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Started by Missy Harvey
Thu, 27 Jul 2000 00:00
Faulkner Comm Flash 07/26/00 - (Part 2 of 2)
Author: Missy Harvey
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 00:00
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 00:00
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37289 bytes
---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Date: Thursday, July 27, 2000, 4:23 PM -0400 From: Faulkner Information Services <mailserver@faulknerinfo.com> To: ??? Subject: Faulkner Comm Flash 07/26/00 - (Part 2 of 2) Broadband/Cable Networking 3Com began shipping networking equipment that will allow owners of apartments, hotels and office buildings to offer high-speed Net access to their tenants. 3Com also announced partnerships with service providers, including Cincinnati Bell Telephone, which will offer property owners the ability to network their buildings and offer DSL connections and Web services. The technology will send voice, video and data over the building's regular phone lines. The initiative is part of 3Com's plans to revitalize the company after more than a year of stagnant revenue growth. AT&T Wireless is offering its Digital Broadband service in four new markets, following the launch of the service in Dallas-Fort Worth. The high-speed Internet and local telephone service is being offered to customers in Anchorage, Houston, Los Angeles, and San Diego. The company plans to expand its service to 40 markets by year's end 2002. Bell Atlantic is now offering subscribers to Intel's WebOutfitter service a free DSL modem and one month of Personal Infospeed DSL service. The offer also includes Bell Atlantic.net Internet access - a total combined value of $138.95. Cisco Systems forged a binding Memo of Understanding with Comcast Cable under which Cisco will provide cable networking components that enable delivery of broadband services to cable subscribers. Under the three-year agreement, Cisco will supply Comcast subscribers with the uBR7200 series Universal Broadband Router. Cisco also will be the primary supplier of dial access servers, WAN switches, and core routing equipment. In addition, Comcast launched a hard-wired interconnect that is expected to change the way advertisers and businesses control the cable communications in the Philadelphia area. Comcast MarketLink Philadelphia, formerly Philadelphia Interconnect, now enables advertisers to reach cable consumers over a wide area in one process. A hard-wired connect uses technology that allows advertisers to run commercials across a wide geographic market through a single point of entry. Cox Communications and Into Networks forged a deal that offers streaming software to Cox' high-speed Internet access customers. Through Into's content delivery platform, Cox customers will receive Internet access through CD-ROM software and other media eliminating time consuming downloads or installations. Consumers and small businesses will now have more choice from a more valuable broadband system. Initial deployments are planned for this summer in Omaha, Wichita, Virginia, and Oklahoma City. EarthLink expanded the availability of its self-install DSL services to customers in New York, Boston, the District of Columbia, Philadelphia, Seattle, Portland, Tampa/St. Petersburg, and Durham. Along with broadband partner Genuity, the company will offer the self-installs in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and northern New Jersey within the next month, with additional roll-outs planned for later this year. The kits include a DSL modem, Internet access software, and microfilters to separate voice and data messages along the copper wires. Electric Lightwave completed construction in the final three segments of its 3200-mile, long-haul fiber network. The network spans seven states and operated at OC-192 speeds. MCI WorldCom unveiled its initiative to expand its international data services offering and broaden its global footprint. By year-end, the company will extend frame relay service to 45 countries, broaden its ATM geographic footprint to reach 23 countries, and continue private line services in Europe and Asia in 26 countries. Sprint is expanding its ION services to Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, and Phoenix. The company's ION technology allows consumers to simultaneously use multiple telephone lines, videoconferencing, Internet, and local and long distance service over a single connection to the home. The service plan costs about $159 per month and includes unlimited Internet access and local calling and 750 minutes of domestic long distance. Additional long distance is $0.07 per minute and calls to other ION customers are free. Satellite Services BellSouth Entertainment (BLS) chose Pace Micro Technology Plc to provide advanced DVB digital satellite boxes for BellSouth's rollout into the satellite business. The digital satellite box includes a new highly integrated chip with an embedded 175 mips processor, 16-bit graphics capability and a software telco modem. Pace will provide an initial