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Technology Stocks : Concurrent Computer (CCUR) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ed Newman who wrote (3601)	5/3/1998 11:26:00 PM
From: Valery Portnov	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21143

Sunday May 3, 1:04 pm Eastern Time Cable TV forms group to advance Internet By Judith Crosson DENVER, May 3 (Reuters) - The cable television industry, hoping to fend off competition from telephone companies, has formed a group to convince customers that high-speed cable is the best way to get on the Internet, executives said. On Monday, a group of cable, software, hardware and content providers will use the National Cable Television Association convention in Atlanta to announce they have formed the Cable Broadband Forum Inc. The group wants to sell the public on using the Internet via a high-speed cable hook-up rather than the telephone line. ''With more pictures, video stream and audio stream being offered, there's a need for a high-speed access,'' said Tom Cullen, vice president of Internet Services for MediaOne and chairman of the board of the new group. The new service means more speed for users and more revenue for the cable industry, which has been upgrading its systems. Some 200,000 customers nationwide have signed up for high-speed cable and about 1,000 join each day. But with a goal of having 1 million customers by the end of this year, the industry has to do better, industry sources say. The Internet has taken off in the past few years. Some 50 million people use it and nearly 25 million households are connected to the Internet, Cullen said. While more users get on the Internet every day, the experience can be frustrating. With current dial-up modems, a user can tie up a telephone line for lengthy minutes at a time just to pull down jazzy graphics. It can take hours to download software. To combat delays, regional telephone companies are also promising to deliver high-speed Internet access with their own technology. So cable companies see a need to get their message out quickly. ''It's a battle for mind-share,'' said Robert Davenport, senior vice president and chief operating officer of TCI.NET, a unit of cable giant Englewood, Colo.-based Tele-Communications Inc. ''The focus is to raise the level of awareness,'' Davenport said of the new non-profit organization, whose diverse membership includes cable operators TCI, MediaOne, Cox and Time Warner Cable. Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp. and Lucent Technologies Inc. also have joined the group, as well as Scientific-Atlanta (!!!!!!!} Inc.(SFA - news) and General Instrument Corp.(GIC - news) ''The phone companies have been pretty aggressive in talking about what they have in mind,'' Davenport said. For about $40 extra a month, a cable customer can subscribe to the high-speed service. Business customers are also a target, and the group wants to persuade businesses that cable is the superior delivery for enterprise-wide business applications such as telecommuting through virtual private networks, so-called called corporate Intranets and electronic commerce. (LU - news; COX - news; UMG - news; TCOMA - news; TWX - news; MSFT - news; INTC - news) I wonder if one should also invest in SFA and SEAC? It seems that cable delivery solution might prevail. SFA and SEAC are almost pure plays. Since I've been an investor for quite a long time, I'm trying to use my knowledge of VOD to place new bets. I am already in SFA and SEAC but my investment is rather small. Drop in SEAC stock last Friday could be nothing or could be something. I realize that it is CCUR thread (and hate when people are "pushing" other stocks), however, I think it is appropriate to discuss other VOD related issues. Does anyone here have SFA or/and SEAC? What are the prospects of these companies? Thanks, Val