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Date: Tuesday, August 15, 2000, 3:37 PM -0400
From: Faulkner Information Services <mailserver@faulknerinfo.com>
To: ???
Subject: Faukner Comm Flash 08/14/00 - (Part 1 of 2)




Com

Flash

Copywrite 2000, Faulkner Information Services. All Rights Reserved. 




Publication Date: August 10, 2000





Preview
Com-Flash is a biweekly news summary covering computer systems and
software, and vendors. This flash covers the period July 27, 2000 to August
10, 2000. 




Top of the News
Verizon Communications agreed to merge its broadband DSL operations with
NorthPoint Communications, a data CLEC. The merged operations will conduct
business under the NorthPoint name. In making this move, Verizon gains
access to Blast, NorthPoint's broadband content delivery platform, as well
as access to markets outside its normal operating region. NorthPoint gains
a powerful ally in Verizon, which also agreed to invest $800 million in the
CLEC in connection with the deal. NorthPoint shareholders will receive one
share in the new NorthPoint and $2.50 cash for each one of their shares in
the old company. NorthPoint CEO and president Liz Fetter will remain at the
helm of the company once the merger is complete. 




Mergers/Acquisitions
In a cash acquisition worth approximately $200 million, ADC completed its
buy of Centigram Communications. Centigram will no longer be traded on the
Nasdaq Market effective immediately. Centigram shareholders will be
informed of the means of exchanging stock certificates for cash. 

To expand its coverage areas along the Gulf Coast, ALLTEL agreed to buy
SBC's wireless properties in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, LA. The company
is paying $400 million for the two properties and is adding 160,000
wireless and 300,000 paging subscribers to its customer base. The agreement
also includes rural markets in Iberville, St. James, and Plaquemine
parishes. 

AT&T completed the acquisition of the US Cellular wireless system on the
Big Island of Hawaii, enhancing its wireless network footprint in Hawaii.
The AT&T Wireless system on the Big Island encompasses a population of
141,000 and is currently operated under the US Cellular trade name. 

Bell Canada agreed to sell its 20-percent stake in KG Telecom to Koo's
Group, the parent company of KG, for T$15 billion, or T$50 per share. This
move will boost the Taiwanese Koo's stake in KG from 40 percent to 60
percent. 

BMC Software completed its acquisition of OptiSystems Solutions. The
acquisition strengthens BMC's existing offerings for SAP R/3 management,
the transactional backbone for many e-business systems. The first offering
is an integrated service that allows PATROL users to access OptiSystems'
Energizer Performance Management Environment (PME) for R/3.

Zoom Telephonics acquired assets of Boca Research's Boca Global analog
modem business subsidiary. This finalization quickens Boca's transition
from the analog modem business to software and engineering design services. 

British Telecom is mulling a de-merger of its UK network business,
according to the Financial Times. The separation would allow the group to
focus on its UK retail activities and overseas assets without having to
contend with the tough regulation now applies to the whole organization.
BT's CEO Peter Bonfield said the company plans to make a decision by the
end of the year. 

The Bulgarian government ended talks with KPN and OTE over a sale of
state-owned telco BTC. The government said that it ended the talks because
legal concessions requested by KPN/OTE would have stood as potential
roadblocks for Bulgaria's admittance into the European Union. The
consortium offered to pay $600 million for a 51-percent stake in BTC. 

Cable &Wireless is, according to Sunday Business, interested in making a
play for global data network operator Equant. France Telecom and Global
Crossing each were interested in acquiring Equant, but they eventually
found the $10-billion price tag too high. A number of divestitures, most
notably the sale of HKT to Pacific Century CyberWorks, has left Cable
&Wireless with a full wallet. Equant could be a good fit for Cable
&Wireless. C&W's strategy of evolving into a company focused on Internet
and data services, makes Equant's extensive global network especially
attractive. 

