I also found this one... a bit of a long read-
Continental Cablevision Introduces `Highway1'; High-Speed Internet
Access
Received: September 23, 1996 01:01pm EDT From: Business Wire
BW1135 SEP 23,1996 8:15 PACIFIC 11:15 EASTERN
( BW)(CONTINENTAL-CABLE) Continental Cablevision Introduces
"Highway1"; High-Speed Internet Access Premiers in Boston Suburbs and
Jacksonville, FL; Other Service Areas Will Follow Later This Year
Business Editors
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--September 23, 1996 -- A new era is
dawning in speed and ease of access to the Internet for residents of
areas served by Continental Cablevision, Inc., the nation's third
largest cable television company.
Maintaining its long tradition of leadership in technology and
new services, Continental today begins offering "Highway1" --
high-speed Internet access through "cable modems" and cable TV lines
-- as a commercial product available to homes in the Boston-area
communities of Needham, Wellesley, and -- in the coming weeks --
Newton, as well as in the Jacksonville, FL, metro area. In both New
England and Jacksonville, Highway1 is the first high-speed Internet
access service to be offered by any company and in these markets
represents the fastest, most affordable access for residential
customers.
The Highway1 Web site can be found at highway1.com.
"Beginning today, we're in the business of high-speed Internet
access," said William T. Schleyer, Continental's President and
Chief Operating Officer.
"The technology has proven itself in laboratory and field trials.
It's ready for commercial deployment, and today we bring it to
market," Schleyer said.
High-speed access to the Internet is in great demand among
consumers who regularly access sites on the Internet and World Wide
Web. The speed of access made possible by Continental's hybrid fiber
optic-coaxial cable (HFC) network greatly reduces the time it takes
to "download" data, makes interactive communications far easier and
more enjoyable, and dramatically improves productivity in use of the
Internet, World Wide Web, and general data applications.
Today's premier of Highway1 is the precursor to a wide-scale
product offering in Continental's service areas around the country,
with high-speed Internet access being phased in nationally during the
next 12 months. Within the coming year, Highway1 will also be
introduced in some Continental service areas in the company's
Midwest, Central, and Western Regions, as well as in additional
Continental service areas in the Northeast and Southeast.
For example, portions of Continental's Metropolitan Detroit
system -- currently conducting technical trials of the Highway1
service -- plan commercial introduction in November. The service
will be offered to the 1,400 customers who have expressed interest in
the product and are currently on a local waiting list.
In Continental service areas around the country, local product
announcements and pricing details will be made available as the
service is introduced.
Highway1 in Greater Boston
Commercial introduction of Highway1 two-way high-speed Internet
access in New England follows a six-month market and technical trial
of Continental's residential high-speed Internet access service in
about 220 homes in the suburbs west of Boston. The trial showed that
Continental's broadband interactive network, comprising a mix of
fiber optic and traditional coaxial cable, can efficiently
accommodate the high-speed transmission of Internet and on-line data.
Transmission speeds over Continental's broadband network are more
than a hundred times faster than over standard telephone lines with
telephone modems.
Continental also used the trial -- a partnership with BBN Planet
-- to examine user needs, sharpen customer care and installation
procedures, and anticipate marketing requirements for the new
business. At the conclusion of the trial, a great majority of the
trial participants opted to become paying customers for Highway1, a
strong endorsement of the product's value.
Initial marketing efforts for Highway1 in greater Boston are
focusing on Needham and Wellesley, and will soon commence in Newton.
Continental has begun accepting orders from nearly 2,000 potential
customers who have called the the company's offices to request
information. As of this date, and prior to any substantial marketing
efforts, more than 200 residential customers are subscribing to
Highway1.
By the end of the year, Continental's network in New England will
be capable of delivering the service to about 225,000 homes.
Delivery capability in New England will extend to about 500,000 homes
by the end of 1997. Because of Continental's desire to provide the
highest quality service, the marketing of Highway1 will be phased in
over all of those homes in a gradual manner, to guarantee customer
satisfaction and technical excellence.
