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Today's report from Web Editor
Susan Rush
• Broadcom Buys Again
• Covad Cuts Staff By 13%
• ADC & Syndeo Demo Carrier-Class VoIP
• The Western Show In Brief
• Broadband Briefs
Broadcom Buys Again Broadcom
Corp. continues its shopping spree with the acquisition of VisionTech
for $776.6 million. The company plans to exchange 7.96 million Class A
shares for the Herzliya, Israel-based chipmaker.
VisionTech makes encoding chips that enable set-top boxes to
offer personal video recording, interactive videoconferencing and
Internet-protocol video streaming services. Motorola
Inc., Scientific-Atlanta Inc.
and ReplayTV Inc. are among the
set-top box makers that use VisionTech's chips. Broadcom plans to use
VisionTech's technology across its product lines for applications ranging
from distributed video over home networking to IP video streaming over the
Internet, according to company president Dr. Henry Nicholas III. The
installed base of PVR-enabled set-top boxes is expected to reach 8 million
units by 2003, according to research from Cahners
In-Stat Group, a sister company to Broadband Week.
Among Broadcom's most recent deals, are the acquisitions of
processor chipmaker SiByte Inc.,
switching technology chipmaker Allayer
Communications, optical communications chipmaker NewPort
Communications, semiconductor company Silicon
Spice and Digital Furnace, a
supplier of communications algorithms and software for interactive services
over broadband networks.
Following the news of its latest conquest, Banc of America
Sec reiterated Broadcom as a "Strong Buy." The silicon solutions
provider's shares fell 3.3 percent to $94.25 during early morning
trading.
Related Stories:
Broadcom
Buys SiByte, BroadbandWeek Direct, 11/6/00
Broadcom
Goes For Buy No. 10, BroadbandWeek Direct, 10/18/00
Covad Cuts Staff By 13%
Covad
Communications Group Inc.'s stock price tumbled 9.2 percent to $2.47 as
of 12:20 p.m. EST following the news that the company plans to cut operating
costs by slashing nearly 400 jobs. The DSL provider believes the move will
help it meet a targeted 2001 cost savings of 20 to 30 percent.
In addition to the workforce reduction, Covad
plans to hold the expansion of its nationwide network to just over 2,000
central offices, and canceling the build-out of a third operations facility
in Alpharetta, Ga. "Getting control of our costs and headcount is
imperative to meet [our profitability] goal," says Chuck McGinn,
chairman of Covad.
November has been a bit of a rough month for
Covad; the company was forced to reduce its Q3 earnings to $56.3 million,
down from the $66.7 million reported last month, following the addition of
five more delinquent ISPs to its growing list of companies unable to
pay their bills. The company's head honcho Robert Knowling also handed in
his resignation -- a move that was deemed as in the "best
interest" of the company.
Related Stories:
Covad
CEO Hangs It Up, BroadbandWeek Direct, 11/1/00
Covad
Reduces Earnings By $10.4M, BroadbandWeek Direct, 11/16/00
The Latest News From The Western Show:
Syndeo And ADC To Demonstrate
Carrier-Class VoIP
ADC and Syndeo
Corp. will showcase a cable-based Voice over IP solution at ADC's
Western Show booth this week in Los Angeles. The companies are touting their
solution as an alternative to existing residential voice services from
traditional telcos. The system combines Syndeo's IP-enhanced residential
voice services with ADC's Cuda 1200 IP Access Switch and the ADC Broadband
Telephony Interface. "All features are customizable by individual
subscribers via intuitive Web- and Palm-based 'portals' into Syndeo's
provisioning system," according to the two companies.
Based on the success of these interoperability
tests, the companies will collaborate on future sales efforts to deliver
voice-over-broadband solutions to MSOs.
Related Stories:
Internet
Backbones Grow Bigger And Better, Broadband Week, 11/00
Western
Show Focus, Broadband Week, 11/00
The Western Show In Brief
Several companies will be showcasing their
products and technologies this week at the Western Show in Los Angeles. BroadbandWeek
Direct will bring you the latest news and product information each day
live from the show. Below is a glimpse of our daily coverage. For complete
show happenings go to www.broadbandweek.com/western/webday1.htm
Interlink
Electronics and PowerTV will
showcase the IntuiTouch broadband remote control. The remote features a pad
centric user interface that enables one-touch control of programming guides,
on-screen menus gesture control of entertainment devices, text entry without
a keyboard and support for telephony applications.
Scientific-Atlanta
Inc. has expanded the capabilities of its Explorer set-top boxes. The
set-tops are customized for all tiers of digital TV, including the ability
to operate from a single-based digital network. This enables cable operators
to deploy various set-top boxes in a single system and deliver a variety of
interactive television services.
Chyron Corp.
launches two new divisions: Chryon Interactive and Chyron Streaming Services
Division. The company plans to demonstrate its interactive technology in the
Microsoft booth.
Alopa Networks
teams with Terayon Communication Systems
Inc. to deliver an all-inclusive solution for providing tiered services
and self-provisioning capabilities for MSOs. As part of the deal and to
ensure interoperability between future products, Alopa will have access to
Terayon's equipment, while Terayon will have access to Alopa's software.
Alopa plans to demonstrate MetaServ with a Terayon headend during the
show.
Broadband Briefs:
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AT&T Corp. names David
Dorman as its new president, a position left vacant after Tony Werner's
departure in September. Dorman was most recently head of AT&T's
international joint venture with British
Telecommunications.
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North American Telecom
selects Jetstream Communications'
broadband voice services platform to deliver bundled voice and data services to
business and government customers in select metropolitan areas in New York,
Florida, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
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Advanced Fibre Communications Inc.
inks a $10 million, three-year deal to supply remote broadband access equipment
to Alaska Communications Systems Group Inc.
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UtiliCorp. Communications
Services invests in Prairie iNet to help expand the delivery of broadband
Internet services in rural areas.
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U.K.-based Kingston
Communications plans to spin off its DSL business into two separate
companies in order to the limit cost of rolling out nationwide services.
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