CenturyTel acquired 231,000 access lines from Verizon Communications in
Arkansas for $824 million and bought 127,000 access lines from Spectra
Communications Group in Missouri for $290 million. The company is using
these transactions to serve increased numbers of subscribers, including
additional 275,000 local exchange customers in Arkansas, and to offer
Internet, wireless, and long distance services. 

Cisco Systems announced a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held
Komodo Technology, a developer of VoIP devices that allow analog telephones
to place calls over IP-based networks. This acquisition enables Cisco to
offer its service provider customers a transition path from
circuit-switched networks to packet-based networks. Under the terms of the
agreement, Cisco common stock with an aggregate value of approximately $175
million will be exchanged for all outstanding shares and options of Komodo.
This acquisition will be accounted for as a purchase and is expected to be
completed in the first quarter of Cisco's fiscal year 2001. 

Deutsche Telekom is reportedly seeking to re-establish itself in the
Italian telecom market by acquiring a stake in Andala, a wireless
consortium headed by Tiscali there. DT lacks a presence in Italy since
divesting its stake in Wind. The company also failed in its attempt to
acquire Telecom Italia in 1999. DT may be interested in Infostrada, which
Vodafone AirTouch is selling at least 49 percent, if not all, all of its
stake. Hutchison Whampoa is also reportedly interested in taking a stake in
Andala. 

In other news, Deutsche Telekom announced that it will expand its
T-GlobeNet network platform through dark fiber acquired from Global
Crossing. DT agreed to purchase more than 3600 km of fiber that connects 15
cities in Europe. Global Crossing also will provide DT with co-location and
other services. 

France Telecom agreed to sell its 49.9-percent stake in Noos, a joint
venture comprising the cable operations of the French carrier with that of
utility company Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux, to NTL and Morgan Stanley Dean
Witter for $1.2 billion. France Telecom sought to divest its stake in Noos
because Suez Lyonnaise plans to begin offering voice and data services over
its network, which would obviously compete against Telecom. NTL will own 27
percent of Noos, while Morgan Stanley will receive 22.9 percent. 

Castle Harlan removed its $50-million bid for Iridium from consideration,
since it believes that the satellite phone business is beyond resurrection.
Iridium is $4 billion in debt, and Castle Harlan believes that buying the
company's assets, even at such a low price, would be economically
inadvisable. In related news, Motorola agreed to delay plans to destroy the
$5 billion satellite system until August 9, giving the satellite company a
chance to pursue buyout options with other buyers. 

After receiving authorization from the FCC and approval from Congress,
Lockheed Martin completed its $2.1 billion acquisition of COMSAT, two years
after its announcement. The combined company will be named Lockheed Martin
Global Telecommunications and will provide network services, satellite
services, and systems and technology. With the close of the deal, Lockheed
Martin is seeking partners to strengthen its satellite businesses. 

NTT Communications ruled out the possibility of dropping its 5.5-billion
yen bid to acquire US ISP Verio. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the
US is still investigating the deal to determine if the transaction poses a
threat to national security. The agency has until August 14 to rule on the
deal. 

SBC Communications and Verizon Communications are no longer interested in
breaking into the cable television market. Both companies plan to sell
their cable-TV properties so they can concentrate on their long distance,
Internet, and high-speed data services. SBC's cable division has more than
290,000 subscribers, and Verizon has more than 130,000. 

SingTel acquired a 30-percent stake in Infoserve Technology, an Asian ISP,
for $45 million. SingTel will in exchange receive seats on Infoserve's
board of directors and a say in management decisions. 

Also, SingTel agreed to pay $400 million for stakes in two Indian telecom
holding companies owned by Bharti Group. The Singapore company will receive
a 15-percent stake in Bharti Televentures and a 20-percent chunk in Bharti
Telecom. This investment by SingTel is the single largest investment in the
Indian telecom marketplace by an international investor. Bharti, which
recently split its different lines of operations into separate companies,
reported that it will use the funds generated by this investment to develop
new services and to expand its network. 

Societe Europeene des Satellites (SES) agreed to acquire 20 percent of
Embratel's satellite division for $135 million. 

