunications.
Homes and businesses would have hassle-free, always-on, affordable and speedy Internet access. And DSL was not just for Web surfing: Interactive television, telephones and appliances--all connected--were supposedly just around the corner.
Digital subscriber line technology, which runs over regular copper phone wire, also was supposed to be a powerful vehicle for ending regional telephone companies' domination over local service.
But for independent DSL providers, the reality has fallen far short of the promise. Wall Street lost confidence. Plans to create nationwide networks were scaled back. Many independents are going broke.
Emerging dominant in the DSL market are the century-old phone companies against whom complaints had piled up for shoddy service and long installation waits.
The independents accuse the regional Bells of anti-competitive behavior, of locking them out of the neighborhood switching offices that link phone lines, the telephone network and the Internet--of violating the spirit of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which promised more choice and better service.
"We're on the precipice of disaster, and it's not clear our industry is going to survive," says John Windhausen, president of the Association for Local Telecommunications Services, a trade group for competitive carriers that offer voice and data lines including DSL.
Victims in the DSL drama include bankrupt NorthPoint Communications, which sold most of its assets--but not its customers--to AT&T for $135 million; Rhythms NetConnections, whose chief executive quit and whose auditors question its viability; and Covad Communications, which laid off 800 people and scaled back.
High demand
The crisis of the upstart DSL providers would seem paradoxical. Demand has never been stronger, and the major phone companies are reporting fewer installation troubles.
Last year, U.S. subscribers of DSL shot up by 500,000, to 2.4 million, according to TeleChoice, a research firm. That number is expected to swell to 5.7 million this year but still fall behind the numbers posted by the cable companies' competing services.
Most new DSL business is expected to fall to regional Bell companies, including Verizon, SBC Communications, Qwest Communications and BellSouth, which claim 76 percent of all subscribers.
For residential customers, cable or DSL service costs as little as $39.95 a month. That price is difficult for independents to match after they pay the phone company to use its lines.
Monthly leases for single lines that share voice and data can cost independent providers as much as $15. New lines cost them as much as $30 each. Plus, the phone companies charge for leasing space, line testing, security and air conditioning.
"It turns out it was a faulty business model," said Michael Goodman, a Yankee Group analyst.
Some DSL companies claim the Baby Bells did their best to hinder competitors--denying access to equipment, losing paperwork and slowing repairs. Such complaints were the basis of antitrust lawsuits Covad filed against Verizon, BellSouth and SBC.
Matter of money
The DSL imbroglio might be best understood in light of the billions of dollars in profits to be made in a transformed communications market. DSL lines can carry digitally rendered voice and television service.
That threatens the Bells' decades-old cash cow.
"We're introducing a new technology that threatens the rich revenue stream that they've enjoyed as a monopoly for the last 100 years," said Sal Cinquegrani of New Edge Networks, a competitive carrier.
The regional Bells insist they are being true to the 1996 telecom act, which specified that they cede monopoly control over phone lines as a condition of being allowed to enter the long-distance market.
Regulators have occasionally fined regional phone companies. The issue is most hotly debated when the Bells' applications to enter long-distance are considered.
Not all independent DSL providers blame the phone companies for their financial woes.
Those who stay in business will learn to anticipate slow service and other glitches, said Keith Markley, president of DSL.net, a combined competitive carrier and Internet service provider that focuses solely on small and medium-size businesses. The structure makes for higher profit margins and easier problem-solving, he said.
Because it is nearly impossible to compete on price, survival may depend on offering products and service that the established phone companies do not. New Edge Networks, for instance, focuses on businesses in cities with fewer than 250,000 people.
Covad settled its suit against SBC and now sells directly to small businesses and maintains partnerships with solvent ISPs.
Excel - Greg
KPNQWEST to Power INPURPLE in Multi-Million Global Internet Deal
New telecoms entrant, InPurple chooses KPNQwest as global Internet access provider
KPNQwest awarded contract thanks to reach and resilience of network infrastructure
IP network will allow InPurple to deliver unmetered communications services to businesses worldwide
KPNQwest, the leading pan-European data communications company, has sealed a multi-million euro contract to provide Internet connectivity across Europe and the US to business communications provider, InPurple. KPNQwest was awarded the contract due to the size, reliability and scalability of its IP network infrastructure.
