Joe,
Okay, this is good.. we are getting into gear talk again.. I can do well here for sure <VBG>
>>COMS will be providing end to end cable modem. But At&t want to run voice over the cable lines as well.<<
I was thinking that the Cable Modems did this already, or at
least it would be an easy addition of some hardware to the
user side ...
Okay, first of all, yes you could add a little hardware to the cable modem, but you don't want just one phone in your house do you?
(not something that could make COMS a big profit;
I'm just guessing since I still don't have all the details
of the big picture). ...
Well if COMS could make a $35-$50 a/d unit with all the frequency hoping abilities in a cable modem, then yes it could be huge for COMS. I'm just not sure they would want into that market.
I also figured that the Total Control
hardware on the Cable side had VoIP capabilities as does
most of COMS equipment.
Well as long as you can turn the voice into IP any IP capable system can handle it.
The next connection would be to the core, and COMS didn't have
hardware for this connection (except possibly the new Corebuilder?
as you mention below). I thought that all the core hardware
was made by CSCO, LU, ASND, etc.
More on this later. <G>
>>COMS equipment (corebuilders probably) will be used on
backbone segments before T gets out to the big pipes (i.e. metro area corebuilders tie together all the sub-nets to a big pipe)<<
I guess there are two "core" levels. One being in the metro area
which connects to the Total Control equipment on the Cable company
side.
Yes, 2, well no, 3 levels. 1 the local loop.. This is already covered in the TCI deal. Then there is level 2 which is linking up level 1. Then Level 3 which links all the level 2's. Level 1 is announced. Level 2 should be coming with maybe a piece of level 3.
The flow from the Total Control equip. can be extended
with the Corebuilder now, correct? And this will connect to
the next level of the "core", which has an even bigger flow
of data (I don't think COMS makes equip. for this level, right?)
If the above is correct, then I can see how the recent Corebuilder
will be used extensively, meaning huge increase in revenues.
One of the things I think I've interpreted from various readings,
is that the Corebuilder is already an "instant hit". People
were thinking it may take time to transition this major product
into mainstream use. But, no, it already is a big profit maker.
Is this correct thinking?
RE: the AT&T deal - are you waiting to hear that they will
be using the Corebuilder in massive amounts? If so, I can
see I'm a rich man already<gg>
Okay, Corebuilder talk time. Once again for ease I will refer to it as the BFG or BFG-9000, just cause it's cool ;-)
First of all the BFG is a great product, very scalable, cost effective and apparently it has nothing bad going for it. Having said that, it IS new. This is where all the navy testing and everything else comes into play. It gives COMS credability with it's equipment.
The 9000 currently offers the most total bandwidth in one ip switching unit in the WORLD!. Therefore assuming that COMS can't be used to build a national backbone is ahuge mistake. The corebuilder is just as capable as everything else out there and a lot less costly. Now, what does all this mean.
Well (;-) ), since you ask, if all you need to do is route IP (i.e. VOIP) then the corebuilder is the perfect choice for building your backbone (provided you can get enough, which may be a problem). AT&T will likely make heavy use of the corebuilder and will likely soak up at least 80% of available units for 2 years if they go in the direction that I think they will. The results in huge revenues as you said, and even better, HUGE profit margins. A fully equipped 9000 is likely an 80% margin product! (I may be wrong, but that would be my guess).
So what does all this mean for a shareholder. Well it means that whatever you do, you want to have at least a small chunk of COMS that you don't plan on doing anything with other than putting it in a vault and coming back to it in 3-5 years.
Steve |
