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Strategies & Market Trends : Keep Your Eye On The Ball - Watch List -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TFF who wrote (1620)	12/13/1999 2:07:00 PM
From: TFF	Respond to of 2802

High-speed Net access that's out of this world .......................... John Koehler retired from a career at Hughes Electronics and the CIA to build fast Net connections on satellites already in orbit. - - - - - - - - - - - - By Mark Compton Salon.com Dec. 13, 1999 \| Even though Tachyon.net's satellite-based Internet access service won't formally launch until the New Year, it's already creating some buzz -- the sort of buzz that download rates of 45 Mbps can inspire. For those of us who are a little slow at math, that comes out to something around, oh, 30 times faster than T-1 access. That alone is pretty spiffy -- but what may be even more interesting is that Tachyon claims to have figured out how to deliver this, along with a superfast 256 Kbps upload path, via high-flying geosynchronous satellites. Stationed some 22,300 miles above the equator, these so-called "high-flying birds" have historically been considered a poor match for TCP/IP-based Internet traffic because of the considerable time required for signals to travel all that way. (That partly explains why investors like Bill Gates are backing Teledesic -- a $9 billion network of 288 low-orbit satellites, scheduled to launch in 2004.) But John Koehler, an economist by training (with a Yale Ph.D. to prove it), could see that the demand for fast Internet access, at least at the enterprise level, probably wasn't going to wait that long. And when he did the math, he figured that the pricing for access services could be made a heck of a lot more attractive if a company didn't first have to amortize a $9 billion infrastructure investment. So he formed Tachyon, on the premise that a way could be found to deliver two-way Internet communications via hardware already in orbit. Thinking out of the box seems to be a way of life for Koehler, who at 58 looks a tad out of place at an Internet start-up. And indeed, an Internet start-up is not the sort of career step one would have expected for a man whose résumé includes stints at the Rand Corp., the Congressional Budget Office, Hughes Electronics and -- get this -- the Central Intelligence Agency. Koehler served as deputy director of the CIA during the Carter administration, when the Cold War was still a going concern and many of the kids making millions today off dot-com IPOs had yet to be born. Clearly, the man marches to a different drummer. I've got to ask: Did your interest in satellite technology first come into bloom while you were acting as deputy director of the CIA? Yes, it did. A principal part of that job was managing the budget for the National Foreign Intelligence Program. As you might expect, most of that budget was spent not on spies lurking in darkened alleys, but on things that got launched into space or on computers that got installed in the basement of Fort Meade. Not very Le Carré, but quite au courant, I'm sure. Yes, that's exactly right. In fact, making decisions on next-generation systems was a very important part of my job there -- deciding which space systems to modernize, what they should look like, and that sort of thing. Because that meant making system engineering choices, I naturally got involved in satellite technology in a variety of ways. Next page \| Cutting through that chatty TCP/IP

To: TFF who wrote (1620)	12/14/1999 5:06:00 PM
From: TFF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2802

