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

To: Clever Nick Name who wrote (8891)	5/1/1999 8:29:00 PM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Respond to of 29970

re: "Rather bad news about DOCSIS..." Along similar lines, ATT, will pursue circuit switched telephony, "...following in the footsteps of Cablevision, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable." [Thanks to Kenneth Phillips on the LM Thread] Message 9265203 See the follow-up post to the above for another view concerning ANTC and GIC movements. The article is copied below, for posterity. ================= from: zdnet.com "AT&T Move Signals Shift" By Karen J. Bannan April 28, 1999 2:25 PM ET When AT&T first purchased cable operator Tele-Communications Inc., local telephone access using Internet Protocol technology was high on the company's to-do list. However, as AT&T moves forward with its bid to acquire MediaOne Group, the IP telephony item seems to be crossed off that list - at least for now. The company announced it will instead embrace circuit-switched telephony, following in the footsteps of Cablevision, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable. The move signals a shift in strategy for AT&T. Earlier this year, the company struck a nonexclusive agreement with Cisco Systems and set-top manufacturer General Instrument to work on a plan for voice-over-IP that would leverage TCI's existing cable structure and its gateway into the home: the set-top box. In addition, according to sources close to the company, AT&T was planning IP telephony via cable modems and a stand-alone broadband telecomm interface (BTI). Circuit-switched telephony is the route that many cable operators are taking to make sure they don't get left behind with local cable telephony. "We made a conscious decision to go with circuit-switched," said David Pagliese, Cox's executive director of voice and bundling services. "Looking back, it was clearly the right decision. We don't have a firm date for IP telephony, and we really don't know when that technology is going to be there," he added - a statement echoed by AT&T Chief Executive C. Michael Armstrong. "We will implement [IP telephony] as it becomes proven," Armstrong said. Analysts also are looking toward the future for IP telephony, since most say the technology is at least three to four years away. "We don't see voice-over-IP being widely deployed until 2002," said Gerry Kaufhold, a senior analyst at Cahners In-Stat Group. Another analyst agreed. "The equipment isn't out there yet to scale to the test of hundreds of thousands of users," said Tom Jenkins, a senior consultant at TeleChoice, another industry research firm. "I think AT&T's initial plans were only announced because [IP telephony] was what everyone expected them to do. You go out and buy this cable infrastructure and you have to announce a way to leverage it," he said. [!!]