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To: pat mudge who wrote (10808)	4/15/1999 6:44:00 AM
From: Glenn McDougall	Respond to of 18016

Telecom industry hears tough message at conference 'Dinosaur dance': Inconsistencies between what industry preaches and what it practises Simon Avery Financial Post SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - The telecommunications industry is hearing a difficult message these days. On one hand, technology is creating unprecedented opportunities for new wealth, and money is pouring into the telecommunications industry as firms rush to capitalize on quadruple digit growth in the data transmission market. On the other hand, to capitalize requires drastic change, not a traditional trademark of the giant telecom companies. In the middle are the consumers, who hear how converged networks and ubiquitous connectivity will change their lives and wait patiently for further details. But the reality on display at a global communications forum here this week is that investment and technology are outpacing individuals' natural willingness to adapt. The three-day conference virtually took over The Phoenician, one of the most exclusive hotels in the city, where rooms run between $300 and $400 (all figures in U.S. dollars) a night. On Monday evening, close to 700 delegates and spouses piled into a fleet of 90 white stretch limos for a night on the town. The costs, paid mostly by the conference host, Andersen Consulting, are not out of line for an industry where upstart companies, such as Qwest Communications Inc. and Level 3 Communications, are spending billions to build fibre-optic networks, and in doing so have managed to amass market capitalizations in excess of $27-billion in just a few years. The incumbent telephone and cable firms, meanwhile, are spending billions to upgrade their own networks to carry converged voice, video and data, and thousands of dollars per customer to add Internet subscribers to the faster links. Time Warner Inc., for example, is spending somewhere between $600 and $700 a home just to lay upgraded cable out front. The cost of actually signing one of those homes up to high speed Internet access is even higher. But as the industry throws money around lavishly and hypes the merits of broadband networks, its leaders cannot clearly articulate exactly where the revolution of convergence is taking the customer or how they will differentiate their products and services, which are moving towards commoditization. Many executives in fact don't use the technology themselves and some even believe that finding a use for it is somebody else's problem. Author and futurist Frank Feather accused the giant cable and telecom firms of being dragged into the broadband business and once on the floor doing nothing more than a "dinosaur's dance" with each other, out of touch and insensitive to consumer needs. His charge was bolstered somewhat when Carl Rossetti, executive vice-president of Time Warner Cable, admitted that he had never made an online purchase because he is afraid of credit card fraud. This startling confession by the head of one of the largest broadband players in the world led to a quick audience survey, which revealed that nearly half of the telecom officials present, from all over the world, also had never shopped online. John Sidgmore, vice-chairman & chief operating officer of MCI WorldCom Inc., did one of the best jobs of trying to articulate how a world tethered to the Internet would change everyday lives, predicting a proliferation of connected computer devices, from pagers and watches to reading glasses. But Mr. Sidgmore's company is the only one of the large U.S. telecoms not to have a wireless network, essential for the next generation of products he described. Indeed, until a very short time ago, MCI WorldCom said it saw no need to acquire wireless capabilities. The inconsistencies between what the telecom industry preaches and what its executives actually practise were also on display just outside the conference hall, where organizers had set up two high-speed Internet terminals. A few executives checked share prices in the morning, but the far more popular spot was a few metres away at two old-fashion notice boards where about 50 messages had been posted for various delegates. Unfortunately, those pulling wafer-thin portable phones off their belts to respond were regularly stymied by the limitations of their own industry's technology. Dozens of executives walked the outdoor courtyard between breaks, trying to get a clear signal. Many others simply dropped 35¢ into old fashioned pay phones. Peter Georgescu, who as chairman and chief executive of the advertising and consulting firm Young & Rubicam Inc., has helped set the standard for global branding across many industries, warned the telecom executives present that to be successful in the future, they will need to stop thinking in terms of just piping and plumbing and start selling "intellectual capital" -- something that requires a deeper understanding of customer needs and also, presumably, the content they are using.

To: pat mudge who wrote (10808)	4/15/1999 7:18:00 AM
From: Glenn McDougall	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18016

FastLane takes off in Halifax JoAnn Napier The Ottawa Citizen What's in a name? In the case of FastLane Technologies Inc. -- which has managed to detour around the high-tech highways of Toronto and other Ontario IT bunkers -- the answer is: more than a touch of irony. Halifax-based FastLane is, in fact, a transplanted Ottawa company. The move to Atlantic Canada was made possible by a $10-million, fully repayable loan from partner Newbridge Networks Corp. (which purchased 25 per cent of FastLane in late 1996.) Eric Kitchen, 30, executive vice-president of research and development, is an Ottawa-born technology entrepreneur who founded the company in 1993 along with David Sequin, now FastLane's executive vice-president of enterprise solutions. They were a couple of frustrated public servants who had the insight to spot a commercial opportunity in the work they were doing for the federal communications department. And they had the savvy to act on that insight -- borrowing from family to develop "the DM (directory management) Suite" of seven software products, which enables clients to manage large networks of NT servers. In 1996, when the company was deciding where to move their headquarters, FastLane employed just six people. By January 1999, the payroll had bloomed to 119. Seventy of these employees are now based in Halifax, with the remainder in satellite offices scattered across North America -- in Ottawa, Washington, D.C., Dallas, New York City and Boston. (FastLane plans to open another two offices -- including one in Los Angeles -- this year.) The company focuses almost exclusively on American, European and Australian clients. Its software is geared to solving problems created when you start connecting numerous servers together -- so we're talking big organizations with major directory management needs. And there's no denying the impressive client list: Nike, Compaq, IBM Global Services, the U.S. Marine Corps, several Fortune 500 companies. But when your roster is this broad and your corporate ambitions this aggressive, why grow your company in Atlantic Canada? During a recent sojourn in Halifax, the answers became more obvious than they appear from a Hogtown perch. This is a region rich in universities and where the cost of doing business is comparatively modest. There are obvious quality-of-life considerations, but more to the point, Atlantic Canada offers IT companies competitive advantages that are hard to come by in larger urban centres: lower operating costs, lower overhead and lower personal income tax. While the human resource pool is not huge, it's large enough. Better still, it's a group loyal to the area -- a huge plus in an industry facing constant brain-drain pressures. Judging from some of the company FastLane is keeping down there -- including heavyweight players like Cisco Systems and SHL Systemhouse -- Atlantic Canada's slow lane seems to have its IT payoffs.