In conjunction with US partner Qwest, KPNQwest will supply and manage local, national and international Internet connectivity for InPurple, covering multiple locations worldwide by 2002. KPNQwest has also designed an innovative and economical pricing structure that helps InPurple manage costs and meet its business objectives.
'The key factor behind our decision to work with KPNQwest was the reach and quality of its network infrastructure, which helps minimise our costs and gives us a single point of contact for service and account management. KPNQwest was also prepared to be very flexible in the service levels and pricing structure it designed for us. Its network is now an important component in the high quality of service we'll supply to our customers,' explains Stephen North, President of US-based InPurple.
InPurple aims to provide businesses worldwide with unmetered access to international phone, fax, video conferencing, Internet and email services. Its target customers include any business needing low cost connectivity between multiple office sites.
'Through our pan-European IP backbone, our partnership with Qwest and our strong ties with local loop suppliers, few companies are able to compete with KPNQwest on network reach. And because our network is wholly-owned and designed specifically to carry IP traffic from birth, we're competitive on pricing, reliability and scalability,' says Keith Westcott, Senior Vice President & Managing Director, UK & Eire at KPNQwest. 'It's this combination of qualities that’s driving KPNQwest’s success with both wholesale and retail business.'
About KPNQwest
KPNQwest (NASDAQ & ASE: KQIP) is a leading facilities-based, pan-European provider of data-centric services based on Internet Protocol (IP). It is deploying a technologically advanced 20,000 km fibre-optic network connecting 50 cities throughout Europe and provides a full portfolio of data-centric IP-based services and other advanced telecommunications services. KPNQwest is one of the largest business ISPs in Europe with operations in 15 countries. KPNQwest has thirteen CyberCenters and has announced plans to build up to eighteen mega-CyberCenters across Europe, on its high-capacity fibre-optic network to provide web-hosting, application sharing and telehousing services. Website: www.kpnqwest.com
About InPurple
- InPurple is a US company that is currently registering a public offering in the USA
- The comments talked about in this discussion have not been discussed in order to solicit the trading of our stock.
- InPurple's technology will provide access directly through traditional existing telephone systems. Customers will lease dedicated lines so that bandwidth can be controlled, ensuring maximum speed even at peak times and providing acceptable VoIP (Voice Internet Protocol) QOS (Quality of Service)
- New IP5 (Voice Message Identification Protocol) – enables voice packets to be tagged and prioritised over the Internet thus providing PSTN – Public Switched Telephone Network service quality.
- InPurple’s new VoIP is advanced enough to read layer 4 of the Network Model that determines not only the source and destination of information 'packets' sent over the Internet, but also what is in them i.e. sound, image etc. This allows the router to prioritise voice packets over other data and to deliver them in a preferred order. The allocation of more bandwidth to voice packets is on an “on demand” basis and automatic.
For further information, please contact:
Rob Haslam (for KPNQwest)
Nelson Bostock Communications
Tel: +44 (0)20 7229 4400
Email: rob@nelsonbostock.com
Richard Cook (for InPurple)
BigPR
Tel: +44 (0) 207 229 8827
Email: richard.cook@biggroup.co.uk
Piers Schreiber
Corporate Communications - KPNQwest
Tel: +31 23 568 7612
Email: piers.schreiber@kpnqwest.com
Excel - Greg
KPNQWEST to Power INPURPLE in Multi-Million Global Internet Deal
New telecoms entrant, InPurple chooses KPNQwest as global Internet access provider
KPNQwest awarded contract thanks to reach and resilience of network infrastructure
IP network will allow InPurple to deliver unmetered communications services to businesses worldwide
KPNQwest, the leading pan-European data communications company, has sealed a multi-million euro contract to provide Internet connectivity across Europe and the US to business communications provider, InPurple. KPNQwest was awarded the contract due to the size, reliability and scalability of its IP network infrastructure.
In conjunction with US partner Qwest, KPNQwest will supply and manage local, national and international Internet connectivity for InPurple, covering multiple locations worldwide by 2002. KPNQwest has also designed an innovative and economical pricing structure that helps InPurple manage costs and meet its business objectives.
'The key factor behind our decision to work with KPNQwest was the reach and quality of its network infrastructure, which helps minimise our costs and gives us a single point of contact for service and account management. KPNQwest was also prepared to be very flexible in the service levels and pricing structure it designed for us. Its network is now an important component in the high quality of service we'll supply to our customers,' explains Stephen North, President of US-based InPurple.