Sterling Commerce, a subsidiary of SBC Communications, expressed interest
in taking a stake in Portuguese partner ParaRede within the next couple of
months. Sterling Commerce and ParaRede recently formed a strategic alliance
for e-market solutions. 

Symantec agreed to acquire AXENT Technologies for approximately $975
million. The purchase will boost Symantec's market presence in the content
security arena. Symantec intends to merge its virus protection offerings
with AXENT's Enterprise Security Manager and Prowler IDS product lines.
AXENT's services also complement Symantec's Enterprise Security products.
The deal is expected to close by the end of 2000. 

Telefonica DataCorp, a subsidiary of Telefonica, agreed to acquire 85
percent of Optel Telecomunicaciones de CV from the Mexican Principia group.
Once the deal is completed, Optel will operate as Telefonica DataCorp
Mexico. 

Now that Telefonica Chairman Juan Villalonga has stepped down, the Spanish
company is reportedly interested in sitting down with BT to talk about a
merger, reported The Times. The two companies have long been rumored to be
interested in a mega-merger, but Villalonga stood as a major obstacle to
the deal. He opposed a marriage with BT in favor of a possible alliance or
merger with Deutsche Telekom, while Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar
wanted Telefonica to look across the English Channel for a deal. Villalonga
also was reportedly willing to support a deal with BT only if he were
placed at the helm of the combined companies. The two companies could not
hammer out ownership structure when they held initial merger talks last
winter, but now that the two companies have approximately equal value, a
resolution of differences seems more likely.

Unfavorable market conditions forced Telia to drop its plan to sell com
hem, its cable television unit. Telia will float the business instead. 

United Pan-Europe Communications (UPC) withdrew from bidding on a
49-percent stake in Lyonnaise Cable. UPC said it could not come to terms
with the cable company's parent firm, Suez Lyonnaise Eaux, and it will
instead pursue expansion in France through other channels. 

Also, Verizon Communications expressed interest in selling GTE's cable
television operations so it can focus on next-generation high-speed video
services. GTE's cable business severs approximately 123,000 customers in
California, Hawaii, and Florida. 




Alliances/Joint Ventures
AT&T and Hewlett Packard agreed to develop hardware, software, and
networking solutions for e-companies. In an effort to offer end-to-end
solutions, the companies will build customized solutions for firms doing
business on the Internet. AT&T will support the e-business through its
global networking infrastructure and internet data centers, and HP will
offer e-services expertise, hardware and software products, consulting and
support services. 

BEA Systems reported that the Chase Manhattan Bank signed an enterprise
license agreement to use the BEA WebLogic family of application servers as
the foundation for Chase Online, its Internet-based line of banking
services. Chase Online currently leverages the BEA WebLogic Server for
real-time deposit account information and plans to implement the BEA
WebLogic Enterprise platform for Chase Online users later this year. 

BellSouth announced the expansion of its agreements with Talk Visual for
the resale of ISDN services. The agreement allows Talk Visual to provide
customers in the BellSouth region with free installation of 128K bps ISDN
services and a monthly fee no higher than $69.00 which includes 9,600
minutes of free local ISDN calls. 

BellSouth signed an agreement with National Home Connections, LLC (NHC), a
service of Move.com Group, to facilitate connection to BellSouth paging,
local phone and ISP services for residential customers moving into or
within BellSouth's southeast territory service areas. 

BMC Software and Network-1 Security Solutions signed an enterprise-wide
site license agreement, enabling BMC to deploy Network-1's CyberwallPLUS-WS
fire wall and intrusion prevention software on its enterprise users'
Windows NT/2000 computers. This combination will provide BMC employees with
protection against hacking and unauthorized network intrusions. 

Cable &Wireless and Great Universal Stores (GUS) announced a partnership
that will offer e-commerce services to retailers. The suite of services
developed by the alliance will include Web site design, Web hosting,
warehousing, and product delivery services. The alliance will market its
products to retailers seeking to expand their Web sites and e-commerce
services into new product lines and into new countries.  

