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Non-Tech : Auric Goldfinger's Short List -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: StockDung who wrote (11687)	5/27/2003 9:29:14 PM
From: afrayem onigwecher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19428

FCC To Take "Long, Close Look" At Powerline Commmunications; Ambient Moves Up In an Update last July, I wrote about Ambient Group (OTC: ABTG), a little company with a huge partner and a hot idea. With the backing of utility mammoth Con Edison, Ambient has successfully moved large amounts of data, voice and high-quality video across existing electricity lines and transformers at very high speeds, cost-effectively and without "noise." Power lines reach practically every building in the United States, an estimated 125 million customers. Wth powerline communication, or PLC, every outlet in your house becomes a way to access broadband -- a simple, cheap alternative to using cable or phone lines for broadband access. It could be a massive shot in the arm for utilities as well as for Ambient. Trading for pennies for the last 18 months, Ambient rose two cents last month, about 18% on the day, on news that the Federal Communications Commission plans to take "a long, close look" at PLC this year. The stock has since dropped back slightly, and appears to have found support at 10 cents a share. Ambient is developing partnerships with other utilities, power distribution companies and telecom providers. Utility companies in Pennsylvania and St. Louis have also been conducting trial programs with consumers, and this morning Ambient announced successful testing of its pre-production inductive couplers with another development partner, Southern Telecom. The results indicate that the couplers can be used on 15 kV Class feeder lines -- meaning that Ambient's technology can be deployed on most utility distribution systems in the United States. It's an important step in bringing Ambient closer to full commercialization. Revenue? Of course not. But over the last two quarters Ambient did manage to cut its losses and tuck away $200,000 in cash and equivalents. PLC could in time offer other services too, such as video security monitoring; and while it's too soon to be certain, it could have national security applications. In the FCC's announcement, the head of the agency's Office of Engineering and Technology used words like "excited" and "very viable." Full viability may be some distance off, and the stock is thinly traded, but we'll be hearing a good deal more about PLC. Besides, where else can you get a thousand shares of something this promising for a hundred bucks?