Warner Cable to offer central Ohio's first high-speed online service
Source: Business Wire
COLUMBUS, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE) via Individual Inc. -- Warner Cable today
announced plans to launch the Columbus area's first high-speed online
computer service in August.
Road Runner will provide personal computer users with a rich array of
unique local and national content at speeds up to 100 times faster than
today's standard telephone computer modems.
"Not only is Road Runner fast," said Terry O'Connell, Warner Cable
president, "it is fun and friendly. Our customers will find it practical,
valuable and easy-to-use."
Named after the famous Warner Bros. Looney Tunes character, Road Runner
will provide a wealth of information, news and entertainment linked
together by user-friendly menus. Customers will quickly find local
information by selecting sites specifically designed for the Columbus area.
The service will also provide easy access to the Internet and national
content sites such as Time Warner's Pathfinder.
"Road Runner takes the frustration out of surfing the Internet," said
O'Connell. "Because it's delivered over our broadband cable network,
customers won't experience busy signals, their telephone lines won't be
tied up and files can be downloaded in seconds."
Instead of a computer modem hooked up to a local telephone line, Road
Runner customers will be provided with a high-speed cable/computer modem
that links the personal computer to Warner Cable's hybrid
fiber-optic/coaxial network. Customers will access local news, entertainment
information and other local content from a series of computer servers located
in the Columbus area. These servers will also provide the gateway for Road
Runner customers to access the Internet, World Wide Web and other commercial
online services.
Warner Cable will roll out the service in specific areas starting this
summer and continuing through 1998. It will be available in 1997 in the
northwest Columbus, Upper Arlington and Worthington areas. It will be
launched in early 1998 in German Village, Clintonville, southeast Columbus,
Hilliard and Dublin.
O'Connell said local interest is strong. "We have a list of several
thousand people in central Ohio who are waiting for Road Runner," he said.
Warner Cable will test the service initially with consumer beta testers.
People interested in becoming beta testers, but who are not already on the
waiting list, can e-mail the company at warnerco@ix.netcom.com.
Road Runner made its commercial debut in September 1996 at Time Warner
Cable's Northeast Ohio Division, which serves the Akron/Canton area. It
is also operating in Elmira and Corning, N.Y.; Portland, Maine; San Diego;
and will be introduced to Time Warner customers in Albany, N.Y. this month.
The company projects that it will be passing 2.5 million homes by the end
of the year.
Road Runner, developed by the Excalibur Group, is being created by a
joint partnership of Time Inc., the global content creator and publisher,
and Time Warner Cable, the industry leader in cable telecommunication
technology. The Hewlett-Packard Co. will provide both the digital platform
and all systems integration, and Motorola Inc. will provide the cable modem.
Warner Cable, which serves more than 194,000 households in 38 central Ohio
communities, is a unit of Time Warner Cable, the nation's second largest
cable television operator, currently serving, with affiliated companies,
12.1 million customers in 37 states. Time Warner Cable is a unit of Time
Warner Entertainment Co., L.P. Time Inc. is the world's preeminent magazine
publisher; a leading direct marketer of books, music and video; and a
provider of content for the new media environment.
Additional information about Road Runner can be found at www.rdrun.com .
Online Needs Speed (a)
Telephone Modems: 14,400 bits per second
(Standard residential telephone line) 28,800 bits per second
Modem w/ISDN Line: 64,000 bits per second
(high-speed phone line) 128,000 bits per second
Modem w/ADSL Line: 1,500,000 bits per second
(high-speed business phone line)
Road Runner: 5,100,000 bits per second
(Time Warner fiber-optics coaxial system)
Delivery Times:
_______________
Delivering a sharp, still image that consists of about 2 Megabits of
information:
On standard telephone modems About 2.3 minutes
On modem with ISDN line 35.7 seconds
On modem with ASDL line 1.3 seconds
On Road Runner Less than one-half second
(a) Information provided by Forrester Research Report Online Needs
Speed, 1995, Cambridge, Mass.
CONTACT: Warner Cable, Columbus | Susan Bass, 614/481-5389 [02-26-97 at 08:01 EST,
Business Wire]
Contact: Business Wire |