Keep Your Eye On The Ball - Watch List (MAGR ILIF,+IPO's ) ____________________________________________________________ Hot Trends ____________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------ Long Term ------------------------------------------------------------ Broader market following typical earnings anticipation cycle running from qtr to qtr. The internet sector following typical speculative winter/spring(expansion/distribution) summer/fall(contraction/accumulation) cycle. ------------------------------------------------------------ Mid Term ------------------------------------------------------------ Y2K psychology wildcard. winter/spring (expansion/distribution) ------------------------------------------------------------ Short Term ------------------------------------------------------------ Linux ____________________________________________________________ Internet Watchlist ____________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------ Web Conglomerates ------------------------------------------------------------ EInvestment Pools: CMGI WCAP SFE BGF RRRR Portal/ISP's: AOL ATHM Portals: YHOO LCOS INKT CNET GNET INSP STRM GOTO ASKJ PASA LOOK GO NBCI LCTO ISP's: ELNK RCNC GEEK PSIX PCNTF PRGY ONEM CNCX FLAS RTHM FCLX SPDE LOAX ATHY ESPI JWEB VOYN FREE IIJI IGLD NZRO SIFY TRRA KOREA CHINA RVST ECommunities: TGLO IVIL EWBX BOUT ZDZ AMEN ALOY SALN INTM SPLN TCTY WOMN ------------------------------------------------------------ Web Infrastructure ------------------------------------------------------------ High Speed Access WGAT CMTN COVD TUTS RBAK BRKT NPNT NASC HSAC RAMP GSPN ELEC BRCD FFIV NTPA EFNT PDYN CAIS SPDE FCOM PKTR NPLS SPLT NTRO DITC AMPD GBLX ISPD ATON FDRY INAP VIXL DSLN EXTR SOFN AWRE NXTV MICA NETX WSTL INCC Networking Infrastructure NTSL RDWR LGTO BVEW VRTS VNWK CRDS LVLT KEYN SCMR PRDS JNIC AKAM NTAP KQIP LTNX OPEN PRCM LARS CFLO DDTC SBEI STMI ECCS Fibre Channel DTLK INPH JDSU MRVC KTEC OPTX POCI ORTL SDLI ETEK ZOOX RFMD ORTC FNSR ------------------------------------------------------------ Web Software And Services ------------------------------------------------------------ EBiz Hosting & Consulting Services USWB RMII MFNX GBIX EXDS VRIO IIXL SCNT VIAN RAZF INIT ENGA ARTG DIGX USIT ISLD LIOX LUMT SAPE BWAY CYSV PXCM NAVI DRTN MSGI PMIX ILUM CIRC TMNG ENON ACOM ECommerce Software CYCH MAIL OMKT MACR DRIV NTFY SONE CPTH MRBA SILK EPAY PCOR CKFR SILK CYBS BWEB MESG ZIXI SPYG HRBC IPIX HEAR QSFT BLSW IWOV JCDA VIAD PVTL IMAN PMTC ICCSA PLUS MGIC INTA VSNT PRVW MOBI ECustumer Relationship Management(Help Desk) Software ONXS PREN VNTV RMDY SEBL PRSF AGIL VIGN ALLR ARTG INSO BBSW EPNY EGAN NETP KANA BWAY ESAR MSTG QNTS ININ PEGA SLGX EBiz to Biz Commerce ICGE ARBA CMRC PPRO ASWX VITR NEON TIBX CNKT BVSN CMDX CLIC CLRS ITRA CNQR RETK WALK VERT AMSY FMKT MAGR ESecurity ENTU VRSN RSAS NETA CHKP SCUR PILT SNWL MCAF DMRC EAudio & Video: RNWK AHWY LTWO ITVU MCRE VDAT LDIG VCST LATD LQID WPNE ADPL HAUP DGV FVCX LBRT FOTO ITRU IATV ETelephony LHSP VOCL NSPK NTOP ETEL UTCC ITXC PHCM PUMA CLRN AUDC IBAS ASFT ------------------------------------------------------------ ECommerce ------------------------------------------------------------ EAdvertising & Marketing : DCLK NSOL TFSM WEBT MMPT MMXI JPTR NETO APLN ACRU CBLT CGLD IWIN NCNT MYPT BFRE NTCR CLAC LFMN XACT DIGI FSHP HPOL FILM NTRT EBrokers: SCH TWE EGRP AMTD DIR NDB NITE SWS JBOH SIEB TRAC ABWG LINE MHMY WEBS EInvestment Banks: FBR WITC EBanks: NTBK BTOB USAB ORCC SCAI DGIN NETZ CAPX EMortgages: FNCM EELN MDCM AHMH HMSV ELoans & Credit Cards: NXCD EReal Estate: HOMS BAMB HMSK EInsurance: INSW QUOT EFinancial Info: TSCM MKTW MLTX DBCC HYPR TSCN EDGR INFO ONES HOOV ILIF ELaw LOIS ETailers/Auctioners/Malls: AMZN EBAY EGGS UBID BIDS PCLN IMAA VUSA SKYM IBUY ETailers: COOL MZON BYND TURF ETYS FASH ZANY CYSP BFLY ELBO GDEN ASFD SPNW IGOC NAVR ESports QKKA FOGD EBooks & Magazines BNBN BAMM FATB ROWE EGroceries: PPOD SLNE WEBV EDrugstores: DSCM PLRX VSHP MTHR EMusic & Video: MPPP EMUS HITS KTEL PTET NETR LAUN BGST BBI HLYW EFlowers: EFTD FLWS EInformation Services: TMCS SRCH EGOV MQST TIXX OPAY KNOT EPostal Services STMP ESTM EAutos: AWEB ABTL NVDC AN ETravel: CTIX FLYR IFLY TSG EXPE GTHR EJob Search & Recruiting: CBDR TJOB HIRE HOTJ HHNT TMPW ECRU EHealth Services: MCNS HLTH ONHN PTEK MATR KOOP CARI CYBA MSCP TZIX AHTC HCEN MDLI E*Communication Services: EFAX MAIL CTCH JFAX YESM