General Automation Moves Into E-Commerce; Epoch Adds Execs
Analysts commenting on the free high-speed Internet service launched last week by Ryan and Chad Steelberg scoffed at the notion of subscribers willingly exchanging demographic information for free broadband connections.
But consumers apparently aren’t so skeptical.
According to the Steelbergs, their Broadband Digital Group had signed up 100,000 people for its FreeDSL.com service by the end of the first week, one of the fastest subscriber buildups of any Internet service, including other ad-supported offerings like NetZero and Hotmail.
In return for the service, customers provide detailed information about themselves and their shopping habits. In a Los Angeles Times article that appeared four days after this newspaper announced it, tech pundits predicted customers would balk at such disclosure.
It just goes to show that you shouldn’t underestimate the power of anything labeled “free.”
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And in another update to a story that appeared here, the prediction by NewPort Communications Inc.’s founders that Conexant Systems Inc. would soon compete in their arena came true faster than even they could have imagined.
Less than a day after Armond Hairapetian sat down for an interview for an article on NewPort’s recent round of venture funding, Conexant purchased Microcosm Communications, a similar-size company in England whose business plans looked awfully similar to NewPort’s.
Both companies make optical network transceivers,sophisticated equipment that helps connect network routers to the optical “pipes” that serve as backbones of the Internet and other high-capacity networks,using low-cost silicon technology rather than the expensive materials used now.
The purchase is especially interesting from Conexant’s point of view, considering NewPort’s founders left Conexant because they felt the company was moving too slowly on the technology.
General Automation Inc. has seen the e-commerce light. The Irvine software company, which has concentrated on proprietary data management and inventory tracking systems since its inception in 1967, is shifting its focus to open database standards and migration tools.
The company has announced its ePath program, a strategy designed to help companies convert data used on General Automation’s MultiValue systems into e-commerce-ready formats such as XLM and Windows-based standards. The strategy is designed to make it easier for MultiValue customers to use a variety of e-commerce software and to integrate the system with other business management tools.
The company’s Canadian subsidiary, Liberty Integration, developed the patent-pending technology behind ePath.
GA chief executive Jane Christie said the move is a huge shift for the company, but adds that customers who have seen previews of the system like it.
“With this strategic change in direction, we’ve made a commitment both financially as well as emotionally to a different way of doing business,” she said.
The company, which ran into accounting difficulties a few years ago and was kicked off the New York Stock Exchange, has some other major announcements in store, including a new name for its primary business unit, GAeXpress.
For more: www.genauto.com.
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HNC Insurance Solutions, the Irvine-based subsidiary of HNC Software Inc., is forming a joint venture with Internet Healthcare-centered web site Healtheon/WebMD Corp. targeting insurers.
The service, set to launch this summer, will connect doctors and insurance providers over the Internet in what the company promises will cut bill processing from $15 per transaction to less than $2. With more than 540 million bills issued every year, the savings could be substantial.
Under the deal, HNC will incorporate its fraud-detection system into the site for additional potential savings.
For more: www.hnc.com.
Irvine Internet access provider Epoch Internet has added a pair of industry veterans to its executive ranks.
Bill Marsh, the former information director for PSINet’s U.S. operations, is taking over as Epoch’s vice president for information technology systems. At the same time, Michael Francois, the former senior director of data planning and deployment at Intermedia Communications/DIGEX, is hopping on board as Epoch’s vice president of network engineering.
Both will report to Epoch chief executive Jeff Stone.
For more: www.epoch.net.
Bits:
Fresh from a $10 million credit deal with GE Capital and the addition of former Gov. Pete Wilson to its board of directors, TelePacific Communications is opening its first Orange County office in Orange … Information Management Resources Inc., Irvine, has won a contract with the Defense Supply Center Columbus to help the quasi-government agency beef ups its e-commerce capabilities. the contract is worth $100,000 and possibly more later on … JVC Professional Computer Products, Cypress, is changing its name to JVC Digital Storage Systems to better reflect its core line of CD-ROM and DVD-based storage products.
Ken Spencer Brown can be reached at (949) 833-8373, Ext. 239, or by e-mail at kbrown@ocbj.com.
