@Home Network to launch " @Work" for businesses
By Barbara Grady
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 22 (Reuters) - @Home Network, the Internet service provider that uses cable TV infrastructure to
deliver high speed access, plans to lauch next month a version of itself for the businessworld, called @Work.
@Work has the potential to be more financially rewarding for @Home's cable TV owners, Tele-Communications Inc , Cox
Communications Inc and Comcast Corp , than @Home because it requires little incremental cost, but is a higher margin
service, said Sean Doherty, @Work president. @Home and @Work use hybrid fiber coaxial cable.
Added to this cable infrastructure are some leased fiber lines and cable modems at the personal computer receiving the
access.
@Work will be two products, Doherty said in an interview.
" @Work Internet" will be Internet access for businesses, made "industrial strength" with a dedicated connection and network
management and security.
" @Work Remote," the second product, is high speed remote access connectivity for telecommuters wanting to use their
company's campus networks.
Doherty said the market for the services fall right into the frustrations people have with existing remote access technology and
typical Internet access services.
"Telecommuters complain about slowness and managers complain it is too hard" to set up employees for dial up access to
corporate lans and, worse, manage dialup services.
The @Work Remote will be priced at $200 a month for service plus about $500 for installation. Doherty would not discuss
exact pricing for @Work Internet, but said it would be "competitive" given the additional management and security layers
@Work includes with the service.
Doherty said the @Work Remote service for telecommuters will offer speeds up to 10 megabits, or 10 times a million bits
per second. He called this a "a pretty big gap," from either conventional dialup modem methods, which are typically 14.4
kilobits per second, or lately 56 kilobits per second; or even ISDN line connections that are 128 kilobits per second. A
kilobit means a thousand bits per second. It is the faster speeds that have been @Home's biggest selling point.
@Home started offering service last summer to homes in about six metropolitan areas.
Doherty said @Home has reached a penetration rate of two to three percent of the population, on average, in the six
markets, which include Fremont and Sunnyvale, Calif., Hartford, Conn., and the Baltimore, Md., area.
"It looks like they are going to achieve signficant revenues from @Home," Doherty said With @Work. "They'll be able to
layer on top a higher margin business service."
----------------------------
I think that I'm gonna pick up a few shares of Comcast. Any opions?
- John |