The service in greater Boston will be delivered to customers via
the two-way high-speed LANcity Personal Modem. Earlier this year,
Continental signed an agreement to purchase up to 50,000 of the
LANcity modems over several years, from LANcity Corp.
In initial deployment areas around Boston, unlimited Internet
access time through Highway1 will be available to subscribers of
Continental's standard cable service for $49.95 per month, with a
one-time installation charge of $99.00. The rate for unlimited
Internet access for non-cable subscribers is $59.95 per month.
Highway1 in Metro Jacksonville
In the Jacksonville, FL, area, Highway1 service will be installed
to up to 2,000 "charter customers" through the fall. Originally,
the service will be marketed in Jacksonville, Argyle Forest, Baldwin,
the Beach communities, Cecil Field, Ponte Vedra, Orange Park, and
Mayport.
The potential market for Highway1 in metro Jacksonville surpasses
400,000 homes. As in the Boston area, direct marketing of Highway1
will occur gradually to maintain a high level of product and service
quality.
The Jacksonville introduction of Highway1 will further serve to
extend Continental's knowledge of, and expertise in, high-speed
Internet access. Earlier this year, Continental signed an agreement
to purchase 10,000 SURFboard cable modems from General Instrument
Corporation. These modems utilize a mix of cable television and
telephone technology, transmitting data over the existing telephone
network and receiving it at high-speed rates via Continental's cable
network.
The SURFboard modems, therefore, can provide high-speed Internet
access via portions of the cable network that haven't yet been fully
upgraded, allowing Continental to meet the high demand for Highway1
as it continues to upgrade its cable infrastructure. As
neighborhoods receive upgrades, customers willhave the choice of
keeping their SURFboard modem access or upgrading to two-way high
speed Internet access.
Another Continental innovation in the Jacksonville market will be
the availability of three distinct levels of Highway1 Internet access
service. At the first level, via standard telephone modems,
customers currently are able to subscribe to Continental's low-cost
Basic Internet Dial Up service, which will continue to offer value
through high reliability and high throughput. At the second level,
customers can subscribe via the one-way "cable forward" high-speed
SURFboard modems. At the third level, Continental later this year
will introduce two-way "cable return" high-speed Internet access
service as the upgrade of its cable network continues.
In Jacksonville, Highway1 unlimited high-speed access to the
Internet via SURFboard cable modems will be available to Continental
cable customers at a rate of $34.95 per month, with installation
available for a one-time fee of $99.95. The rate for unlimited
Internet access for non-cable customers will be $44.95 per month.
Basic Internet Dial-Up Service will continue to be offered for $17.95
per month.
In addition to the Highway1 residential service, Continental's
Southeast Region will offer a full palette of Internet business
applications, such as Web site hosting and Intranet services, which
will be available from Continental Internet Services later this year.
Highway1 in Metro Detroit
In August of this year, Continental's Midwest Region began field
trials in the suburban Detroit communities of Plymouth, Canton, and
Northville. Since the start of the tests, the waiting list of
interested customers has grown to over 1,400. Continental provides
cable service to more than 32,000 customers in this service area.
Continental's network in Plymouth, Canton and Northville was
recently upgraded to accommodate two-way high-speed Internet access.
In this area, Continental is using LANcity modems, and Internet
access is provided by both BBN Planet and Merit Network, Inc. This
dual approach provides network redundancy and capacity for future
growth. Highway1 will be rolled out to additional customers in metro
Detroit in 1996 and throughout the Midwest Region during 1997.