Cable &Wireless Optus partnered with ITXC to combine the Optus network with
IXTC's VoIP network. Through the partnership, Optus will be combining its
trans-Pacific &Asian IP network with ITXC.net and ITXC's routing services.
Cable &Wireless Optus will be able to provide VoIP services with less
Internet transport costs. This alliance is part of Optus' strategy to
develop its international IP network. 

CBS Television and EchoStar Communications entered a multi-year agreement
under which CBS-owned television stations will continue to broadcast to
EchoStar's DISH Network customers. Further terms of the agreement were not
disclosed. 

blaxxun interactive entered into a development partnership with Computer
Associates to leverage blaxxun's Virtual World solutions with CA's
Jasmineii, an intelligent and integrated eBusiness platform. Jasmineii will
integrate existing applications and systems with the Virtual World and will
deploy web-enabled business processes. 

EMC and Axient Communications teamed on a breakthrough Internet content
delivery network. Axient launched OctaneSM using EMC CLARiiON FC4500
storage systems, deploying 66 terabytes of EMC CLARiiON FC4500 storage
systems throughout its national network. Content is delivered from Axient's
local servers through the access provider's last-mile router directly to
the Internet user. 

Ensure Technologies partnered with RSA Security to support interoperability
between Ensure's XyLoc wireless PC security service and RSA's Keon PKI
authentication technology. Through this partnership, Ensure's XyLoc will
allow organizations using RSA's Keon services to control and manage access
to digital certificates throughout an enterprise. 

Interland announced a $28.5 million investment from strategic alliance
members, Bell Atlantic, Microsoft, and Network Solutions to expand its
network infrastructure. The investment will also expand Interland's
domestic and global sales and marketing activities. 

Latitude Communications extended their partnership with Verizon Federal
allowing Verizon to offer its federal government customers an
e-conferencing solution for real-time collaboration. 

NetObjects and Lotus reported an agreement that will enable the rapid
deployment of Web applications and e-Services. Under the terms of the
agreement, Lotus will include NetObjects Fusion 5.0 in its Domino Designer
R5. By combining NetObjects Fusion 5.0 with the application development
tool Domino Designer, enterprises will be able to create and deploy Web
applications rapidly.

Marconi signed a contract with VIAG Interkom, a leading German national
network operator, for the deployment of its nationwide DMS broadband
wireless access system in up to 200 franchise areas across Germany, giving
customers links for voice, data, and multimedia Internet applications. The
Marconi contract is a key part of VIAG's strategy to expand its SDH network
to its key target markets of small and medium enterprise customers. 

Mitel Communications Systems was chosen by iXL, Inc., a leading strategic
Internet services company, to deploy its Voice-over-Internet Protocol
(VoIP) solutions for the development of iXL's e-business applications. 

ClearData signed a three-year, $300 million contract with Nortel Networks
to purchase optical and data networking services, Internet data center
infrastructure equipment, and Nortel Networks Preside service. This
contract is part of ClearData's national broadband network initiative,
which will be built on an OC-192 DWDM IP optical network and will offer
Internet access, data transport, and hosting and application services. 

Foundry Networks formed a strategic partnership with Novell to combine its
Layer 3 and Layer 4-7 Internet traffic and content management switches with
Novell Content Exchange to accelerate the delivery of Web site pages, thus
enhancing page views and overall Web performance. 

NTT DoCoMo and Sony Computer Entertainment formed an alliance that will
combine DoCoMo's wireless Internet offering, i-mode, with Sony's
Playstation game console. The services developed via this partnership will
allow customers to play games on both their Playstation and their i-mode
handset. The current bandwidth available for wireless Internet access
limits the services that can be developed by the alliance until
third-generation wireless services are launched. 

NTT DoCoMo and SK Telecom formed a roaming agreement. Subscribers will only
be able to roam between the two networks if they have a dual-mode wireless
phone. The two companies may expand this partnership by adopting similar
third-generation services. 

