Here are Readware's posts... I think one of these may be a repeat, but I'm not sure.
The game was awesome! Mich beat OSU, I took a piece of the field, and partied till the cows came home! They never did, but it was sure great to be back at school. I have only been an alum for 5 months. It was nice, and now when I say, "we're number 1" it really means just that.
Just to let everyone know, our sister board on AOL's FOOL is in the Top 25, that is it is one of the boards with the most messages. Still good as ever I might add.
Finally, the FAQ should be updated tonight!
geoff
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Subject: Re: Still waiting patiently...
Date: Sat, Nov 22, 1997 11:11 EST
From: Readware
Message-id: <19971122161100.LAA04239@ladder02.news.aol.com>
C* pricing for unlimited "speed of light" data/internet delivery by way of the Adaptec card is:
Dish and card-- one time $300 charge
Monthly unlimited use: $30/month
My own opinion is that this service would be more amenable to the small business market, rather than the home pc market. And I believe that is where the significant revenues for this service will reside. Skybridge will be the honed effort for home pc marketing more than C*-- at least that is how it looks today. With IP/multicasting the new Internet platform the satcom delivery services will be providing satellite time to local marketers for customers
in the home. The expectation is that by the year 2002 there will be 150 million home pc nternet users, and it is only if there are satellites providing transmission capabilities the byte bottlenecks will shut the system down in many locations.
C* is also providing business-to-business data services, and these prices will be by the amount of bytes for each usage. In this category the demand is quite large-- the Orion link-up will be very advantageous to C* in meeting the demand for services. A recent study indicates that there are 10,000 business sites worldwide without internet and WAN/LAN capacity-- and access to modem transfer capacities-- but with, by their own admission, a requirement
for these and willingness to pay the required charges to avail themselves of 21st century technology. Expected revenues (these are estimates only) from these services look like $3 billion/year (2002) as a low to $7 billion/year by the year 2006.
Subject: Re: Still waiting patiently...
Date: Sat, Nov 22, 1997 17:37 EST
From: Readware
Message-id: <19971122223700.RAA10244@ladder02.news.aol.com>
1. Cyberstar transponders on all three GEOs (Skynet, Orion, and Mabuhay's) are sold out. And it appears that the transponder space for the first C* GEO in 1999 is sold out.
2. I know of no Cyberstar announcement ever indicating it was not going after the "small business" market. Its recent Adaptec announcement gives no indication that it is going after the home pc market. WAN-LAN capabilities do not characterize the home pc domaign.
3. As for the article to which you refer in Byte Magazine-- it was flooded with errors, showed large misunderstanding of satellite digital delivery,and I could have sworn someone from Teledesic wrote the article.
Subject: Re: Globalstar & Readware
Date: Sat, Nov 22, 1997 18:08 EST
From: Readware
Message-id: <19971122230801.SAA13251@ladder02.news.aol.com>
I had posted some weeks ago that it appeared the mobile-fixed mix was now 75-25 for G*, and this apparently was confirmed by the G* chairman at the conference. The 50-50 mix was and is not as profitable as the 75-25 mix. Our view on the 75-25 user mix came from reseller comments, not from the company.
The fixed site terminal business that the G* chairman discussed does have the potential of high returns for a relatively low build-out cost. Fixed site terminal business would be used like a "phone booth" whence calls could be made by many individuals working in large groups for all sorts of businesses (construction, rigging, medical) or municipalities (wanting contact with other "out of loop" municipalities (their number is legion-- just look at a
map of India), instead of each individual in the businesses or municipalities having a mobile satellite phone. The "phone booth" term is only an analogy-- it is not meant literally.
Subject: Re: Valuer: Globalstar
Date: Sun, Nov 23, 1997 23:14 EST
From: Readware
Message-id: <19971124041400.XAA12955@ladder01.news.aol.com>
Valuer is correct: what has happened is that mobile satcom demand in some areas is such that the demand for fixed terminal usage could not be met by the LEOs servicing that area. It appears, e.g., that China is getting a far greater mobile demand reception for G* services than G* anticipated. At the conference, fixed demand was mentioned especially in India however.
Remember: you don't want too many subscribers from one area because in that case your constellation will not have enough coverage for that area. There will not be enough capacity. (Pricing can be used only up to a certain point to discourage high usage at one time-- higher price at high usage times, e.g.,). You are hoping to spread out the subscriber base enough around the world so that no one group of LEOs for an area is ever so "busy" that service
for others in that area is impossible. The G* constellation was configured with certain expectations of subscriber demand from each commercial area of the globe. 48 LEOs are not just being thrown up in orbit-- their positioning, timing, angle of orbit was precisely calibrated longitudinally and latitudinally after many, many simulation configurations to meet a certain demand from an area and no more. E.g., if G* thought it would have 5 million
subscribers only and they would all be from China and nowhere else, it obviously would not send up 48 LEOs.
Now in the case of India-- there are 100,000 developed municipalities there without phone service, and without the capacity for fiber or ground copper. Those municipalities number just under 15 million in population. These are potential "fixed site" users in India alone. Apparently there is a large demand from these municpalities that was previosuly unexpected. This potential cannot be served by Iridium World. G* has stated that it will service these
areas, and will to the extent of needing to deploy GEO service from other Loral transponders towards that end.
Now Lockheed Martin reportedly has developed and successfully tested a handset that virtually eliminates GEO propagation for voice, bringing latency well below the 500 milliseconds characteristic of GEO voice now. I do not know if G* handsets for fixed site will have that capacity, but I would assume that it will. |
