Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : AUTOHOME, Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ahhaha who wrote (13835)	8/9/1999 4:30:00 PM
From: E. Davies	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 29970

Tom brought up some points that I always thought possible but noone seemed to validate. This is what I believe he meant by "service revenues from enabling applications" enabling content providers to place their data directly on the @Home Network providing a low latency platform for the delivery of bandwidth intensive applications and content In other words, using the @home broadband network to provide broadband hosting services. I too expect that they could get some decent return from this. Stock took a very ugly pounding today. Hopefully everyone who had not realized that ATHM does not have exclusive rights for all eternity has sold and we can start getting back to reality. @home faces competition. LIVE WITH IT. Eric

To: ahhaha who wrote (13835)	8/11/1999 11:34:00 PM
From: tom offenbach	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 29970

ahhaha, I don't take your berating personally but you seem to employ very shallow and short term rational which I will address in my responces to yours. For the record, alot of folks employed by ATHM read this board and your input and contributions are heard: "Your profile says that you work at home and that you have "posted once, today, though you have been a member "before ATHM became public. I don't work there anymore and didn't realize that I had offered employment information in my personal profile. I was employed by ATHM for a little over 2.5 years and know enough to have not posted on this or any other board discussing anything directly or indirectly related to ATHM. "I am astonished by your comments. They sound as "though they were extracted from the prospectus. While my comments weren't directly extracted from the prospectus, they do reflect certain facts that the prospectus puts forth. Generally, a prospectus is a pretty good resource for fact finding so I don't know how you're surprised by that. "We have discussed this over the years. This is an element "of distribution. ATHM needs to wean itself away from overt "dependence on MSOs and physical network, because in the "final or intermediate AOL-Att analysis, open access is a "lock. Ask the RBOCs how valuable is the plant. It returns "something like 2%. I know this has been discussed over the years. It wasn't my intention to imply otherwise....I wanted to address the associated issues with the uniqueness of the MSO's infrastructure and the difficulty or inability in scaling it(space wise....NOT bandwidth). I originally stated that IMHO, @Home(the ISP/access provider) will evolve into what I called an ISP for ISP's. Reality is that there is a finite amount of space in RDC's which will not permit re-selling of real estate to other ISP's. I too, believe that open access will prevail and it will NOT be a result of govt regulation but market evolution. Given the space constraints, it is highly unlikely and almost impossible for multiple ISP's to co-lo equipment. IMHO, this issue will force the emergence of the equivalent of a cable CLEC. You'll probably argue that the MSO itself would be this entity but that is not their expertise....if it was, ATHM wouldn't be around. You might also argue that T could easily address this issue as well and they could but they would be limited to doing this in areas where they own the coax and would certainly give the other LD's reason to cry to the FCC, local munis and whoever else will listen. Having ATHM be the HFC CLEC is technically doable. ATHM could simply sell HFC peering to ISP by directly connecting ISP's to the @Home backbone. This makes the most sense because WHEN consumer internet fees trend to $0, ISP's will account for infrastructure as a liability.

To: ahhaha who wrote (13835)	8/12/1999 12:43:00 AM
From: tom offenbach	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29970

I wrote: This is ATHM shareholders trump card because overtime, access revenues will diminish while service revs from application enabling, servicing and support will grow. 'This is MBA bilge. It isn't even true. What is application 'enabling? Service and support? They aren't profit centers 'and they belong under the purview of the MSO. Where is the 'margin in this "trump card"? It doesn't add value, but it 'is very vulnerable to technological obsolescence. Service 'and support is a pure loss. How do you earn money doing 'that? Supporting the big push into @Media? I don't have an MBA but I do have the ability to forsee how ubiquitous access to connectivity will change the landscape of the global markets and regional economies. The trump card that I referred to is that fact that ATHM is positioning itself as facilitator, not access provider. Broadband ccess will probably be a commodity in the future BUT it isn't today. Today ATHM is leveraging it's exclusivity in HFC distribution to create real value for their customers. They are doing this through partnering, buying and building value added services which in theory, will have a greater value to the customer that the broadband connectivity will. The most blatant example is ATHM recent purchase of iMall. They will use the iMall platform to enable everyone to participate in eCommerce by providing an efficient means to do so. More food for thought, what happens if the market drives a more efficient transport medium than coax? By adopting a value add strategy, ATHM is hedging this. What I mean by application enabling and service is the ability to provide a more efficient model of IT and IS for businesses and consumers. I have to believe you're aware that Oracle and PeopleSoft are positioning themselves to provide outsourced applications to businesses over the Internet. ATHM is in a unique postion to compete and or compliment outsourced application hosting given their ability to eliminate bandwidth bottlenecks. This theory can also be applied to content providers. Take video on demand or downloadable mp3. All content providers want access to ATHM customer eyeballs. Given the naivete of most internet users, the best way to get access those eyeballs is to partner with ATHM(ATHM customers have an IP connection which allows them to access all of the Internet...they don't even need to use the E@H portal/startpage but they do. I think this is partially attributable to the fact that the content from this page takes advantage of the bandwidth provided...or is multimedia rich. Why is the content so compelling? It's broadband. Why is the performance so good? It's(the content) on @Home's backbone. Today content providers can purchase IP connections from @Work to achieve this or partner with @Media. Also, ATHM has the ability to create VPN's for large corporations and guarantee QoS. This will be HUGE! 'Sell XCIT to AOL!? You gotta be kiddin' me. Are we on the 'same planet? What makes you think AOL wants it if 'neither Att nor ATHM does? It was a fool move by a fool CEO 'in the first place which has practically ruined the 'company. Between Jermo and Att you have a real mess. XCIT has yet to payoff from an acquisition standpoint and may have put the company in a difficult position with regards to conflicting board member viewpoints. Overtime, if it is still part of the ATHM we know and love, I think it will payoff. Obviously there is value in the sheer # of regiestered users. The real value lies in the company's ability to generate $$ from them. Remember...I harped on providing the platform for facilitation?!?!?!? This is being done. iMall, deal with GMGC and Schwab relationship are all examples of how ATHM is helping to drive efficiencies for it's users. Instead of wearing down my fingers, I'm gonna provide a link to the Yahoo! board that I posted earlier today. ahhaha, I think you'll find, upon reading it, that my beliefs aren't that different from yours. long on ATHM! -t messages.yahoo.com