Prodigy reported an advertising and content partnership with CarSmart.com,
an Internet auto-buying service. CarSmart.com will serve as the primary new
car partner and will provide both content and buying services for the new
Prodigy Auto Channel, planned to debut this summer. 

PSINet reported an agreement to provide wholesale Internet connectivity to
Juno. The agreement will enable Juno to expand its network availability to
include PSINet's nationwide IP-optimized network. Terms of the agreement
were not disclosed. 

In a separate deal, PSINet reported a multi-year commitment with Equilon
Enterprises and Motiva Enterprises, oil refining and marketing joint
ventures of Shell Oil Company, Texaco, and Saudi Refining, to offer
Internet service to more than 23,000 Shell and Texaco retail gasoline
stations in the United States. The arrangement supports "allianceonline," a
secured internal Internet portal used for conducting paperless business
transactions between the companies and betweenTexaco and Shell retailers
and wholesalers. 

Finally, PSINet agreed to provide Virtual ISP (VISP) service to
LatinoFam.com, a Hispanic ISP targeting the Latino Internet community in
the United States and Latin America. PSINet will provide LatinoFam.com with
dial-up connectivity over PSINet's network, customer support, e-mail
accounts, credit card billing services, and dial-up software, all private
labeled under the LatinoFam.com brand to the client's end users.
LatinoFam.com and PSINet will split revenues received from subscribers'
monthly access fees. 

Trend Micro and Critical Path entered a technology licensing agreement
whereby Critical Path will offer its Hosted Exchange users email virus
scanning as part of its messaging service offering. In addition, both
companies are working with Microsoft to deliver a secure hosted Exchange
2000 service. 

WorldGate Communications entered multi-year agreements with Adelphia
Communications, Comcast Cable, and Cox Communications; the agreement was
extended with Charter Communications. Under the agreement, the four
companies will deploy the Worldgate Internet on EVERY TV Service to a
predetermined number of households. The cable companies will also make
investments in WorldGate totaling $24.5 million. The EVERY TV Service is a
provider of low-cost Internet access through television using standard
cable television converters and existing cable infrastructure 





Electronic Business
WebGain unveiled WebGain TopLink v 2.5 for the BEA WebLogic Server 5.1 and
BEA WebLogic Enterprise 5.1. TopLink for BEA WebLogic accelerates time to
market for enterprise e-commerce applications by easing the integration of
Java objects with relational databases and links TopLink's O/R
(object-to-relational) mapping technology with WebLogic's EJB 1.1
specification. 




Internet
AT&T launched the two-month trial of its Publius Web publishing system,
which operates by encrypting a document and copying it to multiple randomly
selected servers, making it extremely difficult to censor or edit an
author's work. Critics of the technology claim that it could be used by
criminals and could pose a threat to the public, but AT&T developers
contend that the risks are worth taking in order to protect free speech. 

BellSouth announced the launch of the BellSouth RealPages Reminders
service. With this online service, consumers can customize information to
fit their needs and can receive reminders for important events. In
addition, registered members receive electronic newsletters that provide
tips and product information that can help better organize and manage their
lives. 

BellSouth plans to build the "Florida Multimedia Internet eXchange
(FloridaMIX)," a Network Access Point (NAP), in Miami, Florida. FloridaMIX
provides a foundation to support the increasing numbers of Internet service
companies and to bring bandwidth, speed and performance to Internet service
providers (ISPs), Web-hosting providers and other Internet-service related
businesses. 

Worlds.com and BT agreed to construct two three-dimensional Web sites for
BTopenworld, BT's Internet unit. BT and Worlds.com will co-brand the sites. 

Cisco Systems introduced a 1700 square-foot Internet Home that showcases
the benefits of a high-speed, always-on Internet connection that enables
various consumer devices and appliances within the home. The Cisco Internet
Home, developed in conjunction with Digital Interiors, The Great Indoors,
Hewlett-Packard, Sears Roebuck and Co, and Whirlpool, demonstrates the
power of the Internet in enhancing daily living for consumers, as well its
impact for developers creating the homes and communities of the future.
Cisco also announced it is teaming with developer Playa Vista to build
Internet-equipped "smart homes" in a residential and commercial community
development in West Los Angeles. 

