BTIV: Most of your questions can be answered by visitng the Questec.com web site. (www.questec.com) However, here are some short answeres to your questions: (BTW, Im in no condition to spell check this thing)
Partners: According to the home page, we have partnerships with:
1) Titan (TTN)
2) Atlantic Aerospace
3) Silicon Graphics
4) Siscom Media
5) Live Slow Motion Company (LMC-Germany)
Each one of the companies plans a different and very specific role. Taking them in reverse order:
LMC: This partner did/does two primary things for us (1) Opened the door for us in Europe; and (2) Provided funding for R/D. It is my opinion that the entre into Europe was the more important of the two. We were able to generate revenue from numerous tennis productions in Europ over the last year and half. More importantly, it allowed us to perfect our tennis product, Tennis ProView. Finally, it allowed us to become known and trusted in the industry. The highlight of last years Tennis productions was the French Open. It is my belief, and hope, that we will/can put a deal together that will allow QuesTec to integrate their TPV product into all ATP events, including all four Slams. TPV is widely accepted in Europe, and I encourage you to check out the "movies" of the TPV product on the home page. For the complete release for the LMC-QSTI partnership, see the Questec.com seb site.
Siscom: The partnership with Siscom(www.siscommedia.com)has never been, IM0, given enough credit for a solid revenue source. Through Siscom, we have begone to sell the statistics we collect from each production we do. This is in addition and disticntly different to selling the content of each event. Siscom (That just exploded last week, lucky them) transforms one dimensional video tape into multidimensional tools for coaches, players and executives. SISCOM's specialized high-performance database, logging retrieval, coaching and statistical software provides exceptionally cost-effective and efficient systems which transforms video resources into highly productive in-house assets. Our partnership with Siscom provides us with yet another media outlet to sell our content through. Siscom, like QSTI, has a relationship with Fox, and additional relationship with NBA etc. This also gives us access to those leagues and data production and collection sources. A copy of the Siscom release is available on the questec.com home page.
Silicon Graphics. Our partenership with SGI has been in the area of hardware development. I believe that most if not all of your machines are mega SGI machines costing a years pay per machine. SGI takes an active role in developing machines for our needs, and I believe will be taking a much more active role in the not too distant future in further developing our Ereplay products, such as the baseball Supervision internet delivery system. The following quote is from a July 1999 release after our first internet production:
"We have worked closely with QuesTec on numerous sports-related projects," states Shawn Underwood, Market Manager, Broadcast Graphics, of Silicon Graphics. "The combination of their tracking and signal-processing technology and the real-time rendering capabilities of our workstations creates some of the most innovative and informative sources available for sports today."
Atlantic Aerospace, (AAEC). AAEC is IMO one of the most important and brilliant partnerships we have made. AAEC is the creative and technological brain trust behind our product development and refinement. I believe that it was through our partnership with AAEC that we were able to rewrite our supervision codes (a few years ago) making the product more user friendly and more importnantly, internet capable. AAEC then developed our Tennis product (in record time) and is now working on other products, including our new ski product (rumors abound about its use at next years winter olympics) A complete copy of the AAEC partnership release can be found on the Questec.com wen site.
IT IS CRITICAL to point out that on 7/26/99 AAEC was acquired by the Titan Corporation (TTN) and thus TTN thereafter owned all equity that AAEC had in QSTI given as part of our partnership in exchange for their software development.
Titan: The above of course leads me to our relationship with TTN. The full answer to this question, is not compleatly known yet. TTN is a moster company. They are VERY strong financially, are nicely diversified, and seem to have a thing for small tech companies. The following quote shows what our current known relationship is:
eReplays' technology, www.ereplays.com, provides a continuous stream of detailed information derived through QuesTec's proprietary tracking technology to web sites, broadcasters, and in-stadium display systems. eReplays brings every pitch, serve, or other key event to viewers in the stadium, at home, or at the office.
eReplays are the culmination of the efforts of QuesTec and its partner Atlantic Aerospace Electronics Corporation (a Titan Company) (NYSE: TTN - news) to leverage the convergence of broadcasting, telecommunications, and computing technology to produce cutting-edge enhancements for sports events.
``A key factor in the design of eReplays was minimizing the demands placed on the fan,' says Paul Baim, Atlantic Aerospace's Director of Software Engineering and a member of QuesTec's Board of Directors. ``We designed eReplays to work reliably over connections too slow to support streaming video or other high-bandwidth approaches. eReplays' technology works great at speeds as low as 28.8, using standard browser software. If the true baseball fan is looking for a reason to move the PC next to the TV, this is it.'
A review of the TTN web site is recommended. I began tracking this company after they aquired AAEC and therefore had a vested interest in QSTI's growth. It has always been my hope that we would get "special" treatment by TTN and that relationship would propel us into the big leagues, the big boards, and some major share increase. With TTN's blessing and money, we would explode. Here is why I have been hopefull of this relationship since discovering TTN (BTW, their stock has recently exploded also!). The following is from a release found on TTN's home web site:
"When the defense budget began to shrink in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Titan decided to expand into commercial markets and decrease its dependence on the military.
Over the past few years, this strategy has resulted in three new business units on top of its core defense technology unit, which develops state-of-the-art communications systems for U.S government agencies.
Titan, for example, was chosen to set up a wide area network for NATO, which has awarded the company four consecutive contracts, says analyst Mike Crawford of B. Riley & Co.
The company's new units are Titan Software Systems, Titan Wireless and Titan Scan.
Titan Software Systems creates customized Internet and intranet programs for corporate customers. Titan Wireless offers satellite phone services to rural areas and developing countries. It deploys a satellite communications system in Benin City, Nigeria.
