BLOCKBUSTER AND ENRON SELECT MOTOROLA'S SET-TOP BOX FOR ON-DEMAND SERVICE
Blockbuster and Enron Broadband Services will use Motorola’s Streamaster 5000 set top box for their upcoming entertainment on-demand service. A technical trial is already underway in New York City. The initial Blockbuster service is able to start, stop, pause, rewind, and view movies on-demand with VHS visual and sound quality.  http://www.motorola.com
Motorola, January 3, 2001

• Motorola’s Streamaster 5000 offers cable as well as ADSL-based connectivity and includes a programmable media processor for 2D/3D games graphics, general MIDI music, Dolby Digital audio, Spatializer, MPEG1/2 with video trick modes and MP3 playback.  Motorola plans to incorporate a hard drive option into Streamaster 5000 to enable personal video recording capabilities, as well as an optional DVD drive.
  
• Last July, Blockbuster, the videotape rental chain of Viacom Inc., announced a 20-year, exclusive agreement with Enron Broadband Services to deliver a Blockbuster entertainment service, initially featuring movies on-demand.  The on-demand service would deliver movies to consumers' televisions through DSL networks.  SBC Communications, Verizon, Qwest, Covad Communications, Telus and ReFlex have signed on as local distribution providers.

MOTOROLA INTRODUCES HOMERF WIRELESS HOME GATEWAYS
Motorola will introduce a multi-user wireless cable modem and a wireless home gateway at next week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.  The new SURFboard wireless cable modem uses HomeRF technology to connect up to 15 devices/users in a home or home office/small office.  The new SURFboard wireless multi-user home gateway will feature a HomeRF to Ethernet bridge and offers HomeRF-enabled USB and PCMCIA adapters to connect up to 10 users at 1.6 Mbps. http://www.motorola.com
Motorola, January 3, 2001

• Last August, the FCC amended rules to allow frequency hopping spread spectrum transmitters operating in the 2.4 GHz band to use a minimum of 15 hopping channels, spanning a total of 75 MHz.  The new rules will allow for hopping channels up to 5 MHz wide, thereby enabling faster wireless LANs and gateways for the home.  Output power would be reduced in proportion to the increase in bandwidth over 1 MHz.  The HomeRF Working Group, which proposed the changes, said the new rules would increase the transmission speed capabilities of the Shared Wireless Access Protocol (SWAP) to 10 Mbps from its currently maximum rate of 2 Mbps. 

2WIRE LAUNCHES 802.11 WIRELESS HOMEPORTAL GATEWAYS
2Wire, a start-up based in San Jose, California, introduced IEEE 802.11b wireless versions of its HomePortal residential gateways.  Models are available for sharing cable modem or DSL connections, while supporting IPSec tunnels for corporate VPN access for telecommuters.
http://www.2wire.com/pr/pr_010301_wireless_fucntion.asp
2Wire, January 3, 2001

STARBUCKS TO OFFER MOBILESTAR’S BROADBAND WIRELESS ACCESS
Starbucks Coffee will offer wireless access to MobileStar Network Corp.'s broadband network in its North American cafes.  Customers will be able to access broadband content and services using their own wirelessly enabled laptops, smart phones, Pocket PCs and other handheld devices.  Microsoft will supply .NET software and broadband access to MSN content. http://www.mobilestar.com/pressreleases/starbux.html
MobileStar, January 3, 2001

• MobileStar supports both Direct Sequence (DS, or 802.11b) and Frequency Hopping (FH, or Open Air) wireless standards.  
  
• MobileStar Network Corporation, which is based in Richardson, Texas, currently provides wireless Internet access in American Airlines’ Admirals Clubs in major US airports, as well as in a number of major hotel lobbies.

WILDBLUE SELECTS PARTNERS FOR ITS KA-BAND SATELLITE BUILD-OUT
WildBlue (formerly iSKY), a service provider planning to launch a next generation Ka-band satellite service for the Americas, selected IBM and TRW to jointly define systems requirements for the company's network operations center (NOC).  Andrew Corporation was selected to build gateway earth stations, which receive and transmit data to the satellites and convert them into the IP data packets.  Financial terms were not disclosed.  The initial WildBlue network will have six geographically separated gateway earth stations in the continental US for content caching, e-mail and web hosting services and intelligent processing for managing the sharing of bandwidth across multiple customers.  http://www.wildblue.com
WildBlue, January 3, 2001

• Ka-band is a frequency that operates at 20 to 30 GHz.  WildBlue's Ka band satellite spot beam design allows a large degree of frequency reuse (i.e. multiple spot beams can re-use the same frequency to transmit different data to the geographically separated gateway earth stations).
  
• WildBlue plans to offer always-on Internet access with downloads speeds of 3.0 Mbps and up to 400 Kbps upstream. A first satellite (built by Space Systems/Loral) serving the US and Canada) is expected to launch in early 2002.  A second satellite (TeleSat's ANIK F2 satellite, built by Hughes) serving both North America and Latin America will launch shortly thereafter.  Users would require a satellite mini-dish and a satellite cable modem.  
  
• The WildBlue service will be marketed in partnership with Echostar's satellite TV service.  Echostar holds a 12% equity stake in WildBlue.  Additional investors include Liberty Media Group, TV Guide, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, TRW and TeleSat.
  
• WildBlue also has spectrum applications filed for Europe and Asia.
  
• WildBlue is headed by Thomas E. Moore (CEO), who played a key role in the creation of the Data Over Cable System Interface Specification (DOCSIS) and was formerly vice president of integrated service architecture at Cable Television Laboratories (CableLabs).

EVEREST BROADBAND RAISES $50 MILLION FOR IN-BUIDING NETWORKS
Everest Broadband Networks, a start-up service provider targeting in-building business networks, completed its third round of financing for $50M with Exelon Capital Partners as the lead investor.   Other major contributors to the round are Everest seed shareholders Pequot Capital Management and SOFTBANK Venture Capital.   http://www.everestbroadband.com/news/010301.htm
Everest Broadband Networks, January 3, 2001

• Last month, Everest Broadband signed a 20-year fiber lease agreement for local-loop and in-building fiber-optic infrastructure from Metromedia Fiber Network.  
  

• Everest currently has 200 commercial buildings in North America wired and lit for broadband services.
  

• Exelon Capital Partners is the corporate venture capital subsidiary of Exelon Corporation, the largest electrical utility in the US.

MCLEODUSA PROPOSES $450 MILLION IN SENIOR NOTES, EXPECTS TO MEET/EXCEED EXPECTATIONS
McLeodUSA, a nationwide facilities-based telecommunications provider with 375 ATM switches, 37 voice switches and nearly 905,000 local lines, will propose a new offering of $475 million in senior notes.  The company reiterated that it expects to meet or exceed current market consensus estimates for Q4 and year-end 2000.  http://www.mcleodusa.com/aboutmcleodusa/pressroom/singlestory.php3?pid=98
McLeodUSA, January 3, 2001

NEC SELECTS TRILLIUM'S H.323 SOFTWARE FOR IP PHONES
NEC, a major player in the PBX market, agreed to license Trillium Digital Systems' H.323 IP telephony software for its new IP phones. Trillium is an Intel company. http://www.trillium.com
Trillium, January 3, 2001