High Tech Features: Squarely in the Center
By Efi Landau

From Israel's Business Arena - Globes

March 30, 2000
The average reader of the various newspaper economic and high-tech columns is already knows that the term "last-mile" refers to technologies designed to solve the problem of end user access at the last mile of the communications network to the customer's home. