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To: BillyG who wrote (39084)	3/1/1999 2:43:00 PM
From: Steve Reinhardt	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50808

I don't travel that often any more. We have branch offices in China. Emails, phone calls every day. You are correct! 10% is a rough number. It could be more. Steve

To: BillyG who wrote (39084)	3/1/1999 7:58:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50808

More US West........................................... techweb.com U S West Plan Merges Telephone And Television (03/01/99, 5:37 p.m. ET) By Mo Krochmal and Malcolm Maclachlan, TechWeb NEW YORK -- U S West will soon let its customers answer the telephone or make a call through their television sets -- as long as it is plugged into U S West's copper-wire network. The Denver-based telecommunications company announced on Monday the rollout of a scheme to port telephone functions to televisions through set-top boxes and software produced by Network Computer. U S West will provide the network for the service. The company will conduct trials of the service, called U S West @ TV, with an eye to deploying the product by the end of the year, said Robin Tidwell, senior product developer for U S West. U S West @TV will launch the service in 14 states. The service combines the functions of television, telephone, and PCs. Users will be able to check e-mail and voice mail, as well as use caller ID, through their television screens. They will also be able to surf the Web, even while they are watching television. Users will need a set-top box that will hook into the television and also to a DSL or 56-kilobits-per-second modem. The box will also have a speakerphone, essentially making the device a working telephone. The companies did not announce who would make the set-top box nor did they announce a pricing structure. "We believe there's a market for this and the testing will bear that out," said Tidwell at a media event for the launch of the service at Jupiter Communications Consumer Online conference and trade show here. The service targets the same audience Microsoft's WebTV service -- potential Internet users who do not own PCs. The goal is to make Web use simple and ubiquitous through a more familiar medium. "We are aiming to make Web tone as common as dial tone," said Eric Bozich, vice president of the internet applications division at U S West. U S West is the first company to take the TV Navigator 2.0 software and use it to offer a new service, said Mitchell Kertzman, the president of Network Computer. "This is Internet software for information appliances," he said. U S West @TV and other convergence packages still have a number of hurdles, said Sean Kaldor, an analyst with International Data Corp. Among these will be gauging what types of convergence customers want. The major competitors in the space -- Microsoft's WebTV, and OpenTV -- are offering different combinations trying to find which models work best with consumers. WebTV could add a similar service incorporating phone, Kaldor said, but is likely biding its time. The offering illustrates a problem that telephone companies encounter as they battle the cable industry to expand the size of the data pipelines into homes for Internet connectivity, said Abhi Chaki, a telecommunications analyst at Jupiter. "The telcos all have the notion that they will have to offer something over television," said Chaki. The product will be tested in the larger metropolitan areas -- like Phoenix, Denver, and Minneapolis -- with plans to eventually roll it out to all of the company's 25 million customers. The U S West @TV may only appeal to a third of U S West's customers -- those with access to the high-speed connectivity of DSL Chaki said. "This will be difficult to work in rural areas," he said. Systems will also eventually incorporate systems that let them digitally record television shows. Kaldor said. This new market is currently dominated by only two major competitors TiVo and Replay Networks. As these competitors seek to add new services -- such as voice over IP -- they will encounter a host of unresolved regulatory issues, Kaldor said. For example, the Federal Communications Commission is likely to revisit its Thursday decision that calls to ISPs are local calls.