InPurple aims to provide businesses worldwide with unmetered access to international phone, fax, video conferencing, Internet and email services. Its target customers include any business needing low cost connectivity between multiple office sites.
'Through our pan-European IP backbone, our partnership with Qwest and our strong ties with local loop suppliers, few companies are able to compete with KPNQwest on network reach. And because our network is wholly-owned and designed specifically to carry IP traffic from birth, we're competitive on pricing, reliability and scalability,' says Keith Westcott, Senior Vice President & Managing Director, UK & Eire at KPNQwest. 'It's this combination of qualities that’s driving KPNQwest’s success with both wholesale and retail business.'
About KPNQwest
KPNQwest (NASDAQ & ASE: KQIP) is a leading facilities-based, pan-European provider of data-centric services based on Internet Protocol (IP). It is deploying a technologically advanced 20,000 km fibre-optic network connecting 50 cities throughout Europe and provides a full portfolio of data-centric IP-based services and other advanced telecommunications services. KPNQwest is one of the largest business ISPs in Europe with operations in 15 countries. KPNQwest has thirteen CyberCenters and has announced plans to build up to eighteen mega-CyberCenters across Europe, on its high-capacity fibre-optic network to provide web-hosting, application sharing and telehousing services. Website: www.kpnqwest.com
About InPurple
- InPurple is a US company that is currently registering a public offering in the USA
- The comments talked about in this discussion have not been discussed in order to solicit the trading of our stock.
- InPurple's technology will provide access directly through traditional existing telephone systems. Customers will lease dedicated lines so that bandwidth can be controlled, ensuring maximum speed even at peak times and providing acceptable VoIP (Voice Internet Protocol) QOS (Quality of Service)
- New IP5 (Voice Message Identification Protocol) – enables voice packets to be tagged and prioritised over the Internet thus providing PSTN – Public Switched Telephone Network service quality.
- InPurple’s new VoIP is advanced enough to read layer 4 of the Network Model that determines not only the source and destination of information 'packets' sent over the Internet, but also what is in them i.e. sound, image etc. This allows the router to prioritise voice packets over other data and to deliver them in a preferred order. The allocation of more bandwidth to voice packets is on an “on demand” basis and automatic.
For further information, please contact:
Rob Haslam (for KPNQwest)
Nelson Bostock Communications
Tel: +44 (0)20 7229 4400
Email: rob@nelsonbostock.com
Richard Cook (for InPurple)
BigPR
Tel: +44 (0) 207 229 8827
Email: richard.cook@biggroup.co.uk
Piers Schreiber
Corporate Communications - KPNQwest
Tel: +31 23 568 7612
Email: piers.schreiber@kpnqwest.com
Excel - Greg
Superfast DSL Could Take Broadband Market by Storm
SHDSL standard promises data transfers up to 4.6 mbps, but may not be available in the U.S. for some time.
Dennis O'Reilly, PCWorld.com
Monday, April 23, 2001
The logjam at the high end of DSL services seems about to break--at least in Europe--with the arrival of Symmetrical High-Density Digital Subscriber Line technology, which promises whopping transmission speeds of up to 4.6 megabits per second for both uploads and downloads.
And unlike the current high-speed, two-way DSL technology, SDSL, SHDSL is interoperable with the existing network infrastructure. Efficient Networks and other DSL equipment makers see SHDSL as the perfect business complement to Asynchronous DSL in the home market, which offers fast downstream but slow upstream. For businesses, SHDSL provides the bidirectional high-speed transfers that video, voice, and other high-bandwidth applications require.
High Speed at Wide Range
SHDSL is also able to reach 20,000 feet from central-office switches, and repeaters can extend that to a theoretical limit of 19 miles, says Shaheen Kazi, director of product marketing at Efficient Networks. Because the repeaters amplify the signal, there is no degradation, and in fact the signal is improved, Kazi adds.
Efficient's $599 5950 SHDSL Business Gateway, which will be available when the first SHDSL services roll out in Europe this summer, is targeted at small and midsize businesses, as well as at enterprise branch offices and remote workers. It features a wire-speed virtual private network and firewall for business-class security, as well as the Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol and dial backup to guarantee high availability. The device's intelligent 10/100 ethernet 8-port switch automatically detects full- or half-duplex operation and regular or crossover cable.
