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Faulkner Comm Flash 07/26/00 - (Part 2 of 2)
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Author: Missy Harvey
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 00:00
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---------- 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

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