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To: ahhaha who wrote (1410)	2/21/1998 9:55:00 AM
From: ahhaha	Respond to of 29970

Cable Modems Go To Work Carol Wilson, Inter@ctive Week 2/16/98 Two major cable players got down to business last week, announcing high-speed data services aimed at the office market --- an arena in which cable operators have not traditionally competed. Both providers are positioning themselves toe-to-toe with core telephone services and believe they can offer advantages to businesses that their phone company rivals can't match. Cox Communications Inc., which is partnering with @Home Network Corp., and MedlaOne Inc., a unit of US West Inc., will launch their services in California but with very different strategies. MediaOne's (www@mediaone.com) first service is a fiber-optic based highend data and video distribution service for the Los Angeles area. Launched through a new business service division, MedlaOne Connect, the service will target the motion picture industry, among others. Cox (www.cox.coim) and @Home on the other hand,are aiming at the small business market. Their service will offer highspeed Internet access, through cable modems, to companies with up to 25 employees. In each case, the cable company is treading on traditional telephone company turf. The MediaOne service goes after motion picture industry customers that Pacific Bell targeted with a compressed video distribution service it launched in 1994, while Cox and @Home are chasing businesses that would use PacBell telephone-based services such as Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) or Digital Subscriber Line(DSL). "We're going after the market that wants faster Internet access but has less than a $1,000 budget," said Don Hutchison, senior vice president and general manager at @Home. The @Home service costs between $265 and $595, depending on whether users are fewer than five or as many as 25. Download speeds are up to 1.5 megabits per second, and upload speeds run approximately 128 kilobits per second, with bursts as high as 768 Kbps. InSystems Technologies Inc., a software company that helps businesses manage documents, is using the new service at its western regional office in Rancho Santa Marguerita and finds it cheaper, easier and more capable than ISDN, said William Hartnett, systems engineer. "We've designed some chat software that lets us do a live chat window, to solve one of the sales guy's problems right away", said Hartnett, who supports remotely located sales teams. "We couldn't do that at all with ISDN."

To: ahhaha who wrote (1410)	2/21/1998 9:58:00 AM
From: ahhaha	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29970

@Home, Road Runner Talks Unclear By Randy Whitestone and Louis Trager, Inter@ctive Week 2/16/98 Yes, there have been talks about some kind of an alliance between @Home Network Corp. and Time Warner Inc.'s Road Runner, and yes, executives in each camp want a deal, but officials at the high-speed cable access services weren't commenting. While sources inside both companies acknowledged the talks, (Jerald Levln, chairman and chief executive officer of Time Warner, said: "I'm not sure what @Home offers." Achieving any agreement would be a process fraught with roadblocks built upon conflicting corporate agendas, not the least of which is ensuring approval of @Home's top shareholder - cable giant Telecommunications Inc. - and deciding which content would be carried on a combined Road Runner-@Home service, since Time Warner's Pathfinder Web offerings are a closely guarded corporate secret. A spokeswoman at Road Runner, which is based in Stamford, Conn., declined to comment on merger talks, instead referring to her company's pending merger with U.S. West Inc.'s MedlaOne cable service. "Our focus is to build this business plan with MediaOne, and we're working very hard with them to have some announcements in March," she said. Key issues: headquarters MediaOne is in Boston and Denver - brand name and who will lead the combined entity, which will have about 55,000 access subscribers. Matt Wolfrom, a spokesman at @Home in Redwood City, Calif., also would not comment on any talks but said @Home is "regularly exploring opportunities to enhance the future of the company and use our position as an industry leader in setting standards" @Home has 50,000 cable access subscribers.