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Technology Stocks : Westell WSTL -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MangoBoy who wrote (8705)	12/31/1997 9:38:00 PM
From: pat mudge	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21342

[chat] <<>> Don't let the silver hair fool you. It doesn't necessarily equate to incompetence. Nor does youth equate to competence. Incidentally, a good friend used to work for him and says he's one of the finest leaders he's ever known. Now, if Armstrong were taking me to the party, I'll bet he wouldn't be late. :) Later --- Pat

To: MangoBoy who wrote (8705)	12/31/1997 9:54:00 PM
From: Chemsync	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21342

DSL & Armstrongs Hi Mark, I must agree with Pat on her Armstrong observation. I think it's a matter of image. A big, cocky salemsman who can look you in the eye and say your a dumb-ass if you don't buy MY product can be pretty effective. Westel might benefit from a little make-over. Change the masks. Change the tunes. Bring the Rolling Stones on stage and get the ball rolling. IMHO. sg DSL Options Coming From Carriers, ISPs (12/31/97; 12:08 p.m. EST) By Saroja Girishankar, InternetWeek In 1997, the DSL hype machine sped into full gear, but deployment of services did not live up to the hype. Virtually all of the regional Bell operating companies talked about offering cheap, multimegabit digital subscriber line (DSL) services for Internet and remote LAN access using existing copper loops. But most users would be hard-pressed to find DSL services available today. Regardless of the delay, several active trials are under way, and in some instances -- as with U S West, GTE, and Southwestern Bell -- there are commercial DSL services available in limited geographical areas. More regional Bells will roll out DSL services in 1998, according to Beth Gage, broadband consultant at TeleChoice. She expects the market to take off and reach an installed base of 350,000 lines in 1998, 500,000 in 1999, and 1 million in 2000. David Kirby, director of TeleHealth at Duke University, has been testing asymmetric DSL services on his campus for several months as part of a GTE trial. The service offers 1.5 megabits per second downstream (from the telephone network to the subscriber), and 128 kilobits per second upstream (from the subscriber to the telephone network), as well as 4 Mbps downstream and 384 Kbps upstream. Kirby's applications include videoconferencing and diagnostic image transfer. "We have been happy with the services, but the sweet spot for us is to have symmetrical DSL services at around 500 Kbps in both directions and at around $40 a month," Kirby said. Still, many IT managers and industry experts question whether DSL is the new ISDN. After nearly 20 years, the regional Bells have deployed a relatively small number of ISDN lines. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Many industry experts say they believe cable operators are using cable modems as a Trojan horse to go after the consumer telephone business. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Many industry experts say there has been little incentive for the Bell companies to offer DSL services. After all, IT managers who need bandwidth will continue to buy ISDN, frame relay, and T1 services. And if the pricing of initial DSL services can be used as a yardstick, there is even less incentive for the regional Bells to offer DSL services. The limited number of commercial DSL services have come with what many consider to be bargain rates for the bandwidth being delivered. Few would pay $1,200 to $1,500 per month for a T1 line when they can get comparable speeds with DSL for $250 per month or less. There are, however, competitive forces at work that might light a fire under the regional Bells in 1998. For one, the carriers may see some competition from cable TV operators. The cable industry is starting to address some of the shortcomings of its infrastructure. And the entrance of internetworking equipment vendors like Cisco and Bay Networks into the cable modem market in 1997 is bringing some long-needed management capabilities to cable modems. Cable modems represent a double threat to the regional Bells. Besides competing for high-speed data services, many industry experts say they believe cable operators are using cable modems as a Trojan horse to go after the consumer telephone business. In addition, competitive local exchange carriers and ISPs such as Concentric Networks, Conectiv Communications, Covad Communications, Vitts Networks, and Xcom Technologies will likely increase the pressure on the incumbent carriers. All will be offering their customers DSL services in 1998. These factors will make it hard for the incumbent carriers to drag their feet when it comes to DSL deployment. -- Sal Salamone contributed to this story. Related Stories: U S West's Broadband Group Merges With Time Warner's Net Access Get ready to put the pedal to the metal on your Internet connection.