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Technology Stocks : AUTOHOME, Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: E. Graphs who wrote (7229)	4/1/1999 3:35:00 PM
From: Noel W. Crisler	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29970

Split date please. TIA EOM

To: E. Graphs who wrote (7229)	4/1/1999 4:11:00 PM
From: E. Graphs	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29970

ONadvantage and the @Home Network Platform (my note: just realized, the URL only works for those on the @Home network, so here it is in full. It's not so much the improvements they are making, but the overall tone of communications with the customer, attention to needs of customer, and general willingness to serve that customer; these are the things I have found in contrast to the negative news that seems to come out whenever the stock get frothy. I have never been served poorly or kept on hold for hours by AtHome service. In fact, they are working on a problem in my loop right now and they have been just great) Introduction >>@Home was founded on the belief that to provide a high performance and consistent broadband Internet experience, a new, parallel Internet would need to be built. @Home has developed this new high-speed network, and over the last two and a half years, the company has introduced high-speed Internet services accessible via the cable television infrastructure in over 40 markets in North America. Subscribers simply love the @Home experience and the speed at which they can access Internet content. As more and more people subscribe to @Home, @Home will continue to deploy the latest technology to keep its network fast, scaleable, and reliable. In order to deliver a consistent and high performance broadband Internet service to its growing residential subscriber base, @Home is now rolling out the next phase of its network platform. This phase is called the Optimized Network Advantage, or ONadvantage(SM). ONadvantage allows @Home to: Provide a consistent, high performance service experience Deploy improved caching servers for instantaneous access to content cached locally Offer subscribers a full suite of products to serve their entire range of data networking needs Building and improving @Home's network platform is an ongoing process, and @Home is committed to offering the best and fastest Internet service to meet the needs of its subscribers. This document outlines @Home's approach and the technology used in deploying ONadvantage. Enabling Technologies A variety of modem, proxy and router based technologies are used to implement ONadvantage: Modem Based Technologies Over the next few months, several of @Home's cable company partners will be deploying the first generation of standards-based (DOCSIS) cable modems. This is a momentous event for the data-over-cable industry, as it allows cable companies to offer standard modems at retail that are then usable in any @Home-affiliated cable market. These standardized modems also offer functionality that will enable @Home to provide new services to its subscribers. Once the new standard modems are pervasive, @Home will have the ability to provide a variety of packaged service offerings to its subscribers, such as a home office offering. In the meantime, current modem technologies allow @Home to provide upstream rate enhancements which optimize the speed experience for the typical @Home user. For specifics on upstream rates, please see "@Home's Rules of the Roads" in the Member Services or Help tab on the service. Proxy/Caching Servers Efforts are currently underway to increase the proxy/caching performance within @Home's high-speed network. The deployment of a caching system with new proxy software developed by Inktomi will result in a significant improvement in the functionality and efficiency of proxy services. The new proxy server software provides: A more efficient disk management system Streaming of pages through the proxy before the complete file is loaded Improved content distribution and replication mechanisms Comprehensive monitoring and reporting to discover and correct poor performance This effort should provide faster performance to subscribers accessing content cached locally. @Home and Inktomi have developed a very close research and development relationship and are collaborating to design the specifications of Inktomi's next generation products. @Home and Inktomi are also working together to develop features unique to @Home's distributed and broadband needs. Router Based Technologies @Home is working with Cisco to deploy the latest available managed service technologies into @Home's router infrastructure. By using the latest routing technologies that enable traffic measurement, prioritization and differentiation, @Home will maximize service performance for mainstream subscribers and direct users toward fast, cached, "on-net" services such as video/audio streams and multimedia content. @Home will also gain the ability to provide guaranteed levels of service for commercial customers who have strict bandwidth and performance requirements. Benefits to @Home Subscribers Consistent, High Performance The single biggest benefit that ONadvantage will provide to @Home subscribers is consistent, high-performance residential Internet service as the subscriber base grows. A proactively managed network will ensure the @Home service can scale and grow appropriately with its subscriber base without compromising the user's @Home experience. New Services ONadvantage will allow provisioning of advanced services that were heretofore difficult or impossible to provide. Resource-intensive and constant-bit-rate applications, such as IP telephony, Internet radio, and video conferencing, are currently left entirely to the discretion of the user. This means a user can turn on an unmanaged, low-quality service and leave it running 24 hours a day, using proportionately more network resources than necessary (because it is a low-quality service) even when the user is not making use of the service (because it is unmanaged). With ONadvantage, new, high-quality services can be implemented with consistently high performance. @Home's Commitment to its Subscribers The @Home subscriber base is growing rapidly as more and more people sign up to enjoy the Internet over cable. @Home is aggressively deploying managed platform technologies to support that growth and offer a consistent and very high performance service to its subscribers. The technologies used range from standards-based (DOCSIS) modems to new proxy and router based technologies, developed and adapted through close R&D relationships with key partners. Subscriber needs across the service vary – some want secure connections to their corporate network, some want high-speed Web access only, while others require a committed bandwidth for streaming and real-time applications. ONadvantage enables @Home to meet its subscribers' varying needs for data networking services. It also provides the ability to provision and support new applications, dedicating resources and bandwidth to applications that are bandwidth and latency sensitive. With the launch of ONadvantage, @Home reconfirms its commitment to providing the fastest and highest quality broadband residential service available<<