"Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted. Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him. By holding out advantages to him, he can cause the enemy to approach of his own accord; or, by inflicting damage, he can make it impossible for the enemy to draw near. In the first case, he will entice him with a bait; in the second, he will strike at some important point that the enemy will have to defend."
Sun Tzu "The Art of War" 500 BC
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SeaChange was founded in 1993 to provide video server solutions to the broadband industry.
"seachange" a term first appearing in Shakespeare?s Tempest to denote ?radical transformation? was a perfect name for this company which applied its engineering talent for providing high performance, fault-tolerant, distributed digital video server solutions to the cable TV industry. The market leading analog ad-insertion companies was blown away. Poof. The SeaChange advantage was functionality, performance, cost, fault-tolerance, and remote serviceability.
Today 2 million ads per day, worldwide, are presented by SeaChange equipment on over 20,000 cable TV channels in a lights-out, 24x7 fault-tolerant environment. Digital ad-insertion Market share is about 80-90%. Consider the engineering and service experience gained from installing 20k channels of short-form video into the headends of TCI, TWX, Cox , MediaOne, Charter, ComCast, Cablevison, TeleWest, Rogers, Shaws?.
schange.com
No hype. Just check out the MSOs who have deployed SeaChange gear.
Consider that TWX/NYC, TWX/Oceanic, TCI/Chicago, and others have partnered with SEAC to provide Movies-On-Demand to hotels.
Consider the sales relationships between SeaChange and the world?s most advanced MSOs.
Consider that the MediaCluster technology platform serves multiple video applications (ad-insertion,
Movie-on-demand, broadcast play-to-air, video-on-demand). Consider the integration and relationships with the suppliers, the volume cost savings, the evolving reliability and knowledge developed by engineering and service. Never, ever underestimate the costs of integration!
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Concurrent Computer formed out of a mismash of assets and people in 1996.
ccur.com
Probes were made into the gaming industry and the VOD industry because their real-time business revenues were declining. (Are we focussed yet?)
How many minutes of video/day are being presented by CCUR equipment?
My answer: a couple of VOD trials and college intranet stuff?BUT WE GOT LOTS OF POTENTIAL
(AND LOTS OF FIERCE STOCK SPECULATORS IN THE CHAT ROOMS).
Several years ago Scientific Atlantic came to SeaChange when the stock price was depressed and asked to purchase warants ? like a bond that can be converted to shares of stock at a certain strike price. SeaChange management and board declined the invitation ? why should the company employee-owners (>35% ownership) sell a significant share of ownership for a depressed price? Scientific Atlanta then crossed the street and offered a similar deal to CCUR and they quickly accepted. Why not? The management and directors had significant options to purchase stock at a strike prices considerably lower than the SFA offer and neglible ownership to be diluted.
This deal to sell warants to SFA has been CCUR?s biggest VOD accomplishment todate.
The cable industry wants at least two suppliers in every segment. SeaChange is the numero one video server supplier and CCUR is the token alternative. (Let?s count video minutes/day) Who were the earlier alternatives to Seachange in the ad-insertion business? Starnet Or TexScan? ? what?s that revenue today? Or? (the names have faded away from me).
Summary:
1. SeaChange was founded in 1993 to dominate the video server business and has succeeded in every segment that has evolved; while Concurrent was born a mongrel in 1996, desperately searching for identity, and sold out its owners by selling SFA warrants for $5+/share for a bit of press hype.
2. How many minutes of video/day are being presented by CCUR equipment today? By SeaChange equipment? Do you think that this matters to TWX, to COX, to ComCast, TeleWest, Rogers, Shaw, Charter, ? when they consider VOD deployment?
3. Remember Sun Tzu "The Art of War" 500 BC and very relevant today on Wall St.
4. In the end there is only one gorilla.
Action Item:
1. Sell shares of CCUR and re-invest in SEAC.
Two million ads/day ~ (let?s say just 30 sec ads) = 1,000,000 video minutes per day for ad-insertion +
Broadcast + HOTEL Movies + ITV = SeaChange video server dominance. |
