Summary of my trip to FNTN in Ardsley on Thursday...
First, my thanks to Tomato Man who was kind enough to ferry me to and fro in his Vegetable Chariot. He made the visit up to Ardsley quite fun.
I must say right off the top that I was on a very tight schedule and could only spend about 1.5 hours at FNTN. In that time, I spent about half with Alan Spar and half with Alan and Pres. Michael Sheppard. For those who may be tempted to drill me for more info than I post here, realize that it is not my style to walk into a guy's office and dictate the entire timing and structure of the meeting. A good and robust meeting was still the result however.
FNTN offices are absolutely what I hoped they would be. I was glad to see that our money has not gone for mahogany and crystal surroundings. The ambience at FNTN is of an all out entrepreneurial plain ol' place to work. They are in a nice building full of other hi tech businesses. The emphasis seems to be more on producing technology and sales than on comfort.
I will remind you all that the Quiet Period was NOT lifted for my visit. What Tman and I were shown and told are all detailed below. I feel anyone who visits would get the same basic treatment.
I am invested in FNTN in part because of my confidence in their personnel. I remember someone stating they had a conversation with someone at Siemens in Europe who was quoted as being in awe of MS and FNTN. That impression may well prove to be quite correct.
Any impressions of MS one might form from his solemn mannerisms in the shareholders meeting video are without merit when he is engaged on a personal level. Any fear that our president is less than warm and gregarious were eliminated by my meeting with him. He is bouncing off the walls with excitement He is infectiously energetic and enthusiastic in his tone. I feel he can project a highly confident and superior image for FNTN whether he is addressing institutional investors or analysts or meeting with clients or providers. In short, MS is even more worthy of my support than I have stated on the threads and chat many times.
Alan Spar is a very confident individual. His experience has been invaluable to FNTN as per MS in past discussions I have had with him. Alan told me that he spent a brief time adjusting to interacting with Siemens corporate methods. After all, he was the new guy. Since then he has been interacting with the apparent multitude of Siemens personnel working with FNTN. Apparently he showed them he did not just fall off the turnip truck. He is and has been the source of much innovation and forward movement. He interacts with this large body of Siemens divisions and does so on a constant (meaning near-daily) basis. Alan's confidence is understated in his dialogue, but I could sense it as he explained the hardware configuration in the computer room.
There is a primary Siemens Pyramid server. It is a big dude. About 2ft by 4.5 ft. Alan spoke well of it. He mentioned that it is not the kind of unit that goes out of style very quickly. A revealing comment was made when he commented that even with all the content they have on the system, the system had not been taxed beyond 2% of it processing capability. I inferred that he meant the load of processing had been substantial so far. Good to know that they have the processing power to handle a huge amount of additional workload.
There are multiple server boxes networked to this big boy. Alan showed me how there are 2 servers in use for video only. This segregation of video capability is intriguing to me. I surmise that a rather unlimited bank of such servers will be employed as needs demand it. Additionally, there was a massive storage unit that Alan showed me. When he opened an access panel, I could see what appeared to be about a dozen piggybacked hard drives. Alan commented that there were additional drives on the backside of the unit. He declined to say how much storage was there, but if each hard drive were 10 gigs or more there was at least 1-2 tetrabytes present.
After the tour of the computer room, we went to MS office where we viewed the Intranet Video. MS accessed the ACME Dealer / Broker Demo through the Dealer Broker link on the FNTN Home Page. Folks….I gotta tell you that what I saw was running in a box about 5” BY 5”. It was a demo for dealer/brokers interested in FNTN technology to watch and learn from. I must concur with the posts of others in a very strong manner. I have never seen any video running on a computer that approaches this quality. In fact, the one DVD film I've watched was not this good. I can say that any type of company from the smallest business to the biggest corporation would be happy and proud to use this video quality on their intranet. To top it off, MS said they were near adding something that would make it even better.
As the video was playing, Tman asked if that was the new FNTN promo content rumored to be under production. Without any prompting, MS said, “No, this isn't what will be on CNBC”. He explained that they have completed production of material suited to TV ads. The content allows for cut and paste production of 10sec, 15sec, 20sec, 30 sec, and 60sec spots. Different aspects of FNTN services can be highlighted on a rotating basis. He seemed very pleased to tell us this. We asked about timing and were told that he had said by end of Q2 and he still plans for that timing. He joked that that might mean the 30th of June, but then laughed and said words to the effect of “sooner than that”.
Also on the video front, as Tman reported on Saturday, I made an inquiry about application of FNTN video capabilities over the Internet. My conjecture went something like this.
‘I understand that because of telecom wiring limitations there will be parts of the world that will not have the greatest throughput and speed for internet service. However, if one of FNTN's services is to offer VOD (Video On Demand) and if the quality is this good on the Intranet, and in light of Siemens announcements about converged network applications being viable over 1 line including copper, wouldn't it be smashing to offer companies outsourcing of their Internet Video advertising on a stand alone basis? Just give them a link from their website and presto, an FNTN stored and delivered video appears.'
MS responded with a wide grin and a laughing sarcastic comment, “Gee. We hadn't thought of that”. After I finished giving what I am sure was a wide-eyed look of approval and anticipation, Alan Spar explained the delivery of FNTN video over the Internet. I had asked if it was possible to achieve similar quality to the Intranet video I had just seen. He mentioned that the imminent advancement of DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) technologies would be a solution to the limitations of the Internet. DSL will allow for exceptional improvements to come about, but due to QP he did not elaborate. I can only tell you that the look on his face as he said this was somewhere between that of 7 year old kid about to attack a 5 gallon ice cream sundae and what Edison must have looked like when the first light bulb came on. I felt he was really pumped about the capability.
As to other developments, they were predictably and understandably careful. MS rather joyfully brandished the completed SB2a filing and explained that the delay was due to something as simple as a missing signature on a document. This was in the process of being corrected and MS projected that the filing would be completed this Monday.
MS also commented that MM was interviewing prospective employees in a wide variety of areas. He mentioned they were looking at starting a customer service center at a remote site. I like the sound of that one!!!
All in all, my impression of FNTN continues to be extremely favorable. This reporter can say that he is well satisfied with his investment. I am eager to see the transition from a BB company to Nasdaq status and feel that next week's filing puts us well on the way there. Full reporting is a place I want to be….and soon.
From there, news of revs and contracts and available services could well propel the price of the stock to new and substantial heights. My visit definitely furthered my expectations of success for FNTN and for BHunt, Investor. Perhaps success beyond what either imagined 2 years ago.
Wishing you all the best of financial returns,
BHunt
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