amount of 200,000 digital set-top boxes for the first year. Globalstar USA expanded its coverage areas to include Alaska and the North Atlantic. The company's expanded satellite service also covers portions of the north Pacific, parts of Greenland, and Iceland, and through agreements with Globalstar service providers in North America and Europe, provides calls along the main shipping line in the North Atlantic. In order to expand the coverage areas, Globalstar upgraded its gateway earth stations in North American and Europe. Also, as part of a promotional campaign to combat its struggling business, Globalstar cut the prices for Globalstar-compatible phones from $1499 to $1199. Customers subscribing to the company's Freedom 20 or 120 monthly plans can buy the phone for $699. Per-minute pricing was slashed to $1 per minute for 500 minutes from $1.39 per minute for 250 minutes. Lockheed Martin's joint venture, International Launch Services, won orders for the launch of 13 satellites from customers such as GE, Astrolink, Liberty Media, and Telecom Italia. The orders are worth over $1 billion and will include eight launches using Lockheed Martin's Atlas line of rockets. Internetworking Cisco Systems introduced three enhancements to its Cisco 7500 series high-end routers: the Versatile Interface Processor 4 (VIP4), the Route Switch Processor 8 (RSP8), and the MIX-Enabled Chassis. The company claims these enhancements greatly improve the capacity and performance of the Cisco 7500 series routers. 3Com plans to launch a networking system that uses existing copper-wire telephone lines to provide broadband Ethernet services to hotels, multitenant offices, and apartment and condominium complexes. The Visitor Community Network system will carry voice, video, and data packets over existing copper wires at speeds of 10M bps for up to 4000 feet without any infrastructure upgrades and without adding software to the user's desktop. Enterasys Networks announced the availability of Power~Suite 1.0. Developed through Enterasys' partnership with Cirilium, Power~Suite offers IP telephony and the convergence of voice, video, and data networks that meets both H.323 and MGCP industry standards to ensure interoperability. With Power~Suite, Enterasys combines network switches, routers, and professional services with media gateways, gatekeepers, and telephony software applications to create a convergence offering for the enterprise market. Network/Systems Management BMC Software reported the launch of PATROL for Prediction and Capacity Management, a systems management service that forecasts and corrects performance issues. This offering from the PATROL 2000 product line utilizes predictive modeling, which makes it possible to deliver stable IT performance and meet demanding SLAs. BMC also launched MAINVIEW Prediction, its updated S/390 performance management service. MAINVIEW Prediction is a family of three products: MAINVIEW Predict, Visualizer, and Application Analysis. Predict provides clear and definitive information on how applications are performing. Visualizer helps identify performance issues and trends automatically published on the Web. Application Analysis provides CICS-, DB2-, IMS- and MQ-based application performance details. Tivoli Systems will ship Ashley Laurent's VPCom client software with its IBM SecureWay Firewall for AIX to businesses that need direct client communication with a mainframe, AS/400, or other IPSec compliant gateway. Ashley Laurent's VPN client will enhance deployment, ease administration, and conveniently integrate with enterprise networks. Verizon Communications approved mPhase Technologies' central office POTS Splitter Shelf for deployment. The company reports that the POTS Splitter Shelf is designed to separate voice signals from data signals thereby eliminating the interference between telephone services and data frequencies. Security AXENT Technologies agreed to add its Enterprise Security Manager to the Nokia WAP server. With ESM, companies can find and secure Nokia WAP server operating system vulnerabilities. ESM's centralized management console customers can assess and manage the security of Nokia's WAP server. Computer Associates reported that protection for the updated versions of Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express are now available through CA's eTrust Security Solutions. To help curb the overflow exposure extant in the use of Outlook and Outlook Express, CA launched an updated virus signature for its InoculateIT service. In addition, CA updated its eTrust Intrusion Detection product to prevent new attacks. Novell launched the Novell Single Sign-on Bundle and NDS Authentication Services 3.0. These single sign-on applications are designed to reduce network support costs, enhance employee productivity, and improve security across business applications. Both applications run on operating systems that include Windows NT and 2000, NetWare, OS/390, Solaris, HP/UX, AIX, and Linux. RSA Security launched RSA Online, an e-commerce system that gives users the ability to connect with RSA via a