Besides working with existing networks, the new SHDSL standard also conforms to International Telecommunications Union G.991.2 Recommendations and uses the same data encoding and signal modulation techniques as the ANSI-backed HDSL-2 standard.
SHDSL is expected to catch on faster in Europe than in the United States because of Europe's slow adoption of SDSL. Nevertheless, Efficient Networks expects SHDSL services to become available on this side of the Atlantic by the second quarter of 2002.
Excel - Greg
BT, AT&T mull global telecom firm-report (T, BTY, UK:BTA) By Allen Wan
British Telecommunications [uk: bta] (BTY) and AT&T (T) are considering whether to form a separately listed global-telecom company that would include their Concert joint venture and other business-related telecom services run by each company, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. The idea of combining these units or even selling BT's stake in Concert are among several options laid out in a prospectus to be distributed to BT shareholders this week ahead of a 5.9 billion pounds rights issue, the sources said. Besides Concert, any new company formed might include Ignite -- BT's UK and continental Europe business telecom service -- and AT&T's business telecom operation, they said. Under this scenario, the value of the merged units could go as high as $100 billion depending on what units are included, the sources said, adding that the new company could be listed in New York, London or both. A BT spokesman told the Journal that the idea of a separately listed company is one of many options being considered and no final decision has been made. AT&T couldn't be immediately reached for comment.
Excel - Greg
34Simmonds. That is a good question. Somebody could probably give you a better answer then me. But I would have to think with Time Warner and their movies they would need a way to get them to the home. Well how else are they going to do it but to change to DSL. So can they make the move to DSL and keep their numbers and growth? I think they can. After they see NWs distance and speed they could sign up enough people to do it.
Excel - Greg
SS-man. I asked John Howell basicly the same thing. And he has stated to me as well as others over the phone and in email the name situation won't stop NV from releasing significant news. So that is the info I have. Yes I know it's frustrating. I have my good days and bad. But I have to remind myself what we can't see doesn't mean it isn't there happening. When I look at the players and their connections like Ivan and Beck I have to grin. They didn't come here because it won't happen. They knew when they put their name in the NV pot it will happen.
We are..........................................Close!
Excel - Greg
Thanks goes to Hailgator for letting us know about this article about Quest upgrading their DSL.
BUSINESS NOTEBOOK: QWEST MOVES TO PROVIDE EXPANDED DSL SERVICE
Saturday, May 12, 2001
MIKE ROGOWAY, Columbian staff writer
One of the primary limitations of high-speed DSL Internet service is that it's only available in areas close to a phone company's central office generally within about 3.4 miles.
DSL creates fast Internet connections on existing copper phone lines, but the service degrades quickly over distance.
As a result, high-speed DSL is unavailable in much of Clark County -- including Vancouver Heights, Cascade Park and Fisher's Landing.
Compare that with high-speed cable Internet service from AT&T Broadband, which is available almost everywhere in AT&T's cable television service area.
But Clark County's DSL woes may be easing. Qwest Communications, the local phone company for nearly all of Clark County, is upgrading its DSL infrastructure to significantly expand the areas served by high-speed DSL.
"We are generally turning up DSL so more people can get it," said Michael Dunne, a Qwest spokesman in Seattle. The improvement involves a technological upgrade, Dunne said, to extend DSL's reach.
"That's going to change the DSL scene dramatically," said Doug Palin of Pacifier Online, a major Clark County Internet service provider.
Qwest provides DSL directly to many Clark County customers, but Pacifier and other companies also use Qwest's DSL infrastructure to support their own service.
The scope of Qwest's local DSL expansion won't be disclosed for a couple more weeks, but Palin expects it will be significant.
"A lot of people who couldn't get it before are going to be able to get it pretty quick," he said.
DSL monthly rates are typically in the $30 to $50 range. Installation charges and modem prices add to the expense, but DSL rates are comparable to the $45.95 AT&T charges monthly for its cable Internet service.
Avoiding collapse
While Qwest expands its DSL presence, other DSL providers are collapsing.
That has disrupted service and caused headaches for many DSL users, but Pacifier's Palin said most DSL customers in Clark County needn't worry.
