TUT Company Info from their website (www.tutsys.com). Looks like their customer base consists of corporations, CLECs, and ISPs. No mention of RBOCs. Microsoft and AT&T financial backing is interesting (long-term relationship) - may focus on cable over phone lines given their slant. Company essentially provides high-speed gear for home, commercial building, and corporate networking for automation and connectivity (internet, LAN, and WAN). Their IPO should provide a boost to xDSL branding as an effective alternative to high-speed internet access.
Corporate Overview
Tut Systems began operations in 1991 to exploit the underutilized capabilities of
copper wire for high-speed data transmission. Since that time, Tut has
developed a number of innovative, industry-leading products for corporate
networks, public carrier networks, and most recently, for residential networks.
Tut's products are enabled by 19 patents that collectively are known as
FastCoppertm technology.
FastCopper technology adds value to standards-based solutions (e.g., Ethernet
and xDSL) to provide users with the highest levels of performance across their
LAN and WAN infrastructures. With FastCopper-based products, Tut
Systems is the only vendor to offer its customers complete connectivity, across
the very last link of copper, wherever it might be:
Across the local telco loop (with Expresso xDSL products)
Across a corporate campus (with XL Ethernet extension products)
Throughout a high-rise or home (with HomeRun home networking
products)
Tut customers include many Fortune 500 companies, local exchange carriers,
and OEM partners. The value proposition for these customers to purchase Tut
products is: high-performance data connectivity at a low cost using the existing
"voice-grade" copper infrastructure.
Tut Systems headquarters are located in Pleasant Hill, California, east of San
Francisco. Sales offices are located in Portland, Denver, Chicago, New York,
and Atlanta.
Market Overview
The demand for high-speed networks continues unabated. This demand is
driven by constant improvements in computing power, the functionality of the
Internet, the digitization of voice and video applications, and increasing mobility
of users. Whereas a few short years ago, a 14.4 Kbps modem was
"state-of-the-art", now users are demanding ISDN and greater speeds to their
home and megabits per second to their desktop.
Certainly a large driver of bandwidth requirements is the Internet. Dataquest
estimates that over 80 million computers now connect to the Internet, up 70%
from a year earlier. George Gilder estimates that Internet traffic is doubling
every 4 to 6 months. With increasing government support to provide Internet
access for all school children, the Internet is assured of continuing growth and
penetration - creating enormous opportunities for Tut products and solutions.
Tut's Value Proposition
Tut's value proposition to customers is embodied in the trademark
FastCopper. FastCopper products provide high-performance, low cost, and
use of the existing copper-based infrastructure.
High-performance is measured by speed, distance, and functionality. Tut's XL
product line offers a range of speed and distance alternatives for Ethernet
extension, such as:
10 Mbps at 1500 ft.
2 Mbps at 12,000 ft.
384 Kbps at 18,000 ft.
Tut's Expresso products also allow distance and speed trade-offs, augmented
with automatic rate-adaptability to minimize installation hassles. All-Rate
DSLtm capability allows service providers to offer a continuum of data rates
from 64 Kbps to over 1 Mbps. This value-added feature enables a customer
to migrate up the bandwidth scale from lower speed service to higher speed
service under simple software control.
The cost proposition of usingTut products is enhanced by extensive use of
patented FastCopper technology and industry-leading functional modules.
FastCopper patents cover a range of data transmission techniques across both
digital and analog domains. This use of both digital and analog techniques
results in lower product costs and superior performance than if any one
technique predominated.
All of Tut's products require only a single pair of voice-grade, unshielded
twisted wire. Further, several Tut products operate over single-pair networks
that are also carrying voice traffic - without disturbing the voice operation. In
many cases, no new wires are required to use Tut products. This greatly
minimizes the cost of installing and provisioning any network: corporate, local
access, or a home-based network.
Product Overview
Tut Systems products provide cost-effective solutions to the need for
high-speed connectivity across a wide range of service provider, corporate, and
residential applications.
The Expresso System
Tut's Expresso System is a comprehensive xDSL solution enabling both service
providers and corporate datacomm managers to deliver high-speed connectivity
to a large number of end-users at low cost over the existing local loop or wiring
infrastructure. The Expresso System includes a centrally located shelf with an
SNMP management card and xDSL line cards connected to remote M1000
modems. Expresso supports a 2B1Q-based SDSL link that can operate up to
20,000 ft. in a rate-adaptive mode.
Expresso is distinguished among the many available xDSL systems by these
features: a very low start-up cost, SmartLinktm - a Tut innovation that
provides SDSL rate-adaptation to ensure operation over all loops and to allow
higher speeds over better loops, and All-Rate DSL capability that allows a
service provider to offer a range of access services in increments of 64 Kbps to
fully meet customers' varying requirements and willingness-to-pay.
These innovative features have attracted Tut's target market of independent
telephone companies, ISPs, and CLECs, where many Expresso systems are
now deployed. Corporate customers are also using Expresso, to link many
remote LANs across large, campus-like environments.
The XL Product Line
Tut's family of LAN extenders and connectivity products provide the industry's
most complete solution for low-cost, high-speed networking across business
campuses, high rise office or residential buildings, and hotel environments. The
XL series includes products that expedite Ethernet connections over distances
ranging from 600 ft. to over 18,000 ft. - all using existing telephone-grade wire.
Tut customers have no need to run new Category 5, LAN-type wire. Nor is
there a need to use wireless or fiber technologies to span long distances
between LANS. Due to superior performance and a low cost, more than
15,000 XL units have been delivered to thousands of satisfied customers
worldwide.
HomeRun - The In-Home LAN
HomeRun enables multiple computers and/or peripherals to be interconnected
across a true Ethernet LAN over in-place, in-home telephone wire - while the
same wire is being used for normal telephone service. These simultaneous
connections can be to each other and/or to a high-speed Internet/intranet
access service provided by an ISDN, xDSL, or cable modem. HomeRun
products include 10Base-T adapters, PC network interface cards (NICs),
integrated circuits for OEM use, and a license program for Tut partners who
want to include HomeRun technology within their own products.
R&D, Manufacturing
All R&D efforts, system integration, production control, and customer support
functions are located at the Pleasant Hill, California corporate headquarters of
Tut. Manufacturing is sourced from local, ISO9002-approved manufacturing
partners.
Sales and Distribution
Tut sells products through a direct sales force, through an in-house
telemarketing group, and through worldwide distributors. The XL Series of
products is sold direct to certain large end users and via distributors to the
majority of customers. The Expresso product line is sold directly to ISPs,
telephone companies, and other carriers. The HomeRun technology is available
on an OEM basis to manufacturers of PCs, access devices, printers and other
devices. HomeRun network interface cards and 10Base-T to HomeRun
adapters are available directly from Tut. Sales offices are located in Portland,
Denver, Chicago, New York, and Atlanta.
Financial
Tut Systems is a privately-held company with financial backing from leading
venture capital firms and industry partners including: AT&T Ventures, Vanguard
Venture Partners, Microsoft Corporation, Spectrum Equity, Apex, I.A.I.,
Itochu International, Inc., and others. |
