- Subject: cable
- Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 18:32:07 PDT
- A1-type: DOCUMENT
- Importance: normal
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[Image] BTG to Offer Internet Link Via Cable
Look at the
Interactive Post 200 By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
profile of BTG. Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 7, 1996; Page F01
Read the recent news
and see a weekly A Vienna technology company yesterday announced
preview of community plans to offer homes and businesses in Loudoun
events on our Loudoun County high-speed access to the Internet through
County Page. cable television wires, starting early next year.
The service from BTG Inc. would be as much as
Editor's Note: One of 1,000 times faster than links over conventional
the above links will computer modems.
take you out of the
WashingtonPost.com web Cablevision of Loudoun customers would be able to
site. To return, use plug computers into their cable TV connections to
the Back button on receive sound files, video clips and fancy
your browser. graphics over the global computer network with
almost no waiting time.
--------
The Loudoun venture and a similar program started
Go to Today's Top News earlier this year in Alexandria by Jones
Communications are among the first such
Go to Local Section cable-Internet experiments in the nation. Many of
the experiments have been slowed by technology
Go to Home Page and consumer acceptance problems, however.
BTG, a major provider of computer services to the
federal government, said it is joining the
stampede toward high-speed connections to the
Internet as a way to diversify its business. A
newly formed BTG subsidiary, called Community
Networks Inc., will run the service.
"We view this as a real good opportunity to move
into the commercial arena," said Leland Phipps, a
senior vice president at BTG. "Frankly, we want
to be in the Internet in a real big way."
Jones has spent about $40 million and encountered
several delays in offering its cable/Internet
service. In addition, fewer than 100 of 30,000
eligible customers in Alexandria have signed up
for the high-speed connection.
Phipps said Community Networks expects a better
response from Cablevision of Loudoun's 29,000
customers because it plans to build a lo\cally
focused network that will include information
about Loudoun County schools, businesses and
community organizations. The company said it
plans to initially provide free access to some
schools, churches and neighborhood groups.
Community Networks is using Loudoun as a test
market and is looking at forming alliances with
other small to mid-sized cable operators, said
Randy Hartnett, Community Networks' program
manager. Many larger cable companies are
exploring the possibility of offering Internet
service, but none has done so on a large scale.
Among the more unusual services Community
Networks plans to offer in Loudoun is a
personalized welcome page for its customers based
on their own interests. Using software developed
by BTG for government clients, intelligent
software "agents" would, for example, search the
Internet on a regular basis for fishing-related
information for users who are fishing buffs.
Since cable systems, including much of Loudoun's,
are generally designed for one-way transmission,
most users would have to establish a telephone
connection with Community Networks' computer to
send information. That would not significantly
slow the system because most residential users
receive more data than they send, but could
reduce its convenience.
The service would cost about $35 a month, about
$5 to $20 more than Internet accounts accessed by
telephone that require the customer to wait while
pictures and sounds arrive over the wire.
Customers also will be required to have special
cable modems, which cost about $300.
"It gives them a vehicle to continue their growth
in the commercial marketplace," said Richard G.
Jacobs, an analyst who follows BTG for securities
firm Janney Montgomery Scott Inc. in
Philadelphia.
"It's a very competitive field, though. Whether
this will be a huge source of profits, we'll have
to wait and see."
) Copyright 1996 The Washington Post Company
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