range of Web-based services. RSA Online is part of RSA's e-business strategy to provide its customers and partners with interactive, personalized support over the Web. The service uses the same database used by RSA's staff to allow users to retrieve information such as order detail, order history, invoice detail, license information, and maintenance renewals. Storage Hewlett-Packard introduced Sun Solaris support for storage consolidation. Sun Solaris support is based on HP SureStore E XP Disk Arrays and HP SureStore E Tape Libraries. In addition, HP expanded its Open SAN initiative and enhanced its Web-based SAN management tools. IBM selected Qlogic to provide Fibre Channel adapters for IBM's Netfinity SAN initiative. Featured will be the QLogic QLA2200 Series, designed for Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Unix operating systems in multi-vendor environments. VERITAS Software launched the first phase of the VERITAS Exchange Initiative, a program focusing on backup/recovery, replication, disk management and SAN management. VERITAS' will start by launching the VERITAS Exchange Protection Suite for Workgroups, a Remote Storage offering for Microsoft Exchange designed to satisfy end-user demand for mailbox space. Regulatory News Worried that it may lead to excessive media power, the Walt Disney Co. suggested a split of the Time Warner/AOL merger into two separate entities. The merger was suggested in January 2000 and has received the approval of both the FCC and the shareholders of each company. It is expected to close by the end of the year. Disney is concerned that the merger will lead to dominance in the field of interactive television and is planning to present its proposal to the FCC by next week. In related merger news, Time Warner and AOL responded to regulators stating that the merged firm would continue to seek ways to provide service over as many distribution platforms as possible. These platforms include DSLs and satellite, as well as cable. AOL stated that the merger would not threaten alternative broadband technologies, such as DSLs, that compete with the cable industry. The letter also read that AOL and Time Warner are eager to form pacts with video programmers to customize AOLTV, a service aimed at bundling the Internet with television. AOL and Time Warner made it clear that the combined company will not require prioritized placement or promotion of its content on the customer's homepage if it carried an unaffiliated ISP. The European Union is expected to unveil plans that will force telecom companies to open up their local loops by the end of this year. The EU hopes that by unbundling the local loop, member countries will see an increase in broadband Internet access and will see more competition that will ultimately close the technology gap between the US and Europe. The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association will be imposing new health and safety guidelines for mobile phones beginning next month. The organization will require its members that produce mobile phones to reveal information concerning radiation levels produced by their products. The FCC approved a measure that will allow consumers to use the Internet to authorize the switching of their long distance provider. Consumers still have the option of alternative authorization and verification methods such as written requests. The new rule allows preferred carrier changes to be made electronically through the use of Internet Letters of Agency (LOAs). AT&T filed a motion with the PUC of Ohio requesting that the agency reconsider its mandate ordering Ameritech Ohio, Cincinnati Bell, GTE, and Sprint to suspend their price ceiling for intrastate access charges. In its ruling, the PUC suspended the mirroring policy that would have resulted in reduced access charges and froze the access rates of the local phone companies at their current level. AT&T said that the order effectively denies Ohio consumers about $17 million in lower in-state long distance rates this year. Senator Ernest Hollings (D-SC), currently best known for his proposed legislation that would that would prohibit companies defined as "owned" by foreign governments from buying US telecom companies, wasted no time in going on the offensive over the merger between Deutsche Telekom and VoiceStream Wireless. According to the Washington Post, he sent two letters signed by him and 29 other legislators opposing the deal to the FCC. Hollings also made a speech on the Senate floor, saying that the Telecom Act of 1996 was designed to deregulate the industry, and not hand over control of the country's telecom infrastructure to the German government. The German government owns 57 percent of Telekom, but the terms of the VoiceStream deal would dilute its stake to 45 percent. The Honduran government pushed back plans to sell a 51-percent stake in Empresas Hondurena de Telecocomunicaciones (Hondutel) until September 20, 2000. The sale was originally slated for July 31, 2000. The three companies interested in acquiring Hondutel--Telmex, France Telecom, and Telefonica-each