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Technology Stocks : Aware, Inc. - Hot or cold IPO? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SteveG who wrote (2406)	1/21/1998 1:07:00 AM
From: Scrapps	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9236

"[Sheesh, take an afternoon off and 2 weeks worth of Aware messages appear]" And just when I thought I knew everyone on the thread! <GG> I expect more tomorrow due to the 24 hour delay factor.

To: SteveG who wrote (2406)	1/21/1998 1:17:00 AM
From: SteveG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9236

<A> (continued) Internet Consortium: Targeting Local Loop Congestion [and note Dataquest's acuitionary comments below "part 3"] Gerard Klauer Mattison & Co. analyst Michael Cristianziano explained that DSL technology is designed to address the "most important bottleneck in the transmission of Internet data" that occurs with the use of analog dial-up modems - congestion in the local phone loop. At present, dial-up analog modems and local phone networks can deliver transmission rates of at most 56 kilobits per second - and generally deliver only about 40 kilobits per second. That's because they "are designed to handle voice, not high-speed data," Cristianziano said. With DSL, said Forrester's Hannigan, local phone companies will more fully utilize the capacity of copper twisted-pair lines by separating the voice and data traveling over them and digitizing the data. The local phone companies will continue to put voice into the old phone switch, but peel the data off and send it over a separate network. Hannigan said this could involve sending the data on to an Internet service provider or to the Internet itself if the phone company provides Internet access. The DSL technology being promoted by the consortium is an offshoot of much existing DSL technology, which requires that the line be split at the consumer end and at the phone company end to handle voice and data separately. The new technology being promoted by the consortium, however, would place the splitter device inside the consumer modem, eliminating the need for any special installation services at the user end. "In the case of this splitterless DSL, the phone company does not have to roll a truck and dispatch a technician," Cristianziano said. "Therefore, it become more economical and easier to deploy." Although this technology "trades off bandwidth a bit," it would still be able to deliver downstream - that is, from the provider to the user - transmission rates of about 1 megabit per second, Cristianziano said. These faster transmission rates will allow Internet home users to download images, graphics and other data at much faster speeds, of course. "To transfer a one-megabit image file over a 28.8 dial-up analog modem, it takes 4 1/2 minutes," Cristianziano said. "Using DSL, which is on average 1.5 megabits per second, it takes 5.3 seconds." DSL will also offer home Internet users a "similar experience" as office users who have access through corporate dedicated line accounts, he added. For instance, the technology enables a constant Internet connection and allows consumers to send voice and data over the line at the same time. In other words, the technology allows them to use the phone and access the Internet simultaneously. Internet Consortium -3: Cable Competition Could Spur DSL Dataquest's Pelgrim said she is skeptical the consortium will be able to get this new DSL technology on the shelves by Christmas, as it hopes to do. Analysts stressed that the biggest challenge to rolling out DSL could be getting the local phone companies to make the expensive network upgrades required to deploy the new technology. "These companies are very slow to move," said Forrester's Hannigan. "They are worried about many other things, like getting into the long-distance markets." Moreover, added Gerard Klauer's Cristianziano, many of the local phone companies "fear that if they offer this service, business customers will take it at lower prices." The phone companies therefore want consumers to buy the service, which sources have estimated could cost between $30 to $50 a month. Cristianziano believes that competition from cable Internet access providers, which also offer high-speed transmission and separate voice and data, is what is ultimately spurring the local phone companies to make the necessary upgrades to support DSL. "There has been a lot of buzz over cable modems," he said. "That will be the thing that really pulls the local phone companies... It will be a catalyst for the RBOCs and GTE to roll out DSL service." It is probably not a coincidence, he said, that U.S. West, one of the consortium members, began rolling out DSL service in Phoenix in October. Cox Communications (COX), a cable company, also offers Internet access in that market. U.S. West today has 500,000 customer lines in Phoenix and plans on deploying DSL in markets across its 14-state region over the next six months, company officials said. Cristianziano added that DSL could benefit many of the local phone companies since it would reduce congestion on their networks by off-loading data. Most of the companies involved in the consortium wouldn't speak on the record. But corporate spokespersons did stress that the consortium wants to promote an open standard and interoperability with DSL technology so the market will develop more quickly.