MAXFAX

by Paul S. Maxwell The Business of Serving Business Way back in the dark ages (1985, actually), I was involved with something called X*PRESS Information Services. We aggregated some 90 or so domestic and international newswires (including some real firsts from the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China) with stock quotes and such into a single multiplexed feed aimed at businesses big and small. We created a software package to allow for individual selection from the streams of information (working with 256 and 512k memory computers like Commodore, Apple and others with flimsy floppy discs). We encoded the streams and sent them to PCs via a Turner net’s satellite sideband and your local cable company … and then found out that cable didn’t pass very many businesses … except in Honolulu, our only good market. Which brings me to a point: if you’re going to Cable-Tec Expo next week, here’s a free breakfast you DO NOT WANT TO MISS! Our sister publication, Communications Technology, has organized one heck of a panel for Thursday morning, June 16th. With CT editor Jonathan Tombes quizzing Tim Doran of Rogers, John Dickinson of Bright House Nets, Steve Santamaria of Charter and Stephen Snyder of Accenture, you’ll learn just how far we as an industry have come since ’85 … and how much further we need to go in order to dominate this market! What do they want? What do they need? What can cable offer? How soon? Hey – right now! Go get ’em! (Anybody want to see what we did all those years ago? I found one of our original boxed packages … think I’ll give it, along with my VOOM dish/box, to The Cable Center.) Commercial services is a HUGE opportunity. And it dodges all those indecency questions at the same time … Random Notes: