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.

Strategies & Market Trends : Gorilla and King Portfolio Candidates -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnG who wrote (10823)	11/21/1999 10:13:00 AM
From: Uncle Frank	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 54805

>> If TV and Internet converge, what use is GMST? Why can't you just surf through to the net to get TV programing resources without having to look at all that advertising on TV Guide's channel delector? John, did you look at the ipg on Yahoo: tv.yahoo.com Play with it, and I think you'll see it is a lot more useful than a paper tv guide, particularly when you use it in conjunction with Yahoo's Calendar. Someone is providing this service for Yahoo, and I'm hoping NY Stew will be able to verify that it is based on gmst ipr. uf

To: JohnG who wrote (10823)	11/21/1999 10:14:00 AM
From: JohnG	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 54805

FranQ. Lu's part of CSCO's demise. Optical Shitch. JohnG AT lucent.com Lucent Technologies announces the world's first high-capacity, all-optical router - moving ten times today's internet traffic FOR RELEASE TUESDAY NOVEMBER 09, 1999 16 times faster than electrical switches MURRAY HILL, N.J. - Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) today unleashed a new era of communications networking by introducing the industry's first high-capacity, all-optical router - capable of directing 10 times the traffic of today's Internet in one second. Based on Bell Labs' patent-pending technology, Lucent's WaveStar? LambdaRouter uses a series of microscopic mirrors to instantly direct and route optical signals from fiber to fiber in the network, without first converting them to electrical form as done today. This will save service providers up to 25 percent in operational costs and enable them to direct network traffic 16 times faster than electrical switches. "Optical wavelengths are the true building blocks of next-generation networks, and Lucent will be the first to make all-optical networks a reality," said Gerry Butters, president of Lucent's Optical Networking Group. "In the 21st century, all-optical networks will deliver vast amounts of information literally at the speed of light, unimpeded by the bottlenecks of conventional transport systems. Lucent is the first to offer a completely optical router with virtually limitless capacity, enabling its customers to economically and incrementally expand their networks as traffic increases." Maintaining all-optical traffic through Lucent's LambdaRouter paves the way for communications network providers to offer customers instant Internet and other high-speed data and video services. It also will help them boost revenue by enabling them to sell and manage bandwidth as individual optical wavelengths. For example, a local service provider could use Lucent's WaveStar system to enable its corporate customer to initiate an HDTV-quality video conference between Silicon Valley and London at a moment's notice. The LambdaRouter would make it possible for the company to establish an instant, virtual fiber link between the two locations with a direct connection from point to point. The same task, without Lucent's all-optical link, would typically require the carrier to patch together a series of digital switches, which would take several hours and considerably more network and staff resources. From Lab to Market in 15 Months Lucent's LambdaRouter is based on Bell Labs' breakthrough MicroStar? technology, which will help carriers reduce cost while performing transmission functions with less space and increased efficiency. Within the WaveStar router, tiny micro-mechanical mirrors are positioned so that each is illuminated by a single wavelength. The mirrors are tilted so that an individual wavelength can be passed to any of 256 input and output fibers. All 256 mirrors are fabricated on less than one square inch of silicon. This compact switching fabric provides more than 32 times greater switching density than electronic fabrics today. And with no optical-electrical-optical conversion, the LambdaRouter switch fabric will provide up to a 100-fold reduction in power consumption over electronic fabric solutions. The MicroStar technology was first demonstrated at last month's Telecom '99 show in Geneva and is being brought from lab to market in 15 months. Designed for a Growing Network The WaveStar LambdaRouter features a modular, large-scale optical switching fabric that provides the highest speed and most efficient bandwidth management. The system will take in any voice, data or video signal, and each of the initial 256 channels will support wavelengths at SONET/SDH or OC/STM speeds up to 40 gigabits per second - 16 times faster than today's electrical switches. By adding circuit packs, the LambdaRouter will support in-service upgrades to higher capacities. Optimized for network protection, Lucent's system also will provide carriers with efficient restoration of service in the event of a fiber cut. Additionally, the LambdaRouter will offer mesh-based optical networking for multiservice core ATM switches such as Lucent's industry-leading GX 550? product, and packet routers such as Lucent's NX64000 - the industry's highest-capacity Terabit switch/router. The first release of the WaveStar LambdaRouter will be available to select customers in July 2000, and will offer more than 10 Terabits (trillion bits) per second of total switching capacity. The system will be commercially available in December 2000. Making All-Optical Networking a Reality The WaveStar LambdaRouter is the centerpiece of Lucent's vision of the all-optical network, the basis for communications in the next century. Over the last several months, Lucent has introduced a series of optical products for nearly every part of the network -- from long-distance and local metropolitan areas to undersea and business campuses. "As communications networks evolve, optical technology will be at the core of these networks and make its way out toward the edges - bringing unlimited capacity and speed to the desktop and someday, even the home," said Butters. "Lucent's portfolio of optical systems will revolutionize carriers' networks and give people unprecedented access to information - free from the constraints of time, distance or bandwidth." A Leader in Optical Networking Bell Labs has garnered over 2,000 patents in optical technology alone. With more than 4,000 systems installed worldwide, Lucent is the global leader in optical technology. According to KMI Corp., a leading market research firm, Lucent has the largest share -- 29 percent -- of the $2.2 billion global DWDM (dense wave division multiplexing) optical equipment market. For more information about Lucent's Optical Networking Group, please visit its Web site at lucent-optical.com. Lucent Technologies designs, builds and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems and software, data networking systems, business telephone systems and microelectronics components. Bell Laboratories is the research and development arm of the company. For more information about Lucent Technologies, visit its Web site at lucent.com. For more information, reporters may contact: Mary Ward Lucent Technologies (908) 582-7658 - office (908) 565-1716 - mobile Email:maryward@lucent.com Frank Briamonte Lucent Technologies (908) 559-5692 - office (800) 607-9849 - pager Email:fbriamonte@lucent.com

