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Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC)
INTC 34.72-2.3%Nov 17 3:59 PM EST

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To: Joe NYC who wrote (43400)1/3/1998 4:16:00 PM
From: stak   of 186894
 
1997:Year of the cable modem

WHAT? Are you joking?!? No,dead serious. Quick what was 1984 the year of?
Ans. The MacIntosh. Not many actually bought one that year but there's
no forgeting the impact that it has had in the personal computer world.
Oh what if Apple had only...

1) The cable modem has excellent bandwidth, pipes that POTS can only
dream of. The cable modem makes multimedia reasonably downloadable from
web sites. Much better than the long wait that it takes to download on
telephone modems.

2)The cable modem doesn't tie up the telephone line. It's totally
independent in operation from the cable tv signal too. So you can watch
or record any tv program while using the modem. It's possible that many
2nd telephone lines could be given back to the telephone company as cable
modems grow in availability.

3)Cable modems are connected all the time to the net so there's no chance
of getting a busy signal as with telephone modems. Also the modem handshake
screech is eliminated(oh silence is golden). Push technology is also much
more feasible because the info downloads could come in as soon as they
are received --not when the user finally logs in to check, as is necessary
with telephone modems--

4)The cost of the cable modem is only incrementally more than a telephone
line and unlimited ISP plan. A real steal really.

Downsides of the cable modem are limited availability and a supposed
lack of security due to the LAN nature of cable infrastructure. *But consider
this, the cable modems have been available to the general public for more
than 1 year. I haven't heard of a single major breach of the system. Has
anyone heard of one, even small ones? The telcos would gladly give their
first born to give the cable companies a little bad press due to security or
operational problems.

So what does this have to do with Intel-Microsoft? Well Microsoft has
already paid $1 billion for 11.5% of Comcast declaring their endorsement
of the cable modem as a top choice to bring broadband to PC users.Microsoft
has also spent large amounts of money to bring MSNBC and Web TV to end users.
Intel does not seem to value content nearly as much as Microsoft and that
scares me. After hardware "hits the wall" content is king. Why isn't Intel
buying into software and content to a more significant degree? It's beyond
me! The edge definitely goes to the Microsoft side. C'mon Intel, come out to
play. Don't be chicken shit.

This is where the battle will be fought for the next 2-3years(bandwidth
and content)
The microprocessor will take a backseat for the first time
ever in PC history. The ''fat'' pipes will fundamentally change the look and
feel of the web. Look for @Home to draw the blueprint of what future web
browsing will be like with its high speed parallel internet network.Analogy:
It's like the building of the Interstate Superhighways years ago. Finally
the roads caught up with the speed capabilities of the car.

--Bandwidth,bandwidth,bandwidth and content.--

Maybe SUN computers is right "the network is the computer";-).
To put it a bit crudely, using POTS to surf the web
will be like sucking hindtit at the local pigpen(website). No doubt cable
modems will be intergral in the evolution of computer use. A quantum leap
away from cpu centric computing.

Speed Kills: *DON'T BE ROADKILL ON THE DIGITAL HIGHWAY*
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