Using SNARC, ITXC extend the reach of its ITXC.net to the international
gateway exchange of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, which
is delivering ITXC calls directly to its customers. ITXC can now offer its
carrier customers termination in the Philippines, and SNARC allows PLDT to
bring Internet traffic from the carrier exchange directly to subscriber
phones. 




Conferencing
SBC Communications added streaming audio and video technology to its
1-800-CONFERENCE suite of collaboration services so that events and
meetings can be accessed through the Web at any time and from any location. 




Messaging and Groupware
Novell unveiled instantme 2.0, a secure instant messaging product developed
in conjunction with AOL's Buddy List Network. Novell instantme 2.0 includes
audio and video communication and security technologies such as encryption
and digital certificates, which provide secure, integrated e-business
communication over intranets, extranets, or the Internet. 




Carriers and Carrier Services
AT&T residential customers can now view and pay their long distance phone
bills online at more than 150 Web sites in CheckFree's electronic billing
and payment network. Customers approve payment electronically; the amount
is automatically deducted from a designated bank account. 

BellSouth announced the launch of BellSouth Privacy Director service in
several major metropolitan areas within its nine-state region. The product,
which works in conjunction with Caller ID Deluxe, enables customers to
screen unwanted telephone calls from telemarketers and telephone numbers
that do not show up on Caller ID. Callers with blocked numbers must
identify themselves before customers pick up, so customers can decide
whether to accept the call or not. 

Effective August 1, 2000, Madison, Wisconsin-based Chorus Networks is
cutting rates for about 55 percent of the company's residential customers.
The new plans will compete directly with the AT&T One Rate plan and
Sprint's Sprint Sense plan. Chorus' Simple Cents Plus plan offers
$0.10-per-minute rates 24x7 for interstate and intrastate calls. Sprint
also has a $0.10-per minute plan, however Sprint charges a $4.95 monthly
fee; Chorus cuts the monthly fee to $1.95. The company's Simple 7 Family
plan offers the same $0.07- per-minute rates as AT&T for interstate calls,
but both monthly fees and intrastate rates are slightly lower. 

Japan Telecom said it will save as much as 25 billion yen over two years,
thanks to reductions in NTT's interconnection rates. The company plans to
cash in on these savings by developing local access services and developing
a corporate computing network. 

Sprint agreed to issue refunds to customers in Florida for extended
outages. Additionally, the company will offer refunds when installation
services are delayed. If the Florida Public Service Commission accepts the
agreement, it will drop its examination of Sprint's customer service
performance in the state. The agency is also looking at the service records
of GTE, now Verizon Communications, and BellSouth. If the concessions are
accepted, Sprint customers will get 25 percent off one month's local
charges if they are without service for 24 to 36 hours. Customers who lose
service for five days or more will be credited with a 200 percent refund.
Additionally, customers will get a $20 credit if Sprint takes longer than
three weekdays to install service and $100 if it takes longer than 15 days. 

Separately, Sprint teamed up with CRUZTELCO, the largest member of the
Philippine Association of Private Telephone Companies, to market Sprint's
10-5-17 collect calling service in CRUZTELCO's region. Sprint claims that
the rates are lower than those charged by competitors; however, the IXC did
not report the rates that it is charging. Rates will be the lowest for
calls placed to consumers in the US who use Sprint as their long distance
carrier. 

Telia cut the rates for all of its international fixed-line calls by an
average of 50 percent, and by up to 70 percent to 80 percent to some
countries. 

Telstra turned on the network infrastructure it deployed for the 2000
Summer Olympic Games, which will take place in Sydney, Australia in
September. The network, the largest ever constructed for an Olympic Games,
comprises 30,000 new land lines for voice and fax services, 15,000 mobile
phones, and 4800 km of fiber-optic cable. The activation of this network
marks the culmination of a nine-year project for Telstra. 

