The following is an acceptable and allowable post for this thread. This post is from June 11, 1997.
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All, Okay here's the report from Vic as told to me.
VIC'S TRIP TO THE ZOO
As I stated earlier Vic was very excited, the conversation was peppered with a lot of "oh, oh, oh, I almost forgot" and he even went to the car to fetch some notes. The conversation jumped around a lot, so excuse any broken continuity in relaying this information.
Besides his opening remark directed to all the nay-sayers and doubting
Thomas's, he was very upbeat and bubbling with excitement. The first thing he described was the big difference that he witnessed, comparing the facilities and new faces vs. his last visit. Said that he had to park in the street because there literally was no room to park, the place was jammed to the brim, and not even a spot to illegally park, then commented, "Like I gave a crap where I parked." (Thought I'd throw that in for authenticity so that you knew I was really talking to Vic).
Said the manufacturing facility was bristling with bodies and activity. The production was in place and inventory cages, product, boards, and gadgets filled the place. Big difference from his last trip, which was then, basically an empty space.
"Enough of that", I asked, "what were they making?"
Raleigh, there were boards and boxes, and testing stations flashing, everywhere I looked there was something going on. You know the place isn't really that big. It looked big when it was empty but right now it's looking kind of tight.
Vic, Vic, slow down, what were they making?
OH Yeah! Channel Banks, cyclones, even saw the tornado, and all kinds of boards.
What kind of Boards?
Boards, what the hell do I know, green boards stuffed with all kinds of crap, you know computer like boards.
Who were they for?
That's where it gets good, the channel banks were for US Robotics, and the Cyclones were for several other companies. A lot of the boards were for Revco, Quotron, National Trust, and a major order from Citibank, something to do with Wans, Lans, thank you Maam's and ATM hoopla.
You mean ATM, as in Asynchronous Transfer or ATM as in automatic teller machines?
Hell, I don't know, but I think the money machines are tied into this, yeah, I think that's the case.
But catch this, I actually saw the Cyclone in service. They have it running and operational within their own FNET ISP. What a piece of work this thing is. Over at the mfg. facility they are burning in several, hooked up to T-1 lines and running between there and across the street at FNET. They actually are in beta test now, and are within days of shipping to a long list of backloged orders.
Oh, Oh that reminds me. Something to do with Rockwell. FTEL will be a featured company with Rockwell, just like Cisco was last month, something like that.
What the hell does that mean?
Again, I think it has to do with the 56k chip, and Franklin being a key vendor or something like that. What ever it is, it's recognition, Baby! Right?
I guess. That's pretty good Rockwell and FTEL mentioned in the same breath, yeah I like it.
Quit interrupting me, putz!
OK, OK Vic, go for it.
The Tornado, you should see this thing, it's a designers dream.
What do you mean?
There you go, interrupting me again. Let me finish, damn-it!
Frank takes me over to the back room of Fnet, where all the equipment is,and literally shows me both the Cyclone and the Tornado in operation,mounted on the racks of equipment. First he shows me what a normal ISP's equipment rack looks like. Cables, I mean cables everywhere, cables up the Ying Yang, looks like an octopus nest of wires and cables. Then he shows me the Tornado and the Cyclone's, 1 cable in, 1 cable out. That's it.
I mean that is the total extent of it. No mess, no fuss, just hook up the T-1 and one ethernet cable out, and that's it.
OK, so what is the Tornado, exactly?
It's what Frank refers to as the "Pop in Box:" setup. It basically is the Cyclone encased in a box, with software already embedded on it, in it, whatever. All you do is hook it up and flip the switch, and whammy, you're an operational ISP. The model he showed me had 24
modems. Frank said that the competitions normal setup has 24 cables coming out, this eliminates all those damn cables and with only one direct connection, straight to the T-1. I may not know much about the equipment end of an ISP, but I can tell you this, the snarl of cables that I was looking at vs. FTEL's way of doing business, they would have my attention.
What else?
What, I'm standing out in the hot sun, in a parking lot, calling you long distance, sweating my ****'s off, and your bustin my chops!
Vic, what is going to make us rich?
OH, like what I said isn't enough? Okay, are you sitting down?
I go to lunch with Frank, Sparrow, Helen, and some visitor.
Who's the visitor?
Damn, there you go again, interrupting me. Can't say who he was.
What you don't know, or your not saying?
Not saying, I can't. Let's just say he impressed the hell out of me.
What was he a CEO of some big company?
Again I can't say, all I will say is that he represented a lot of people, and leave it at that.
What kind of people? Employees? Clients? What?
Potential clients, Okay?
I'll settle for that. Okay as you were saying.
Damn, see you made me forget. Let me go to the car and get my notes.
Hear a dog barkin. Some yelling. Horn blowing.
Ral
Yeah, what the hell is going on?
Little nippy SOB, some guy's dog tried to come through the window of a car after me. Some little nasty ugly ass thing.
What was all the yelling about?
I let the dog's owner know what I thought of his mutt.
Okay where were we?
You were going to tell me why were going to be rich.
OhYeah, there's a bunch to talk about. Where do you want to start?
Numbers, I like numbers, Vic.
Ok, like I said Sparrow had joined us for lunch. She said that the service side of the business is booming. She wouldn't go into detail as to who the names were that were committed, but stated that the numbers exceeded the 150k heads that were mentioned in a previous news release. I asked if they were on line now? She said no that's not how it works. ISP's and others are signing up on a steady basis. As they sign on, they are making commitments as to how many heads they will bring with them. They then have a CD pressed, and that in itself is pretty large undertaking and a monetary commitment, because they have to pay for the pressing. 10,000 CD's, 10,000 heads, mucho dinero.