When DSL provider NorthPoint Communications went bankrupt and halted service earlier this year, Palin said it caused "heartburn" in many areas where local ISPs relied on NorthPoint's DSL infrastructure.
In Clark County, however, Palin said, Pacifier didn't use NorthPoint.
Now another big DSL provider, Covad Communications, is in financial trouble and may follow NorthPoint down the tubes. But Palin said that only about 10 percent of Pacifier's 1,000 DSL customers in Clark County are using DSL supplied by Covad.
For that 10 percent, Palin said, Pacifier is working to make sure Covad's problems don't become their problems.
"We are actively looking for a replacement solution for them."
Meanwhile, Vancouver's homegrown DSL company appears to be out of the woods.
New Edge Networks announced $77 million in new financing last month, which New Edge says will "fully fund" its business plan.
Mike Rogoway reports business news for The Columbian. Reach him at 360-759-8018. Send e-mail to mike.rogoway@columbian.com.
Excel - Greg
In the article below you will see some of the reasons people will go nuts over having our technology.
HDTV installation can be a real turnoff
By Dawn C. Chmielewski
Knight Ridder Newspapers
LOS ANGELES - To see high-definition television is to want HDTV. It is more eye-catching than Jennifer Lopez's neckline, more breathtaking than Yosemite's El Capitan and crisper than the white slopes of Tahoe against a blue sky.
I've wanted one ever since that day, three years ago, when I noticed what looked like a bubbling fish tank in the middle of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. At first, I was perplexed. Tropical fish instead of spokes-models in fishnet? That's so wrong.
Only upon closer inspection did I realize I was staring at a television monitor. I've been hooked ever since, but the $10,000 price tag made HDTV a luxury item.
Recent drops in price make digital television affordable as the centerpiece of our home theater system. Prices range from a high of about $29,000 for a 64-inch Plasma display - those flat-screen, gas-filled monitors that produce an image truly suitable for framing - to $1,000 for the 27-inch digital color monitor. And with Princeton Technologies offering its new 36-inch direct-view monitor on loan, I thought: Hey, why not?
Silly, naive me.
As I compose these words, I'm entering Day 3 of what I'll delicately refer to as "HDTV hell." It's not the installer's fault. AudioVisions is a professional outfit that has designed award-winning home theater systems that cost more than my house. These guys are pros.
What we're dealing with here is a technology that's not yet ready for prime time.
The installation took 21 hours, three external antennas - including a 1960s clothesline throwback that's bound to violate at least 10 sections of our homeowners-association rules - and one rewiring of all the components to coax the Princeton monitor to communicate with Princeton's own HDTV receiver.
The payoff: five digital-television stations, out of 40 transmitting digital signals from Mount Wilson north of Los Angeles. Only one -- the PBS affiliate, KCET - broadcast programming in the hyper-lush, see-the-dew-on-the-rose-petals HDTV. The rest looked like anything you'd see with a satellite dish.
The whole experience brought me back to the 1960s transition from black-and-white to color television. Big, ugly rooftop antennas. Limited programming.
Day 1: I was set up
Years of successfully connecting various devices to televisions - VCRs, game consoles, digital-video-disc players and camcorders - lulled me into a false sense of security about the ease of connecting an HDTV. That is why I permitted two marketing guys - one representing monitor maker Princeton Technologies, the other, Ultralink Products - to hook up my new HDTV.
I realized I had misjudged the situation when these two guys, breathing heavily, dropped the 300-pound TV monitor into my entertainment center, carving a gouge across the surface of the custom-made cabinet.
The next five hours confirmed my fears, as the two men puzzled over hooking up the five Miller & Kreisel speakers to the Yamaha RX V3000 audio tuner - and its 66 audio and video inputs and outputs - to the Princeton monitor and the HDTV tuner. All without benefit of the installation manual.
When they had concluded their handiwork, the speakers would play theater-quality audio - whether or not the television was on. And the high-definition part of the HDTV - the whole reason for installing the set - did not work at all.
Lesson 1: Connecting a high-definition television is no task for the Home Depot amateur crowd. This requires a professional.
Day 2: Get help
You've known guys like Bruce Champion since high school. They're the ones who ran the movie projectors. Champion is a professional installer called in to solve this mess. It takes all day.
He climbs onto the roof to install a special Terk digital-TV antenna. It looks nothing like the rooftop antennas of yesteryear, with their spindly metal branches. This is sleek and aerodynamic - like a modern version of the airplane propeller. And it comes with its own power source.