Verizon Communications launched a Personal Toll-Free Service. Customers can
subscribe to the long distance service and can receive a toll-free number
with a private PIN number that they can give to family members or friends
to reach them free of charge. There are no monthly plan charges; however,
there is a $0.25-per-minute fee. 

Also, Verizon Communications announced that it signed its one millionth
long distance customer in New York. Verizon began offering long distance
services in the state in January 2000 and reached its goal of one million
subscribers five months ahead of schedule. Verizon is the first Baby Bell
permitted to offer long distance in its home market. SBC Communications
secured Section 217 approval to offer long distance in Texas last month. 


Wireless Communications
On July 28, ALLTEL customers experienced a wireless service outage from
lighting damage in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. 

Integra Micro Systems, a company based in Bangalore, India, launched the
Jataayu WAP browser for the Palm OS platform. The Jataayu browser provides
WML content, such as Internet e-mail, messaging, and financial
transactions, on Palm-based devices. Users request information by using an
embedded WAP browser in the WAP-enabled device, and information is then
retrieved from an Internet server using either HTML or WML.

Nextel Communications added applications, portals, and search engines to
its Nextel Online Wireless Internet Services for business customers. The
additions are aimed at bringing finance, news, and other Internet-based
information to users. Among the additions included are services from
Ameritrade, CNET News.com, LifeMinders, Google, and eXitSource. 

NTT DoCoMo's wireless Internet service, i-mode, crashed for four hours,
just days after the company boasted that its 10 million subscribers made it
the largest ISP in Japan and the most popular wireless Web offering in the
world, reported the Financial Times. Problems with the service crashing
have been frequent and attributed largely to the service's ever-expanding
subscriber base. In fact, the company was signing on more customers than it
could handle at one point and took steps to slow down sales and to curb its
advertising. While DoCoMo is proud of its popular service, i-mode reached
the 10-million subscriber mark a full 17 months ahead of schedule, a rapid
expansion that could lead to further problems with crashes. 

QUALCOMM granted Handspring a license for its digital wireless technology
standard, to be incorporated into Handspring's Visor handheld computer.
Handspring will use the Palm operating system and QUALCOMM's CDMA standard
to develop new wireless communications. 

SBC Wireless introduced Start Talking prepaid wireless service, which
eliminates the hassle of paying bills every month. Customers buy calling
cards that can be refilled in increments to replenish their wireless
minutes. The prepaid service is offered through SBC's wireless
properties--Pacific Bell Wireless, Southwestern Bell Wireless, SNET
Wireless, Nevada Bell Wireless, Ameritech Cellular1 and Cellular One2. 

Sprint PCS introduced Sprint PCS Voice Command for its wireless customers.
Using a Sprint PCS phone, customers can access a personal Web page and can
manage their PCS services with voice commands. Customers can look up names,
manage and organize their address books, and perform other voice-enabled
tasks. In addition, Sprint PCS Voice Command is part of the company's
telematics services. Sprint PCS is collaborating with automotive partners
such as Ford to provide digital communications within vehicles, include
Voice Command. 

The PCS joint venture between Touch America, the telecom subsidiary of the
Montana Power Company, and Qwest Wireless began operations in Spokane,
Washington and Boise, Idaho. The companies plan to offer services in
western Montana in early August and in six more markets by the end of the
year. The joint venture was originally formed between Touch America and US
WEST, now part of Qwest Communications. By year-end, the wireless venture
will provide PCS services to 22 cities in eight states from the Cascades
through the Upper Midwest. 

Verizon Wireless launched iWrite wireless e-mail for Motorola's T900
two-way messaging device. iWrite allows Verizon customers to send and
receive personalized text and Internet messages through www.MyAirMail.com.
The service provides assured message delivery for 96 hours after the
message is sent. The Motorola T900 features a full keyboard and lighted
display for PC-like messaging. 

Should you have any questions, concerns or problems with your flash, please
contact us at: mailto:flash@faulkner.com 

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