The company also has an emerging technologies unit, which focuses on investing in new companies that are tapping up-and-coming business opportunities. This "product incubator," for instance, holds a 15% stake in IPivot, which makes network products that let companies rapidly process transactions over the Web. IPivot is expected to go public within a year, analysts say.
Titan Scan, the unit that has developed an electronic sterilization system for food, is perhaps the company's most exciting division.
When the defense budget started to shrink, Titan redirected its technology to medical device sterilization. Yet with the rise in food-borne diseases like E.coli and salmonella, food pasteurization was an even better way to use electron beam technology. The company's SureBeam system zaps a low dose of energy into the meat to kill bacteria without altering the food's taste, Ray says.
There has been much talk on this thread of our need for backing. Do some major DD on TTN, and I think people will understand why I cast my vote for TTN, it seems b=very logical to me based on TTN's already vested interest in us, together with the course the've been on over the last two years. Just check out there acquisitions and spins offs!!!
Revenue Streams I could do thirty pages on this subject alone. No worries all, I won't bore all of you that much. But here is how I see it: Let's use the baseball model: For baseball 2000 we will be producing EVERY baseball game played during the season. (I can't remmber for sure how many games in total there are, but I think it is close to over 2,000.) We will have are supervision tracking, recording, collecting, broadcasting and delivering data for each and every game. Now the point of data collection (in the ball park) is the start. Once we have the "pitch" in the computer, we can sell that "content" many times over, all at the same time. We can sell and resell that pitch through a TV broadcast (we have a three year deal with FoxSportsNet, see web page), TV broadcasts come in three flavors I know of: regional FSN, national Thursday night FSN broadcasts, and FX Sat broadcasts. There is much talk that this coming year Big FOX may use us for their Sat game of the week (huge exposure) and that MSG in New York will finally get that bug out of their asses and will stop depriving New Yorkers of our products. Revenue from TV broadcasts also come in two flavors: We get paid by FSN for providing our content, and get a share in sponsorship dollars (the Chevy Supervision layover). Additionally, FSN will now be paying us additional funds to provide them with the ball speed as they have elected to use our product and do away with the radar gun.
Next, we can also sell that very same pitch as content on ACTV's individualized TV broadcast. The best way to nderstand this, is for me to steal a quote from Bruce Cullen's post from last week.:
"ACTV and others have made their technology available already inside these new devices or gadgets, whatever you prefer to call these new media lunchboxes. Enjoy a relaxing end of day sports event, aim your remote control at your cable box, watch Major League Baseball and have each pitch show on your screen in three dimensions. The pitcher throws the ball strike. was it a strike, did the umpire call it right, click that remote! Questec.com Inc. (Name changed today per their shareholders meeting) has the ability using Silicon Graphics to present live MLB stats at a touch of a button, all you want to know. If you prefer the speed of the pitch and it's trajectory well Questec has it covered, again using it's technology to replay each and every throw. Interested in Questec's new technology visit their newly released site, www.ereplays.com (October 13, 1999 QuesTec Announces eReplays.com). " www.eReplays.com " is a business-to-business technology content enabler that will revolutionize the way leagues, teams, internet and interactive television providers choose to entertain, inform and educate their sports fans. www.eReplays.com captures, transmits and reconstructs live action during sporting events and offers comprehensive, unique and informative content that complements existing information offerings as well as live network television coverage.
Questec.com Inc. eReplays Quote "eReplays(TM) are created through proprietary video- and computer-based tracking systems designed, developed and provided by QuesTec and its partners. These systems instantly analyze the live game and convert that action into real-time filtered and encrypted digital streams. This digital information is then delivered to the sports information provider over the Internet by QuesTec's eSports(TM) technology. The digital information is used for the re-creation of live game action on home computers and interactive television set-top boxes. eReplays are available and displayed via the Internet seconds after live play".
Additional revenue streams include direct internet broadcasting our "the pitch". This is a very exciting medium for us, because the number of clients for us is huge!!! It is important to point out that we have already developed a very strong relationship directly with MLB, perhaps leading to the eventual broadcast, via the internet, of EACH AND EVERY PITCH THROWN DURING EACH AND EVERY GAME FOR THE ENTIRE BASEBALL SEASON And this can be true for many different sports web sites!!!
Additionally, the company has begun to talk about selling "the pitch" to software companies. Think Sega and Nintendo. imagine playing a computer baseball game that lets you bat against the actual pitchs thrown by Pedro Martinez in game one of the ALCS.
Choice seats is another revenue stream currently in play. Choice seats, a division of the Williams company, installs computers inside baseball stadiums in special seats, that allow the fans to do wild stuff during the game. Choice Seats also is now in MSG and we just did Tennis there. For a full understanding of Choice Seats, check out the realeses about them on our web site (my fingers our getting tired)
Siscom is another revnue stream for that same pitch. I've talked about them above.
All the above our CURRENT revenue streams. More and more are to follow. And eachone named above gives us an opportunity to sell that same one pitch, all simultaneously, with only a one time capital cost.
The same all holds true for Tennis, and our new sports coming on line.
WELL, that is my short response. The funny thing is, I rreally have on scratched the tip of the iceberg. i could go on all day, with more info, and in greater detail, but my wife is getting pissed at me. If you, or anyone else has specific questions, ask and I'll try to answer.
It is my true and firm opinion that this year will be our breakout year. By January 1, 2001, I expect to by over $5.00 per share, and on the NASDAQ!
Best of luck and happy new year.
greenie |
