Dom - Re: Intel, Oracle, Time Warner & Roadrunner
Thanks for the "tip". I am posting the full text below.
I think it's a good idea - Cable Modems are becoming more practical as the DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification ) is headed for reality.
Last week, Intel and a dozen other companies joined a Cable Modem Forum to standardize Internet Acccess via Cable Modems.
With At Home up and running as well as Road Runner, Intel would own a chunk of both of them! Good for us investors, especially if Intel keeps active in pushing them for "universal deployment".
By the way - did you read the interview with Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger on Bloomberg? Here's there comments about the internet:
On the impact of the Internet on business:
Buffett: ''It's big. It does change a lot of things. It will
change the way a lot of commerce is done over time. I'm not smart
enough to make a lot of money off that, but there's no question
that it's changing people's behavior by the day. It's a huge
force. It changes the time aspect, the distance aspect, the cost
aspect of communications in a huge, huge way.''
Warren Buffett is a smart man - a VERY SMART MAN! When he recognizes that the Internet is going to be "BIG", it will be BIG! Buffett may not be a technical type, but he knows value...and his description of the Internet reflects his "value opinion".
And, Intel seems to be getting ever BIGGER into the Internet.
Paul
{===============================================}
Copyright Bloomberg
Oracle, Intel in Talks to Buy Part of Time Warner Internet Unit
Redwood Shores, California, May 3 (Bloomberg) -- Oracle
Corp. and Intel Corp. will buy a stake in Time Warner Inc.'s Road
Runner service, which provides high-speed Internet access over
cable TV lines, according to people familiar with the matter.
Under the agreement, which could be announced within the
next two weeks, Time Warner will use software from Oracle's
majority-owned Network Computer Inc. in its new digital TV set-
top boxes, the people said, making it NCI's second such software
contract. In exchange, Oracle will invest an undetermined amount
in Road Runner, along with Intel.
Technology companies such as Intel, Microsoft Corp., Oracle
and Sun Microsystems Inc. are rushing to grab part of the
business of building new digital cable systems, which will let
consumers surf the Internet from their TVs and watch TV on their
personal computers. Microsoft already has struck an alliance with
Tele-Communications Inc., the second-largest U.S. cable
company,
while a Road Runner investment would give Oracle ties to the
largest U.S. cable system operator, Time Warner.
''They want to see Road Runner be successful because it will
fuel demand for their products,'' said analyst Jim Balderston at
Zona Research Inc., a market research firm.
Network Computer, Oracle, Intel and Time Warner declined to
comment.
Network Computer, a joint venture between Oracle and
Netscape Communications Corp. develops software for
slimmed-down
computers and other devices. It's been trying to push into new
markets, and in March NCI signed a software agreement with
Cable
& Wireless Plc in the U.K.
'A Huge Deal'
Oracle CEO Lawrence Ellison said April 15 that NCI would
soon announce an agreement with a U.S. cable company to supply
software for set-top boxes. ''We'll announce a huge deal in the
United States,'' Ellison said at the time.
An agreement with Time Warner would lift NCI, which hasn't
seen demand for its computers take off as quickly as expected.
While the popularity of sub-$1,000 computers has soared in recent
months, NCI has struggled. Its CEO Jerry Baker resigned and
President Wei Yen has stepped down. NCI also fired 30
employees,
or 15 percent of its workforce, in December.
In addition to helping consumers cruise the Internet, the
new cable TV boxes will let consumers receive data and e-mail
and
get interactive TV programming over fast cable links to the home.
Microsoft is using a version of its Windows CE software for TCI's
new cable TV boxes.
The Road Runner investment also shows that Santa Clara,
California-based Intel is intensifying its efforts to speed the
deployment of high-speed Internet access. As broadcasters and
technology companies are moving closer to making digital
broadcasting a reality, Intel wants the PC to become the TV, in
addition to having its chips used in set-top boxes.
Rival At Home Corp.
Intel and Oracle investments would further pit Road Runner
against rival At Home Corp., which also provides high-speed
Internet access over cable-television systems. Intel has small
stakes in more than 100 publicly traded and closely held
companies. It owns 285,000 shares of At Home, which it bought in
July 1997, when At Home had its initial public offering at $10.50
a share. The stock has more than tripled since.
Intel has been focusing on the issue of bandwidth -- how
much data can be sent through ''pipes'' such as phone and cable
TV systems -- for the past five years. Intel Chairman Andrew
Grove has said he is studying broad strategic issues for the
entire PC industry, among them finding ways to make high-speed
access to the Internet pervasive.
--Mylene Mangalindan and Duncan Martell in the San Francisco
newsroom (415) 912-2991/pkc/smw |
