Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : WCOM -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (3526)	12/4/1998 7:32:00 PM
From: Yacht Trash	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 11568

Anthony, Thanks once more for your timely and informative updates to the thread. It seems that my life revolves around this company as I was a former Nat. Account Mgr. for MCI for several years, leaving to join the ranks of MFS Telecom as V.P. sales for S.F. and the Silicon Valley during which time MFS purchased UUNET and later was purchased by WCOM who now owns the whole kitten caboodle, as they say. I have retired to private life (at 43) as the result shortly after WCOM bought MFS and can only grin with each uptick of my now cumulative vested WCOM stock options. Ebbers yacht is named "Aquisition" I will be purchasing a somewhat smaller one when we hit the $80/sh mark in 1999. Best to you and as always, GOOOOOOOO......WCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM......Garry

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (3526)	12/7/1998 5:03:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 11568

Sprint to Start ION Service for Companies Nationwide Next Month Bloomberg News December 7, 1998, 12:16 a.m. ET Sprint to Start ION Service for Companies Nationwide Next Month Westwood, Kansas, Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sprint Corp. plans to begin selling a service that combines voice calls and data and Internet traffic on one network to large businesses nationwide next month, keeping to a debut schedule set in June. Until now, the service, called integrated on-demand network, or ION, has been available only to a few companies that signed up to test it. Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. long-distance phone company, is racing against rivals MCI WorldCom Inc. and AT&T Corp. to give customers faster data services and make using their networks easier. ION lets businesses buy one service from Sprint that covers all of their needs, rather than set up multiple accounts for services such as voice, fax and Internet access. ''Businesses over the last couple of years have been building a very complex web of services,'' said Jeffrey Kagan, a telecommunications analyst in Atlanta. ''This is a lot simpler for them.'' Westwood, Kansas-based Sprint also said it will provide customers with equipment called hubs from Cisco Systems Inc. and Northern Telecom Ltd. that combines all of their phone traffic, voice and data into one connection with Sprint's network. The company expects the free equipment to make the service more attractive to businesses, which usually bear upfront costs to set up new services. Sprint said it will also pay for any future equipment and software upgrades customers may need to keep using the service. Customers ''usually have to shell out a lot of money to get data services, said Jeff Anderson, Sprint's senior director for strategic development. All of the customers that signed up to test ION have chosen to keep the service, said Mike McRoberts, Sprint's director of next-generation product management. Development Costs Sprint is spending $2 billion over five years to develop ION, which it says will cut the cost of phone calls by 70 percent and provide video calls that are cheaper than a traditional long- distance call. The company said its cost of providing telecommunications service will plunge 80 percent when the new system is fully deployed. Initially long-distance and data services will be available to ION customers. Sprint expects to add local service and features that let customers monitor traffic more closely later next year. Sprint also expects to make ION available to small businesses and consumers in the 1999 fourth quarter. Sprint shares rose 3 5/16 to 78 3/4 Friday. --Andrew Brooks in the Princeton newsroom (609) 279-4066, through More News: WCOM