How many are on line at present?
She said that it is coming along slowly because they first have to press the CD's, so from the time of signing the contract, it can take up to two months to get any special programming done, and there are other odds and ends like promotional material, etc. Then they get the CD pressed and they start bringing their end users on line. She stated that they are just now starting to get some ISP's up and running, and new heads are coming on line daily, and it's really starting to nowball as they ramp up everything, with more coming, a whole lot more. New CD's are being shipped now, and more are being shipped in the weeks to come, in fact they are starting to get backed up a little, but they are also ramping up to take on all this extra business. Bottom line, business is booming and more coming in daily as the word spreads and the efforts to bring home the bacon start to take hold.
Sparrow stated that she alone is working with four major deals, all in some stage of completion.
What about IP and DigitalXpress?
There wasn't a lot said, or should I say that it was stated right up front that there was a lot that couldn't be discussed. This I was told. They are only a few weeks away from full beta, and expect the beta period to be very short duration. They have actually had some parts of it operational for some time and just cleaning up a few minor glitches. Said that if everything went on schedule, we could see some significant news coming before summer's end.
Oh, before I forget, Frank said there would be a copy of the advertisement they are running in several of the trade magazines, placed on the FTEL web site. He was very complimentary of Sparrow for the great looking add materials she has put together. I got a copy of it, very clean, and shows all the key products, channel bank, Cyclone, etc. You'll see. Frank said it should be up on the website in the next few days.
Okay, Vic, I've heard about everything thus far, and granted it's good
news, and I'm sure it will all have a composite positive effect on the
company, but I know you, and your biting at the bit to tell me something I don't know, Right?
Are you sitting down?
No, actually I'm laying down, veg'n it.
What would you say if I told you that when Frank was back East, that he secured a firm commitment for a possible secondary offering of FTEL if needed?
Get out!
Hey, I'm only telling you what I was told. Apparently last year as he went around and originally tried to shake the bushes for a possible subscriber for the IPO, they all said come back when the Voice Server can be demo'd.
What the Voice server is done?
There you go again.
Sorry.
I guess it is ahead of schedule, but because the fundamentals have changed so dramatically from when he first did the rounds, that many of the projects stand on their own merit.
What about the Voice Server?
Well, that is the interesting part, I guess they are a lot closer then most would realize. Apparently they hired some whiz bang programmer, and are way ahead of schedule, even have a few extra bells and whistles added. From what I have been told, it looks like late Sept.
Then what?
I guess at that point, combined with everything Sparrow was referring to, they will be pretty much operational and that will also have bearing on the final IPO price, but if a few more of these deals that Sparrow was hinting at, come to fruition, then as they said, it could be even better then what they presented to the brokerages.
What will that do to FTEL stock price?
Well that all depends on how much FTEL owns at the time of IPO, as to what it will reflect on the FTEL shares.
Was that discussed?
Yep, but it's kind of a touchy matter?
What do you mean?
Seems there is some pending negotiation that if it goes through will have a tremendous impact on the company?
What the hell are you talking about?
Can't say.
You mean you can't say because you don't know, or because you won't say.
Both!
Hey Raleigh, if I knew, I still wouldn't be able to talk about it, but I don't know the particulars, they started to talk about it, then stopped. Frank excused himself for even bringing it up, but said that it was close at hand, and that if it goes through, the shareholders will be in for a real treat. Then he reminded me that he was the biggest shareholder of all in Franklin and he was elated. With all those in attendance shaking their heads in compliance like Howdy Doodies, I'd have to say that this must be one hell of a "doozie" of a deal.
Wow! Like the sounds of that.
That's what I said. There's probably more, but I have to get back to this conference and will probably be tied up until late tonight. Relay this to the gang, and tell the idiots to, well screw them, they aren't worth the effort.
In fact tell them all to sell, I want more on the cheap.
Gotta go lad.
OH, I almost forgot, I was sitting at this conference with a CEO of a
pretty large public company, we break for lunch yesterday and we start
talking. He starts telling me about his company and it's high tech
communications needs. I tell him about FTEL, IP specifically, and the
satellite ya-de ya-de hoopla, and he says that it is exactly what his
company is looking for, that this "store and retrieve" is the future, and with satellites it's the only way to go, for what is coming. Goes on tell me that his company does nothing but financial information, mostly international banking stuff. His concern was security. I mention Ceridian, he says, that's enough for him, gave me his card. When I hand it to Frank, he says, I'm sure he's doing business with our customers, Citibank, Quotron, etc. Wait till I get back to the conference and tell him. He lives here in the Valley, so who knows.
Oh, damn that reminds me. There's more, but I gotta go.
Later.
Well there you have it, Vic's trip to FTEL.
Now I don't see where there is any hype, or anything out of line. Vic's trip seemed a lot more fruitful then the last time he was there.
He remarked on the noticeable difference in the hustle/bustle, and all the different products he observed being mfg'd. Lots of new bodies, parking lots bulging, deals being made, deals already being implemented. Named customers. Saw working examples of real products.
Had lunch with some "Big Cheese" in attendance. Discussed the IPO, voice server ahead of schedule, and some major deal in the wind.
All that and has a CEO interested in checking out Franklin.
Way to go Vic.
Hey Vic, if you want to hype it little, go for it. Personally I want to hear it all.
Only question I have, what was the horning about, did a finger have
anything to do with it?
Love ya man,
rb
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PS: I don't understand your profile, why do you enjoy torturing sharks, they are a necessary part of the ecology ????? Are you not concerned about our environment and future ???
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