asked for the delay because they are involved in acquisition negotiations elsewhere in the region. Hondutel hold monopoly status on the market until 2005. The US and Japanese governments were able to hammer out an agreement over NTT's interconnection rates, after months of disagreement and nine days of intense negotiations. NTT, one of the largest telecom operators in the world, will reduce rates in a two-part process. Over two years, the regional interconnection rates will be lowered by 50 percent, and its local interconnection rates by 20 percent. During the third year, the regional charges will be dropped an additional 16 percent, and the local charges will be reduced a further 2.5 percent. Both moves are expected to bolster competition and to save interconnecting carriers $2 billion. Patent offices in Europe and Japan upheld three of QUALCOMM's patents for features of its CDMA technology. The Japanese office confirmed a patent granted in Japan in 1998, and the European Patent Office upheld a patent for technology that increases capacity and a patent for a feature that monitors fax and modem connections. The FCC slapped Qwest Communications with a $1.5 million fine for switching consumers' long distance carrier without their permission. The agency said that Qwest agreed to make the payment following a series of slamming complaints filed against the company. Qwest also agreed to increase third-party verification of customer orders and to implement in-house financial penalties for slamming. In other news, the FCC adopted a law that requires carriers to submit a report twice a year on the number of complaints it receives about slamming. The European Union gave its approval to Telefonica's proposed $5.2 billion takeover of Endemol Entertainment Holding, a Dutch television production company. Financial News 3Com reported fiscal fourth-quarter fiscal 2000 earnings that reported its ongoing restructuring are on track to be completed by the end of its first fiscal quarter. 3Com reported a loss of $146.8 million, or $0.42 a share, compared with year-ago net income of $87.5 million, or $0.24. Revenues fell to $763.7 million from $1.24 billion for the same quarter of 1999. AT&T will invest $500 million over 5 years in Argentina. The company reports that they will build a network of fiber optic cable and wireless technology which will eventually connect 40 cities. For the second quarter 2000, AT&T's consolidated revenues were $16.2 billion, compared with $15.8 billion a year ago. Quarterly earnings for the AT&T Common Stock Group were $1.75 billion, or $0.53 per diluted share, compared to $1.59 billion, or $0.49 per diluted share. Sales of business services increased four percent to $7.1 billion. Consumer sales fell 7.2 percent to $5.0 billion. AT&T Wireless revenues were up nearly 32 percent to $2.5 billion. Diluted earnings per share for the unit were $0.06. The wireless group's revenues were fueled by the addition of 532,000 new subscribers; the group ended the quarter with nearly 12 million customers. Broadband sales increased 10.5 percent to $1.7 billion. AT&T Broadband signed up 400,000 new households in the quarter and now has two million digital customers - more than the rest of the industry combined. The unit also added 86,000 cable telephony customers in the quarter. BellSouth reported its record setting quarter two fiscal 2000 earnings per share of 56 cents, up 9.8 percent compared to 51 cents over the same quarter in 1999. Consolidated revenue was also up 9.8 percent to $6.8 billion. For the first quarter of fiscal 2001, Cabletron reported combined revenues for the four new companies, as well as from Cabletron's non-continuing legacy products, were $218.5 million. Actual net loss for the first quarter of fiscal 2001 was $37.9 million or $0.21 per diluted share. This loss includes costs of approximately $48.6 million ($31.0 million, net of tax) related to the transformation of the company. This compares to actual net loss of $22.5 million or $0.13 per diluted share in the first quarter of fiscal 2000. Computer Sciences Corporation announced it will re-file under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act in connection with its $16 per share tender offer for Mynd. The reason for re-filing is to allow the Federal Trade Commission more time to review the offer. Compuware reported that first quarter revenue was $513.9 million, an increase of 16 percent over $443.1 million last year. Net income was $34.3 million, or $0.09 per share, compared to $92.3 million, or $0.24 per share, a year ago. Opening bids on a Dutch UMTS cell phone auction were less than a quarter of the opening prices set by the government. The offers for the Dutch mobile telephone licenses totaled 101.1 million guilders, compared to the required offer for all UMTS licenses of 470 million guilders. EMC reported second quarter 2000 revenues of $2.15 billion, compared to $1.65 billion for the second quarter 1999. Net Income for the second quarter 2000 was $429 million, compared to $286 million for the same period in 1999. Diluted earnings per share