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Technology Stocks : General Instrument Corp.'98 (GIC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BigBull who wrote (108)	3/11/1998 2:10:00 PM
From: kech	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 615

Must be trading down on this new information. Cable and Wireless has 7 million subscribers. It would seem that this might be another 2-3 million set-top boxes for GIC. (UPDATE) Cable & Wireless To Use Set-Top Box Software From Oracle, Netscape Dow Jones Online News, Tuesday, March 10, 1998 at 23:09 NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Cable & Wireless PLC Tuesday announced it has selected software from an Oracle Corp. affiliate for new digital cable-television boxes, a badly needed endorsement for one of Microsoft Corp.'s main competitors in selling Internet technology for the living room. The announcement confirmed a story in The Wall Street Journal. The British telecommunications company said it chose software from Network Computer Inc. over offerings from Microsoft and other rivals. This is the first major cable deal for NCI, a Redwood Shores, Calif., company owned by Oracle and Netscape Communications Corp. The technology will first be deployed by Cable & Wireless Communications PLC, Britain's largest cable company, which was formed last year from the merger of three cable companies and Cable & Wireless' long-distance telephone operator. Cable & Wireless is the cable company's largest investor. Many large computer-industry players are racing to move their franchises beyond PCs into set-top devices that can tap into the Internet and carry out other new services. Microsoft appears to have a leading position in the U.S. market following a tentative agreement with Tele-Communications Inc., but some foreign companies appear to be deploying the new digital systems more quickly. Cable & Wireless Communications plans to invest 100 million ($163.5 million) in digital technology and set-top boxes. It wouldn't disclose how many boxes it plans to order or how much it is paying NCI for the software used in the devices, which are expected to be available by fall. NCI is styling itself as a more "open" alternative to Microsoft, meaning that a choice of its set-top box software doesn't lock a cable vendor into one operating system or hardware. Cable & Wireless said that was one reason it chose NCI. "We didn't like being tied into a particular architecture," one official said. Microsoft is believed to be willing to help cable companies finance their purchases, though terms of the deal with TCI are still being negotiated. David Roux, chief executive of the Oracle affiliate, said it isn't interested in doing that. Cynthia Brumfeld, an analyst with the research firm Paul Kagan Associates Inc., said the deal could help NCI get the attention of some U.S. cable operators. NCI "is having trouble in the U.S.," added Gary Arlen, president of Arlen Communications Inc., another research concern. "This shows that the foreign market is much more attractive." Cable & Wireless Communications plans to modernize its system gradually. Its set-top boxes will first offer an increased number of TV channels, scheduled movies and an on-screen channel guide. By 1999, however, the service is expected to add full-fledged Internet access and electronic mail. NCI's software, called DTV Navigator, is based on Netscape's Internet-browser technology. General Instrument Corp. will supply the set-top boxes to Cable & Wireless Communications, though the cable company won't divulge how many units it has ordered. Microsoft's set-top box software is based on its stripped-down Windows CE operating system. Microsoft wants its Windows software to spread beyond the desktop computer market and run everything from set-top boxes to appliances to combination PC/TV sets. That is the key strategy of Microsoft in its effort to tighten its grip on portals to the Internet, where electronic commerce and publishing are expected to explode. Microsoft wants to milk future profits from facilitating the flow of goods and services over the Internet. But Microsoft competitors, broadcasters and cable providers are determined to prevent any maker of software or chips from becoming annointed as a proprietary standard, as Microsoft and Intel Corp. have become the prevailing standard in PCs. In January, Tele-Communications Inc. announced agreements for its set-top boxes that will pit Microsoft against rival Sun Microsystems Inc. TCI selected Microsoft to supply at least five million units of Windows CE but the cable giant also licensed Sun's Java software as another way for software programmers to create applications for the boxes.