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Technology Stocks : LAST MILE TECHNOLOGIES - Let's Discuss Them Here -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mkilloran who wrote (9799)	12/18/2000 1:09:24 AM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

Hi Mkilloran, Does it follow, necessarily, that those same features could not, or will not, be possible over other types of platforms based on open connectivity solutions? Your message seems to suggest so, and I tend to differ with that view. We have already seen where through the use of VDSL, albeit not very pervasive, similar capabilities are available using dsl as the undercarriage, and other suites of head-end- (host digital terminal) magic, upstream. Now, I'm not suggesting that the vdsl approach is open. Only that it is different, and that other possibile schemes exist. Likewise, using GigEthernet, combined with future multicasting, unicasting and interactive protocols sanctioned by the IETF and other open consortia, similar results might result. But the motivation thus far has been for developers of applications to pursue the establishment path, and that usually means going to where the greatest possible number of existing buyers exist, and following the standards to which they already adhere. Mavericks will continue to create and push new envelopes. Just look what has happened to the original MSO vision of interactive TV. They were completely taken by surprise by the Internet, just as everyone else was. That they make allowance at all for 'Net features is testament that they will continue to evolve to a more open set of applications, themselves. But they will do so much more slowly, I submit, than the universe around them. For, to do otherwise would be to cut themselves off from protected revenue streams. So, I return to the main question in my last message. To restate, Can anyone make money on open connectivity solutions, as opposed to closed solutions? Or, are we about to see a sustained trend towards proprietary systems, even to the extent where one MSO cluster differs in features from another cluser belonging to the same MSO, due to the different mix of proprietary solutions used? This is not far fetched. We've already seen where some MSOs have split their STB purchases between multiple vendors' wares, each with their own set of features and capabilities. FAC