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Friday, October 4, 2002 |
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• Insight swaps systems with AT&T Broadband • Com21 shares up a penny on forecast • S-A unveils new WebSTAR cable modem • Alpha makes Cable Center donation • Nortel Networks breaks down into four units
Insight swaps systems with AT&T Broadband Insight Midwest and AT&T Broadband have agreed to swap some customers. The deal calls for Insight Midwest to exchange 13,000 Georgia customers and $25 million in cash for 23,000 of AT&T Broadband's customers in Indiana and Kentucky. Insight Midwest is a 50-50 joint venture owned by Insight Communications and AT&T Broadband. Insight manages the company, which serves roughly 1.3 million customers in mostly concentrated in Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Insight Midwest was created in January 2001 to accelerate the launch of interactive digital cable services and high-speed Internet access. As part of Thursday's agreement, Insight Communications has agreed to manage AT&T Broadband's remaining systems in Kentucky and Indiana through June 2003. After the exchange, these systems will serve roughly 94,000 customers. The companies expect the deal, which is subject to certain customary closing conditions and regulatory review, to close sometime during the first quarter in 2003. Related story:
The Street was relatively unmoved by Com21 Inc.'s announcement that its third-quarter guidance will fall in line with previous estimates. The company's shares were up a penny in early trading. The broadband access systems provider expects Q3 revenue to fall in the range of $11 million to $12 million, which meets an earlier guidance of between $10 million and $13 million. Without providing specifics, the company says headend and ATM modem shipments will be down from the numbers posted in the second quarter. The company believes the declines in these sectors will be offset by its DOCSIS modem shipments which more than doubled compared to the second quarter. Com21 plans to announce full results for the third quarter after market close on Oct. 22. Company President and CEO George Merrick says it is still a very difficult time in the marketplace. In the second quarter, Com21 shipped 57,000 DOCSIS modems, which was down 47 percent from the modems shipped in the first quarter. Basically, the company has pumped up its shipments to bring it to a level it was at two quarters ago. Com21's DOXport 1110XB cable modem recently received DOCSIS 1.1-certification from CableLabs. Earlier this week, the company announced its stock moved to the Nasdaq SmallCap Market, effective Oct. 1. The company requested to be moved from the Nasdaq National Market after it received a notice from Nasdaq that its stock did not meet the minimum $1.00 bid price requirement. The company has until Dec. 3 to comply with the $1.00 bid price requirement. The stock will continue to trade under the symbol CMTO. As of 10:28 a.m. EDT, Com21 shares were trading at 14 cents. In July, Com21 hired Investec Inc. to evaluate its strategic and business alternatives. Related stories:
S-A unveils new WebSTAR cable modem The latest WebSTAR cable modem offering from Scientific-Atlanta Inc. will upgradeable to DOCSIS 2.0, the company says. The WebSTAR DPX2100 will be upgradeable to DOCSIS 2.0 via a software download, according to S-A. The DPX2100, which recently received DOCSIS 1.1 certification, incorporates the Broadcom BCM3348 DOCSIS/Euro-DOCSIS 2.0 capable cable modem integrated circuit (IC). The IC enables the delivery of A-TDMA (Advanced Frequency Agile Time Division Multiple Access) and S-CDMA (Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) modulation modes, which are needed to meet DOCSIS 2.0 certification and functionality requirements. The BCM3348 combines a DOCSIS 1.0/1.1/2.0-based media access controller with A-TDMA and S-CDMA advanced physical layer technology, including on-chip analog-to-digital converters, power amplifiers and voltage regulators. Motorola Inc.'s SB4300 also has been certified with the BCM3348 chipset. The DOCSIS 2.0 specification was finalized in January and is now in the interoperability phase. DOCSIS 2.0 is an advanced physical layer addition to modem functions. The spec can increase upstream bandwidth for cable modems to 30 megabits per second — three times that of DOCSIS 1.1 units. The DPX2100 will be available for cable modem trials by the end of the year. During the fourth quarter, S-A shipped 272,000 WebSTAR cable modems, the company said in July. Related stories:
National broadband service provider Speakeasy is launching another promotion to attract customers. The latest: the company is giving a free iPod to every new business DSL or T-1 subscriber. The MP3 player holds 1,000 songs and has a battery life of 10 hours. "This promotion allows us to introduce new customers to our broadband services and to a device and passion that is such a natural extension of broadband usage," says Mike Apgar, Speakeasy CEO. To receive the $299 MP3 player, new subscribers must sign up by the end of October. After the subscriber's service is installed and the first month's payment is received, the iPod will be shipped to the customer. Last month, Speakeasy had its eye on the gamers. The company offered new subscribers that signed up for one of Speakeasy's broadband gaming packages a free gaming console from either Sony or Microsoft. Related story:
Alpha makes Cable Center donation Alpha Technologies Inc. is trying to give a little back to the industry through a $500,000 donation to The Cable Center. The company has donated the money to The Center's Telecommunications Equipment Campaign. The Cable Center has a goal of raising $10 million to purchase audio and video equipment and other technological equipment. "We consider our contribution to The Cable Center a small token of appreciation to a great legacy," said Alpha Founder and Chairman Fred Kaiser in a prepared statement. Alpha provides outdoor power supplies made for the coaxial cable TV, hybrid/fiber coax broadband and other multi-service communications networks.
Nortel Networks breaks down into four units
Struggling Canadian telecom equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp. said Thursday it would shift its organization into these four business groups in an attempt to streamline: wireless, wireline, enterprise and optical networks. For the last several quarters, Nortel's reporting business segments were metro and enterprise, wireless, optical and other. In conjunction with the reorganization, Frank
Plastina, president of Nortel's metro and enterprise division, has
decided to leave the firm.
• Trilogy promotes Parks Dennis Parks has been promoted to vice president of domestic sales at Trilogy Communications Inc. He has been part of the Trilogy team since March 1998 and has held various sales positions. At his new post, Parks will manage the company's customer service and shipping departments and oversee activities related to domestic cable TV and wireless market sales. • Foundry Networks releases preliminary results Foundry Networks Inc. expects to post third-quarter revenue in the range of $75 million to $77 million. Earnings per share are forecast to fall between 4 cents and 6 cents. The company will post full-quarter results on Oct. 23. • IP Unity wins contract in China UTStarcom has selected IP Unity Inc. to deploy its MediaXpress MXP1070 system-on-chip in UTStarcom's iPAS networks in various regions in China. The MediaXpress MXP1070 converts TDM traffic to IP. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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