were $0.19 for the quarter, compared to $0.13 for the second quarter of 1999. Entrust Technologies reported second quarter 2000 revenues of $29.3 million, compared to $19.8 million a year ago. Net income was $1.8 million, or $0.03 per share. Including acquisition-related costs, the company recorded a loss) of $28.9 million, or $0.54 per share. This compares to net income of $871,000 or $0.02 per share last year. ePresence posted second quarter 2000 revenues of $19.4 million, compared with revenues of $10.4 million for second quarter 1999, an increase of 85%. Net income for the second quarter 2000 was $3.6 million, compared with a net income of $4.1 million for the same period in 1999. Net loss was $1.1 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, compared with a net loss of $3.0 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 1999. Ericsson's first-half pre-tax profits rose to 18.6 billion Swedish crowns, or $2.05 billion. Sales for the half rose to 124.1 billion crowns, a 34 percent increase. The company also announced that its earnings for the second quarter 2000 quadrupled with the increased earnings coming from the company's wireless network equipment business. Net income was $1.1 billion and sales increased to $7.4 billion. Global Crossing filed an amendment to its registration statement with the SEC to cover the IPO of its GlobalCenter group stock. Net proceeds from the offering will go to the GlobalCenter group to finance its planned domestic and international expansion. IBM posted second-quarter 2000 revenues of $21.7 billion, compared with $21.9 billion a year ago. Diluted earnings were $1.06 per share, compared with 1999 diluted earnings of $1.28 per share. Second-quarter 2000 net income was $1.9 billion, compared with $2.4 billion for the same period in 1999. Lucent Technologies posted third quarter 2000 revenues of $8.7 billion, compared to $7.2 billion last year. Net income was $1 billion, or $0.30 per share, compared to $732 million, or $0.23 per share, a year ago. Lucent pointed to strong growth in its data networking, optoelectronics, and wireless businesses as a factor in its success for the quarter. Within the next two weeks, MediaOne shareholders will receive either cash or stock as a result of the completed merger with AT&T. Shareowners requesting the cash option will receive a combination of approximately $39 in cash plus .8955 shares of AT&T common stock for each MediaOne share owned. Those requesting the stock option will receive 1.4912 shares of AT&T stock plus $8.50 in cash for each share of MediaOne stock they hold. All together, AT&T is issuing 606 million shares of common stock, paying $23 billion on cash, and expects to have about five million shareholders in total. Micromuse reported third quarter 2000 revenues of $32.9 million, compared with revenues of $15.4 million for the third quarter in 1999, an increase of 113%. Net Income was $4 million, or $0.10 per share on a diluted basis. This compares with a net income of $2.4 million, or $0.07 per share on a diluted basis, for the third quarter of 1999. For the first quarter ended June 30, 2000, Mitel's revenues reached $328.8 million, a six-percent increase from $311.2 million for the same period last year. Net income for the quarter was $21.5 million, or $0.18 per share, compared to a net loss of $4.6 million, or $0.05 per share in the first quarter fiscal 2000. The increase in revenue stems as a result of Mitel's Semiconductor business in broadband, subscriber access, and optical components. Motient filed to sell around $600 million shares of its stock at intermittent periods in the near future. The company will use the proceeds to expand its wireless business and to pay off debts. Motorola reported both record sales and record earnings from continued operations in its financial results for the second quarter 2000. Sales reached $9.3 billion, a 22 percent increase from $7.6 billion in the same quarter in 1999, and earnings increased 91 percent, reaching $515 million, or $0.23 per share, compared to $269 million, or $0.13 per share. The company experienced improved profits and sales growth with its Broadband Communications and Network Systems segments, and much of the increase in sales came from its Semiconductor Products Segment. Network Associates reported second quarter 2000 results. Revenue, including McAfee.com, was $233.7 million, compared to $25.2 million last year. Net income was $11.4 million, or $0.08 per share. This compares to a loss of $195.8 million, or $1.41 per share, a year ago. Nextel Communications reported revenues of $1.2 billion for the second quarter 2000, compared to $793 million for the same quarter in 1999. Net loss was $241 million, down from a loss of $268 million, and loss per share were $0.38 per share, compared to a loss of $0.52 per share. NTT Communications extended the tender offer for Verio to July 28. In Ma, NTT agreed to buy 90 percent of the Web site manager for $5.5 billion and is now tendering Series A 6.75 percent convertible preferred stock. Before extending the offer, it was to expire by