Vendors
A variety of blue-ribbon vendors are contributing to the rollout
of Highway1. They include:
o BBN Planet, a partner in the Boston-area market and technical
trial of high-speed Internet access service, which is providing
Internet engineering, operational support, and backbone technology
expertise.
o Netscape Communications Corp., which has licensed its market
leading Web browser, Navigator 3.0, to Continental. Continental has
customized the browser, and Highway1 customers will always have
access to the latest release of the Navigator product. Netscape will
also be providing advanced distributed caching solutions for
broadband networks and related ISP application servers.
o LANcity Corp., manufacturer of the LANcity Personal Modem,
which is the charter supplier of the two-way high-speed cable modems
through which Highway1 customers will access the Internet on their
computers.
o General Instrument Corporation, the supplier of SURFboard
high-speed cable modems for Continental's Southeast Region to provide
cable-forward high speed access to the Internet.
o Sun Microsystems, Inc., which will be providing advanced
scaleable server solutions for Continental's ISP rollout including
e-mail, news, Web, streaming media, caching, and management systems.
Continental will be using Sun's new Netra servers and emerging Java
software solutions in the initial rollout nationwide.
o Cisco Systems, which is providing advanced inter-networking
technologies including broadband routers, ATM switches, and Cisco IOS
software solutions. Continental and Cisco are also collaborating on
integrated services solutions for broadband HFC Internet delivery and
access.
o Microsystems, Inc., which has granted Continental a license to
resell Cyber Patrol, content blocking software for parental control
which includes an exclusive feature preventing children from
divulging personal information on-line.
o SURFWatch SoftWare, Inc., a product group of Spyglass, Inc.,
which has granted Continental a license to resell SURFWatch, its
cutting-edge content filtering software for parental control. Both
SURFWatch and Cyber Patrol will be available for easy downloading by
Highway1 customers.
o Andersen Consulting, which is providing program management and
integration services to the Highway1 deployment effort. In planning
and implementing the Highway1 service, Andersen Consulting's program
and project management services are an effective complement to
Continental's technical and operational strengths.
Content
The superior transmission speed and ease of access through
Highway1 will enhance for the user the experience of accessing
information-rich World Wide Web and Internet sites. To avoid
occasional but much-publicized bottlenecks on the Internet's
"backbone," Continental will work collaboratively with content
providers to cache -- continually catalog and store on a server for
quicker retrieval -- the most popular sites of Highway1 users.
Continental will also point users to sites with particular appeal to
them.
In addition, Continental is aggressively pursuing relationships
with content providers and will announce agreements as they are
concluded. In seeking exciting new applications, Continental's goal
is to foster development of vibrant and locally-based content that
takes advantage of the rapid speed of access provided by Highway1.
Leadership in High-Speed Internet Access
The premier of Highway1 represents the latest progression in
Continental's leadership in deploying new technology and media
services. It is the company's first commercial deployment of
high-speed Internet access for residential customers; however,
Continental was the first company to provide two-way high-speed
Internet access on a wide-scale basis. At Boston College, students,
faculty and staff members have been enjoying high-speed Internet
access and a wide variety of other telecommunication services for
more than a year through Continental's deployment and operation of a
campus-wide broadband interactive network, as part of BC's "Project
Agora."
Also in the educational arena, Continental has pledged to provide
free high-speed Internet access service to all of the public schools
in its communities as the service is rolled out to each service area.
In July, Continental began high-speed Internet access service to its
first pilot school -- in Needham, MA -- and other school sites have
been or will soon be activated, in Jacksonville, the Detroit suburbs,
parts of northern and southern California, and other Boston-area
communities.
In addition, Continental has been operating a tele-medicine
network based on high-speed data transmission with cable modems for
more than six months in and around Exeter Hospital in Exeter, NH.
Most recently, Continental joined the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars in
unveiling the Jaguars' new Web site (http://www.jaguarsnfl.com),
which Continental helped design and is hosting on its
Jacksonville-area network.
Continental Cablevision, Inc., serves more than 4.2 million
subscribers in 20 states. Continental is also part owner of
companies providing cable television service in Argentina and
Singapore, and broadband telecommunication services in Australia.
-0-
Please visit our Highway1 Web site at highway1.com and
our Corporate Web site at continental.com
--30--ld/bos.
CONTACT: Rob Stoddard,
Director of Corporate Communications
(617) 854-3138 |
