Date: Wed, 2 Nov 1994 05:47:44 -0500
From: Tom Cichowicz <tcichow@CONNIX.COM>
Subject: Re: High Speed Data Link Question
Not to dash your hopes on using your DirecTV dish too soon, but ... read on...
*****
AP 11/01 16:17 EST V0574
Copyright 1994. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Hughes Network Systems, enjoying early success selling a
small satellite dish to pick up TV signals, will soon begin selling a similar
dish for catching data on a personal computer.
The product, to be called DirecPC, will initially cost twice as much as the
$700 TV receiver and executives said Tuesday it will initially be sold only
through the company rather than retailers.
But eventually, the two products could combine, becoming one dish that
receives digital TV signals from one satellite and data from another.
Hughes plans to market DirecPC to businesses and computer enthusiasts first
as a faster way to receive software, documents, digitized sound or video from a
wide number of sources.
"The breakthrough we have in price and performance means we have a lot of
applications," said Tom McPherson, vice president and general anager of DirecPC.
For instance, IBM plans to would use the satellite as a way to distribute
updates of software to corporate customers. In addition, Hughes and IBM will set
up kiosks in some retail stores where people could buy software that would be
sent in through the satellite.
Hughes is trying to line up other companies to use the system for similar
purposes. The company will begin selling DirecPC early next year.
After the $1,495 price of the 24-inch receiving dish, PC component board,
software and wiring, Hughes plans to charge $15.95 a month for the satellite
data service.
The service will allow customers to take advantage of Hughes' high-speed
connection, known as a T1 line, to the Internet, the network of computer
networks. A person or company now using a 9,600-speed telephone modem to connect
to the Internet would experience a 40-fold increase in speed, McPherson said.
By delivering data at much faster speeds, the most popular products are
likely to be those that need to be sent quickly, such as legal documents, or
those with substantial business value, such as financial market news.
The data will usually be of modest size, for example 40 megabytes, the size
of large PC word processing program.
A 40-megabyte piece of software would take 3 1/2 minutes to be delivered as
opposed to more than eight hours through a 9,600-speed modem.
Hughes, a subsidiary of General Motors Corp., is the largest seller of
corporate satellite equipment.
The company, along with partners RCA-Thomson and Hubbard Broadcasting, began
selling DirecTV nationally last month after testing it in a few states this
spring. It provides 150 TV channels delivered to an 18-inch dish.
Sears and other retailers have reported strong initial demand for the
product.
*****
~TomC.
_________________________________________________________
| Tom Cichowicz | |
| Engineering Projects Manager | Sysop: Monty's Python |
| Engineering Department | EXCALIBUR BBS |
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