Champion attaches the antenna to the receiver and, after some modest tweaking, manages to coax a high-definition picture from the monitor. It's the vivid, nearly three-dimensional picture I expect - with one significant defect.
It's green - all green.
Champion is much too polite to curse. He merely shakes his head and begins rewiring all the components. By dinnertime, he has the television working harmoniously with the receiver, the speakers and the antenna.
We scan the airwaves for digital-television signals. Although Champion had installed an identical antenna at home less than a mile away to stunning results, I was less fortunate. We found only a single digital channel: the CBS affiliate.
Shall we say I'm no fan of "Touched by an Angel"?
Day 3: tuning in
Champion arrives the next day with a new Winegard antenna that never makes it to the rooftop. We notice the box says it's "digital ready" - a frustrating misnomer. Suffice to say: It won't be ready to receive digital signals anytime soon.
Champion returns with a descendant of those big aluminum antennas from the 1960s. It's from RCA. It costs a mere $40. It works, tuning in five digital channels: the NBC and ABC affiliates, PBS and two Spanish channels showing dubbed black-and-white classics.
Champion programs the Princeton remote control, which is about as intuitive as a set of assembly instructions from Ikea. He offers me a quick tutorial and leaves his home phone number in the event of further technical difficulties.
The finale
Neighbors and friends start showing up to see high-definition television. I expected the same kind of awestruck reaction I had when I saw the aquarium at the consumer-electronics trade show.
I was disappointed.
"I guess you really have to be into TV," said one neighbor, who said he couldn't see much improvement over cable television.
There's a simple explanation for this obvious lack of enthusiasm: scant high-definition programming.
Both NBC's and ABC's broadcasts appear to be the same signal, converted for digital transmission. The subtle differences in clarity and color sharpness were noticeable only when I switched between digital channels and cable television to point out the contrast.
Conversely, the problems with the digital signal were glaringly obvious. When I tuned in ABC's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," the on-screen picture trailed the sound, like some Godzilla-inspired English-language dub. Changing channels caused the picture to momentarily fracture into pixels, as if to deliberately scramble the actors' true identities.
Often, the video would freeze for no apparent reason.
Only PBS afforded a glimpse of television's digital future. Late at night, KCET broadcast high-definition still-life portraits of fields of flowers that were so vivid and rich in detail, I could see dew hanging on the daffodils and peer through the fragile, translucent wings of an insect perched on a bud.
My 9-year-old son, Alex, looked up from his Calvin & Hobbes book long enough to remark, "Mom. That's beautiful."
If only it were all that good.
Copyright © 2001 The Seattle Times Company
Excel - Greg
34Simmonds. I talked to John on Friday. He felt we are on track to have our shareholder meeting next month at the end of the month. The name is currently at the sec for approval. Once that has taken place they will immediatly go to the printers and we will know the name.
Excel - Greg
DSL company list for Europe.
Atlantic Telecom Group plc
Belgacom SA
COLT Telecom Group plc
CyberCity ApS
Deutsche Telekom AG
Easynet Group plc
EINSTEINet AG
Elisa Communications Corp (formerly Helsinki Telephone Corp (HTC))
Energis plc (Fixed Telecoms Operations)
Fibernet Group plc
FirstMark Communications Europe SA
Global TeleSystems Group Inc (GTS)
HighwayOne GmbH
Jazz Telecom SA (Jazztel)
Kingston Communications (HULL) plc (KCH)
KPNQwest
Mannesmann Arcor AG & Co.
Primus Telecommunications Group Inc.
QS Communications (QSC) AG
Redstone Telecom plc
RSL Communications Ltd (European Operations) (formerly RSLCOM Europe Ltd)
Sonera Oyj (fomerly Telecom Finland)
Swisscom AG
Tele1 Europe
Telefonica SA
Telia AB
Thus (formerly Scottish Telecom)
VersaPoint
Viatel Inc. (European Operations)
XO Communications (European Division) (formerly Concentric Network Europe)
Excel - Greg
Jared. Very interesting. I sure am looking forward to it. Let the Bull Run!
PS.
Ken. I know what that is. The Prayer Of Jabez! Thanks!