To: JohnG who wrote (10823)	11/21/1999 10:37:00 AM
From: Mike Buckley	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 54805

Folks, I'm getting a little (not a lot) frustrated by the series of questions that keep coming up about IPGs and how they will or won't be used. I am not directing this at anyone in particular (honest, I'm not!), but if you have not read the Stephens report that addresses ALL of that and if you are asking fundamental questions about the expected features and benefits of IPGs, you have not done the smallest part of your due dilligence. There is no single document I am aware of that addresses these and other major issues about Gemstar's opportunities and obstacles in such an easy-to-read manner. In that light, I will offer a few items from the report which is not copyrighted. It was available for free at the Stephens web site though someone reported that it is no longer there. Sadly, I only have a paper copy; otherwise I would e-mail the electronic file to anyone who asked. Now, some pertinent quotes from the research report: The IPG "functions as a search engine for TV as well as a portal straddling the intersection of the TV and Internet platforms. ... We also expect that IPGs will become as ubiquitous as the remote control and will eventually command more page views than most (and perhaps all) major Internet portals." "Next-generation digital set-top boxes should help introduce a meaningful portion of mainstream America to the online world for the first time -- over the TV platform --through a suite of interactive services. We expect these to include IPGs, [and other services]. .. In short, we believe interactivity will fudamentally change how, when and why consumers use their TVs. We also expect Gemstar to stake out -- and defend -- a position as one of the leading providers of interactive services into the home." "IPG Features: * Program schedules and descriptions * Search capability by category, theme, title, actor and rating [I didn't see the last four search criteria at Yahoo but I could be wrong.] * Picture-in-guide capability, which enables the consumer to continue watching a program while using the guide [something the Net doesn't offer unless your computer is close to your television] * One-touch tuning, which enables the consumer to highlight a title and then tune to the program automatically [John, that's why I won't surf the Net to get to the information if I have that capability on my TV; my computer hooked up to the Net won't do that.] * One-touch recording and scheduling [My computer won't record anything that's being distributed on the TV platform.} * A smart filtering agent, which enables the TV to self-select the ads it receives based upon the consumer's viewing habits. [Okay, so when I watch a football game my TV is bound to think I want to see beer ads even though I hate the stuff; even so, do you have any idea how much more advertisers are willing to pay for the benefit that targeted advertising does to their bottom line?] Back to Buckley mode. I'm not asking that anyone on the planet agree with me about the potential of Gemstar nor the company's past successes in the three years I've been following the company. But please folks, the information so many of you are asking about is almost at the tip of your fingertips in that Stephens report. Is there anyone who has an electronic file of the report willing to e-mail it to folks who ask for it by PM? --Mike Buckley