Abovenet Communications, Inc.(ABOV)
homesite: above.net
Trailing 12 months revenues: $9,665,000
Quarter ended 3/99 revenues: $3,851,000
EPS for quarter ended 3/99: Actual (0.43) vs. Expected (0.47)
Shares outstanding used for quarterly results: 13,594,600
Chart with 50-day moving average:
tscn.com.
50-day moving average as of 4/29/99: ~$80.00
Good Summary of ABOV in the news:
boardwatch.internet.com
Summary of business:
AboveNet Communications, Inc. is a leading provider of Internet connectivity and
co-location
solutions for high bandwidth and business-critical Internet applications. AboveNet is the
architect
of the Internet Service Exchange (ISX) -- a world class network that provides
co-location
services and Internet connectivity for Content Providers and ISPs. The AboveNet
Global
One-Hop Network is designed to deliver fast, scalable and reliable connections to the
Internet
and improve the Internet experience for end-users. With its Tier 1 status and ISO 9002
certification, AboveNet is seeking to serve the global community of the Internet. It will
be connected to the Asian continent and to the European nation via fiberoptic
cables provided by GBLX, and it will be utilizing the fiberoptic network of
MFNX to create a web around large metropolitan areas.
source of following information: above.net
AboveNet Provides the Highest Quality of Internet Bandwidth
The reason AboveNet is the world's finest Co-location solution is because we not only
provide superior connectivity, facility and service, but also the highest quality bandwidth.
AboveNet NOC policy states that when we see a specific line utilization approaching
50% on the bandwidth monitor, we order more bandwidth or add more connections to
meet customer needs. That is one of the
methodologies we employ to guarantee non-congested Internet connectivity.
AboveNet's commitment to our customers can be easily verified by viewing AboveNet's
Internal and external bandwidth usage displayed on the Website bandwidth monitors.
Another major factor of AboveNet bandwidth quality is that your server and networking
equipment co-located at AboveNet are directly connected (1 hop) to the Internet
backbone. Compared with a T1 (1.544Mbps) dedicated leased line ordered from a
local ISP, the quality of a T1 (1.544Mbps) worth of bandwidth AboveNet provides is
guaranteed better because:
1. AboveNet customer server and networking equipment is “1 hop” from
the Internet, whereas a local ISP connection may be many hops
away from the Internet.
2. AboveNet provides ASAPTM asymmetric routing to correct packet
loss being experienced from any of our Internet connections. This
dynamic, pro-active management reduces congestion and increases
bandwidth throughput. Unfortunately, many local ISPs rely on their
upstream ISP for routing and backbone connectivity
3. AboveNet provides guaranteed bandwidth from 256Kbps to 100Mbps.
4. AboveNet provides bandwidth monitoring for each customer through
their own private linked statistical web page.
5. AboveNet, through economies of scale provides superior connectivity
redundancies, which cannot economically be duplicated by a local
ISP.
Also, Abovenet has over 250 peering relationships, a large margin more than
any competitor. An explanation of what this means:
Any ISP can peer with any other at AboveNet. The company has an Open NAP
policy. In
Cage 0, where AboveNet keeps its rack of equipment, there are two Cisco 7500s and
a
Catalyst 5000, among other equipment. At the Catalyst, the network connections of the
collocated content providers is terminated. By connecting a Cisco 2800 running OSPF
to the
Catalyst, ISPs are peered with each other and the content providers. In addition to
keeping with
the tradition of an open Internet, it also keeps local traffic from hitting the bottlenecks on
the
Internet at large - namely the MAEs and the NAPs.
If the company's only customers were ISPs, then peering wouldn't be all that effective.
The
beauty of this situation is that AboveNet's customers are both ISPs and content
providers. So,
whenever a customer ISP needs data fromLiquidAudio (www.liquidaudio.com), for
example,
the traffic never leaves AboveNet's 100 Mbps local area network. This is because
LiquidAudio
has its servers in the AboveNet facility.
In the far left corner of the eighteenth floor room is a large cage filled with racks upon
racks of
Sun Raid and Enterprise servers. These belong to Supernews (www.supernews.com), a
company that provides Usenet news service to ISPs. Most of its customers are
scattered
throughout the world, but those located at AboveNet enjoy the same advantages of
peering with
other ISPs and content providers. Their news feeds are provided directly from
Supernews, once
again on AboveNet's LAN, and never touch the Internet or the NAPs.
What is specifically happening now:
Abovenet has completed its common offering of shares to raise capital. Post
secondary shares outstanding will be approximately 16.5 million. Abovenet has just reported its
quarterly results(4/22/99). Abovenet is splitting its stock effective at the close of trading
May 7, 1999.
Latest S-1(off SEC pages) for ABOV regarding the secondary offering:
sec.gov.
Here is a nugget from the transcript:
Our customers include AT&T Solutions, CNET Download.com, e-Media, LLC,
Got.Net,
IntelliChoice, Inc., iXL, Inc., KDD America, Netscape Communications
Corporation
(acquired by America Online, Inc.), RealNetworks, Inc., RemarQ Communities,
Inc.
(formerly named Supernews, Inc.), WebMD, Inc. and The Web Zone, Inc.
And another:
USE OF PROCEEDS
The net proceeds from the sale of the 2,700,000 shares of common stock
offered
by us will be approximately $313.0 million assuming a public offering price of
$123.00 per share and after deducting the estimated underwriting discount and
estimated offering expenses payable by us. We will not receive any proceeds
from
the sale of shares by the selling stockholders.
We currently expect to use $56.0 million to $72.0 million of the net proceeds of
this offering for capital expenditures associated with our planned expansion of
our West and East Coast campuses. We also expect to use a significant amount
of
the net proceeds for the purchase of fiber optic capacity and related equipment.
In addition, we intend to use a portion of the net proceeds for strategic
investments in companies developing Internet service exchange facilities in
Europe and Asia.
The balance of the net proceeds of this offering will be used for working
capital and general corporate purposes. Although we may use a portion of the
net
proceeds for possible acquisitions of businesses or technologies that are
complementary to our business, there are no current plans in this regard. We
may, however, change the allocation of these proceeds in response to
developments or changes that affect our business, our industry. Our
management
may spend the proceeds from this offering in ways with which the stockholders
may not deem desirable. Pending use of the net proceeds for the above
purposes,
we plan to invest such funds in short-term, investment grade, interest-bearing
securities. We cannot predict that the proceeds will be invested to yield a
favorable return.
(Mr. Miller's only affiliation with Abovenet Communications, Inc is that of an individual
investor in Abovenet Communications, Inc.) |