Excel - Greg
A FATHER'S LOVE LETTER
You may not know me, but I know everything about you ... Psalm 139:1
I know when you sit down and when you rise up ... Psalm 139:2
I am familiar with all your ways... Psalm 139:3
Even the very hairs on your head are numbered... Matthew 10:29-31
For you were made in my image... Genesis 1:27
In me you live and move and have your being... Acts 17:28
For you are my offspring... Acts 17:28
I knew you even before you were conceived... Jeremiah 1:4-5
I chose you when I planned creation... Ephesians 1:11-12
You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in my book... Psalm 139:15-16
I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live..Acts 17:26
You are fearfully and wonderfully made... Psalm 139:14
I knit you together in your mother's womb... Psalm 139:13
And brought you forth on the day you were born... Psalm 71:6
I have been misrepresented by those who don't know me... John 8:41-44
I am not distant and angry, but am the complete expression of love... 1 John 4:16
And it is my desire to lavish my love on you simply because you are my child and I am your father... 1 John 3:1
I offer you more than your earthly father ever could... Matthew 7:11
For I am the perfect father... Matthew 5:48
Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand... James 1:17
For I am your provider and I meet all your needs... Matthew 6:31-33
My plan for your future has always been filled with hope... Jeremiah 29:11
Because I love you with an everlasting love... Jeremiah 31:3
My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore... Psalm 139:17-18
And I rejoice over you with singing... Zephaniah 3:17
I will never stop doing good to you... Jeremiah 32:40
For you are my treasured possession... Exodus 19:5
I desire to establish you with all my heart and all my soul... Jeremiah 32:41
And I want to show you great and marvelous things... Jeremiah 33:3
If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me... Deuteronomy 4:29
Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart... Psalm 37:4
For it is I who gave you those desires... Philippians 2:13
I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine... Ephesians 3:20
For I am your greatest encourager... 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
I am also the Father who comforts you in all your troubles... 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
When you are brokenhearted, I am close to you... Psalm 34:18
As a shepherd carries a lamb, I have carried you close to my heart... Isaiah 40:11
One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes and will take away all the
pain you have suffered on this earth... Revelation 21:3-4
I am your Father, and I love you even as I love my son, Jesus... John 17:23
For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed.... John 17:26
He is the exact representation of my being... Hebrews 1:3
He came to demonstrate that I am for you, not against you... Romans 8:31
And to tell you that I am not counting your sins... 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled..2 Corinthians 5:18-19
His death was the ultimate expression of my love for you... 1 John 4:10
I gave up everything I loved that I might gain your love... Romans 8:31-32
If you receive the gift of my son Jesus, you receive me... 1 John 2:23
And nothing will ever separate you from my love again...Romans 8:38-39
Come home and I'll throw the biggest party heaven has ever seen... Luke 15:7
I have always been Father, and will always be Father... Ephesians 3:14-15
My question is...Will you be my child? ... John 1:12-13
I am waiting for you... Luke 15:11-32
Father's Love Letter Compiled by Barry Adams Copyright 1999
Visit The Interactive Website at www.FathersLoveLetter.com
Excel - Greg
Don't know if this one has already been posted. Anyone able to transform this into english?
Teknologi VDSL ( 8 Mar The Reg)
Sebuah perusahaan US kecil telah sukses menguji broadband ultra-fast. NWT-New Wheel Tech telah mendemonstrasikan prototipe CU@OCX yang dapat mengirim undirectional transmisi sampai 54MBps melalui cable telephone sepanjang 2.8KM. VDSL (Very High Data Rate Digital Subscriber Line) akan meningkatkan batasan dari jangkauan dengan broadband. Sebelumnya, perusahaan Broadcom juga mencatat rekor untuk broadband tetapi hanya menjangkau 1/3 dari kemampuan NWT. Dengan single Twisted pair, kemampuan downstream mencapai 13 - 52MBps dan upstream antara 1.5 - 2.3Mbps. VDSL sebelumnya beroperasi antara 0.3 - 1.2KM dan terhitung lebih muda umurnya dari pemakaian ADSL.
Excel - Greg
NT. I agree. Also noticed they said due to competition and strategic strategies they wouldn't name the players. I did some research last night and discovered the quest partnership as well. Interesting. During that I noticed some other companies with NV at the end of their name. Do you happen to know what that stands for? I would think it might be like Inc is here?
Excel - Greg