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Technology Stocks : Media Fusion - Exabit networking over power lines -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: D. K. G. who wrote (7)	1/5/2000 9:16:00 PM
From: JEB	Respond to of 39

;-)...I'll stop over and throw in my two cents. Thank you, JEB

To: D. K. G. who wrote (7)	1/5/2000 10:17:00 PM
From: JEB	Respond to of 39

news.cnet.com. Start-up looks to plug into the high-speed Net By John Borland Staff Writer, CNET News.com December 13, 1999, 3:30 p.m. PT The quest to send high-speed information over power lines has taken another step out of the science fiction realm and into reality. Dallas-based start-up Media Fusion has won a U.S. patent on a process it says can send data, video and voice over electric wires at speeds thousands of times faster than current high-speed Internet access technologies. Employing this system, a user could plug a computer or TV directly into an electrical grid through certain hardware technology to connect to the Internet at super-high speeds, the company claims. The patent represents a critical endorsement for the young company, which has struggled to convince investors and partners of its technology's viability, even while keeping most details closely under wraps. At the same time, Media Fusion is moving closer to testing the technology in the field, lining up partners for initial trials. "[The patent] has made our lives a lot simpler," said Luke Stewart, Media Fusion's chairman and the inventor of the technology. "This lets people know the government recognizes the value of the science and the veracity of the technology." If Media Fusion's technology does work, it could radically shake the telecommunications market. Telephone and cable companies have invested billions of dollars to ready their networks for high-speed data transmissions. The entry of a new technology that offers speeds far faster than existing services could force a seismic shift in the broadband access market. Additionally, it could spread the high-speed Net to rural regions that don't yet have broadband access. All these possibilities are contingent on one, small factor: the technology has to work. Founder Luke Stewart says he has run lab tests, but the technology hasn't yet run over a power company's network. The two-year-old firm has kept many of the details of its technology protected by nondisclosure agreements lest larger, well-capitalized firms try to steal its system, Stewart said. Legal experts say a patent gives the technology merit, but add that it is far from a guarantee that it will function in the field. "Whether you get a patent or not, it doesn't tell you anything," said James Pooley, a patent attorney with Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich. "It's one government bureaucrat deciding, informed by whatever he or she is able to do in a short period of time to ensure [the technology] is novel." Other power line systems have been tested in the field, with giant Nortel Networks leading most research. But these tests achieved only mixed success, as the companies found that interference on the power lines and obstructions created by transformers limited signal speeds. Stewart says his technology won't run into the same problems, because his idea involves using power lines much differently than did Nortel and its partners. Media Fusion's moment of truth is getting closer. A small group of mostly rural power co-ops has agreed to serve as ground zero for Media Fusion's first tests. "We have been asked to be one of the test sites, and we're looking forward to that," said Tom Garrett, general manager of Cimmaron Electric, a small Oklahoma power company. Garrett has not yet seen a full demonstration of the technology, he said. "That's kind of what we're waiting for." At the same time, Media Fusion has agreed to deploy its systems on a much wider basis through a larger group of power co-ops and municipal utility systems, working with a coalition named Integrated Opportunities. Media Fusion is in the process of building 70,000 hardware devices needed to decode information sent over power lines, and it aims to ship the product to partner firms in small towns and rural areas. "Ordinarily the hardest people to reach are the ones in rural areas," said Garen Ewbank, one of the partners in Integrated Opportunities. "The idea here is to show that it's just as easy to take the service to outlying areas as to downtown Atlanta."

To: D. K. G. who wrote (7)	1/6/2000 1:24:00 PM
From: Francois Lavoie	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 39

If Media Fusion have cracked it - and the only way I would believe it is following a successful large scale deployment at a random utility location - then they certainly would have a highly sought after product. Otherwise I am not going to invest a penny in them. I agree with this guy. One thing to consider also is that for areas where the electrical signal is stable, reliable, etc. Sometimes the power carrier uses some regulators to limit the signal over the power lines to one frequency: 60 Hz. That seems to be a "problem" here in Quebec, Canada. We have a very reliable 120 V 60 Hz signal and Hydro-Quebec (power carrier) "regulates" this signal so that harmonics (multiples of the 60 Hz frequency) are eliminated by regulators, filters, electronic stuff. Every client has to appreciate that. Having a clean and reliable signal means quality of service and protection of your home/business/manufacturing electrical equipment. I wonder if this electronic stuff regulates the magnetic field over the power cable too. If yes, Media Fusion technology will not work over these power carriers. Testing in rural areas where that kind of "regulators" might not be used is probably a way to take less chances for it to make it work.

To: D. K. G. who wrote (7)	3/27/2000 6:43:00 PM
From: D. K. G.	Respond to of 39

Startup Proposes Internet Access Via Electromagnetic Waves forbes.com March 27, 2000 By Michael Katz NEW YORK. 3:35 PM EST-On a swampy swath of the Mississippi Gulf Coast within the compound of the Stennis Space Center, Dallas-based startup Media Fusion is building a lab where it hopes to perfect a technology that will render traditional telephony obsolete. In December, Media Fusion was awarded a patent on proprietary technology that uses the naturally occurring magnetic field surrounding electric power lines to deliver Internet, voice and video data at more than 2.5 Gigabytes per second, says Edwin Blair, president and chief executive officer of Media Fusion. If all goes well--and that?s a big if, considering the technology is still on the drawing board--the company hopes to have a demo working by fall, with commercial deployment starting next summer. The brainchild of William "Luke" Stewart, Media Fusion's chief scientist, the company's technology--dubbed advanced sub-carrier modulation--uses a maser (microwave laser) to inject data into the electrical magnetic field surrounding power lines, enabling the electrical power grid to carry telephone, radio, video, Internet and satellite data. Stewart attributes the high-speed delivery to the lack of switches, routers and gateways that impede the signal. Blair estimates it would cost $65 million to build out all of North America for the service, which could go for as little as $5 a month. The average monthly cable bill in the U.S. is approximately $38. Blair says phone calls via the electromagnetic field, no matter where the origination and destination, will be charged as local calls. But Blair is particularly excited about using the technology to link the people in developing countries to the Net. According to the company?s statistics, 85% of the world?s population has electricity, while only 12.7% have access to telephone lines. "This is a major paradigm shift that is going to affect primarily the developing countries," says Blair. "Our mission is to develop, install and manage low-cost infrastructure to bring high-speed Internet access to anyone in the world with an electrical outlet." Blair says Media Fusion has had a lot of interest from such countries as, among others, South Korea, Spain, Greece, South Africa, Japan and China. But even if this is the miracle Media Fusion claims it is, it is unlikely the small Texas outfit will convince the $1 trillion Internet industry that it bet its money on the wrong horse. Nevertheless, the company could reap huge benefits if it can tap into the billions of homes that do not have a cable or telephone jack, but do have electrical outlets. Rural areas of the world could link to the Internet at a fraction of the cost of the current Internet infrastructure. Privately held Media Fusion, which Blair and Stewart founded in 1998, currently has received $10 million in funding, half of which is in equity, half in debt from some 200 total investors. Not bad, considering the relatively low infrastructure expenditure, but hardly anything to make Silicon Valley quake in its boots. Still, Blair believes that just as today's technology has revamped communications worldwide, Stewart has come up with something capable of starting a new revolution. "The guy who made the buggy whip didn't like the idea of the horseless carriage," says Blair. "But nothing changes overnight."