midnight on July 14. PictureTel will not meet its fiscal 2000 quarter two expectations. The company reported that it expects revenues to be between $58 - $61 million and a net loss of approximately $.73 - $.83 per share. QUALCOMM reported that its third quarter 2000 revenues dropped to $713.5 million from $1.0 billion in the third quarter 1999. Net income increased to $154.7 million, compared to $58.9 million, and earnings per share jumped to $0.21 per share from $0.10 per share. For the second quarter, Qwest Communications' revenues were up 47 percent to $1.28 billion. Data and Internet growth fueled the increase and accounted for about 33 percent of the company's total revenues. Profits for the quarter, excluding costs related to the US WEST merger, were $39.7 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, compared to profits of $18.5 million, or $0.02 per share, for the same quarter last year. The results are independent of US WEST's earnings because the merger was completed on the last day of the quarter. Qwest will report consolidated results for the third quarter. US WEST generated second-quarter revenues of $3.45 billion, a 6.9 percent increase over last year's results. Profits increased to $447 million, or $0.87 per share, compared to $406 million, or $0.80 per share. Rogers Communications announced that revenues increased 15.5 percent over results from the previous year to C$871.65 million. Net loss was C$13.6 million, or C$0.11 loss per share, compared to a net gain of C$40.6 million, or C$0.19 gain per share. SBC Communications reported an increase of .seven percent in its second quarter fiscal year 2000 profits. Compared to 1999's quarter two profits of $1.91 billion, or 55 cents a share, the profits are now $1.92 billion, or 56 cents a share; these figures are slightly ahead of analysts' predictions of 55 cents per share. Net income fell $1.85 billion or 54 cents a share, compared with $1.94 billion, or 56 cents a share, in 1999. For the second quarter ended June 30, Sprint reported consolidated net operating revenues of $5.79 billion, a 19 percent increase from $4.89 billion in the same quarter last year. Sprint FON Group revenues increased five percent in the quarter to $4.43 billion from $4.20 billion. FON operating income was $926 million compared to $821 million. Diluted earnings per share increased 20 percent to $0.67 from $0.56, excluding a one-time $0.03 gain related to the sale of a directory publishing operation. Sprint PCS reported net customer additions of 883,000, a 43 percent increase over the second quarter of 1999. PCS revenue was up 23 percent from t he previous quarter to $1.2 billion. The unit reported a $0.46 loss per share, compared to a $0.62 per share loss a year ago. Sprint ION's after tax losses were $0.12 per share for the quarter compared with a loss of $0.06 per share. Symantec reported first quarter 2001 revenues of $191.4 million, compared to $162.7 million a year ago. Net income was $38.4 million, or $0.63 per share, compared to $22.6 million, or $0.40 per share, last year. Strong enterprise market sales and continued international growth were touted as factors in Symantec's success this quarter. Tellabs reported second quarter 2000 revenues of $800.7 million, compared to $541.3 million a year ago. Net income was $162.7 million, or $0.39 per share, compared to $122.1 million, or $0.29 per share, last year. Time Warner reported a profitable second quarter ended March 31, 2000, for its cable and publishing markets. Overall revenues were $7.08 billion, a seven-percent increase from $6.53 billion in the previous year. Net income was $75 million, or $0.05 per share, compared to $593 million, or $0.43 per share in 1999. Verizon is building a wholesale services facility in Chesapeake, Va., which is scheduled to open August 8, 2000. There has been great demand from wholesalers in the mid-Atlantic region and the new facility will be able to help fulfill the large amount of orders in the region. t Legal News The Association of Communications Enterprises (ASCENT) reported to the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy (DTE) that Bell Atlantic - Massachusetts did not abide by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 stating that the company must open its local markets to meaningful competition. The dates that bids may be placed for an auction of GST Telecommunications' assets was extended to August 22; the original date was August 4. General Electric's NBC network raised concerns stemming from the upcoming merger between Time Warner and AOL. In a letter to the FCC, NBC warned that the merger could create an all-powerful company that would have the ability to control the free flow of content through technology. Like Disney, NBC is concerned that its content would not be fairly distributed on AOL. Representatives from both AOL and Time Warner insist that the concerns of Disney and NBC will not have any effect on the close of the merger. WorldCom, Sprint, and AT&T are being sued by several states for running ads that the states claim are false and misleading. Connecticut filed suit against Sprint. WorldCom is being sued by California, Connecticut, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, and New Jersey. Connecticut, Idaho, and Maine are suing AT&T. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is seeking civil penalties and an injunction to prevent the companies from broadcasting the "deceptive" ads in the state. The California complaint against WorldCom is seeking $20 million in restitution for unfair business practices, which also includes slamming. The FCC slapped WorldCom with a $3.5 million fine just five weeks ago for illegally switching customers. In the suits, the state attorneys general claim that the companies' long distance rates are much higher than advertised due to hidden costs or regulations not disclosed to consumers. Personnel and Organizational Changes Aprisma Management Technologies appointed Brenda Hanson as Chief Information Officer and Vice President, Information Technology to their executive management team. Hanson brings over 19 years of technical experience with her to the Aprisma management team. After fifteen years as BellSouth State President, Joe Anderson retired concluding a 34 year career with the company. BellSouth promoted Harry M. Lightsey III, senior attorney for BellSouth's customer markets group, to corporate officer and Anderson's replacement. BellSouth and SBC have chosen the executive team and headquarters for the new wireless company formed from the merger of their wireless operations. Headquarters of the new company will be located in Atlanta, Ga. Stephen Carter, president of SBC Wireless, will ne president and chief operating executive; Mark Feidler, president of BellSouth's domestic wireless operations, will be chief operating officer; and Rick Lindner, chief operating officer for SBC Wireless, will be named chief financial officer of the combined wireless company. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP officer Michael McDonnell has been named the new chief financial officer of EchoStar Communications. McDonnell succeeds Steven Schaver who was promoted to President of EchoStar International. As CFO, McDonnell will oversee all of EchoStar's accounting, finance, and administrative functions. Enterasys Networks elected Bruce Kay to lead the company's financial operations, effective immediately. As Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Kay is responsible for strategic financial planning, business development, accounting and transaction processing, investor relations, and SEC and tax reporting. IBM reported that Samuel J. Palmisano was named president and chief operating officer of the company. Mr. Palmisano will report to IBM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. His responsibilities will include managing IBM's operating units and integrating and accelerating IBM's next-generation Internet and wireless technologies. ICO-Teledesic Global named Greg Clarke CEO. Clark was the CEO of Cable &Wireless in the UK and brings his knowledge of international telecommunications, including data, broadband, and wireless, to ICO-Teledesic. Lucent Technologies plans to spin off its microelectronics unit, which includes the company's optoelectronics components and integrated circuits divisions. The split will allow the unit to function independently from Lucent and to distinguish itself in the communications semiconductor market. In addition, Lucent will be able to focus on its Internet infrastructure strategies. Lucent will make an IPO for up to 20 percent of the new company by the end of the first quarter of 2001. The spin-off is expected to be completed by summer 2001. Michael Inglese was named senior vice president and CFO by PanAmSat. Inglese comes from DirecTV and now reports to PanAmSat president and CEO R. Douglas Kahn. Inglese replaces Kenneth Heintz, who will head Hughes Electronics' mergers and acquisitions activities. The board of directors at Williams approved a plan to split its communications business from its energy unit. Separating the two unit is expected to allow each business to take better advantage of opportunities within their specific industry. Williams expects the move to be completed within 18 months. Mark Spagnolo, the CEO of WorldCom's Internet backbone and data services division UUNET, is leaving the company to take the helm of SiteSmith. SiteSmith, in business since last October, manages other companies' Web sites. Rachael Alessandro ---------- Com-Flash is a biweekly news summary for Faulkner subscribers For information about your subscription call Faulkner at (800) 843-0460 or (856) 662-2070 fax: (856) 662-0905 e-mail: faulkner@faulkner.com Visit FaulknerWeb at http://www.faulkner.com/ Faulkner Information Services 114 Cooper Center 7905 Browning Road Pennsauken, New Jersey 08109 Copyright 2000. Faulkner Information Services. [return to top of this report] Should you have any questions, concerns or problems with your flash, please contact us at: mailto:flash@faulkner.com ---------- End Forwarded Message ----------
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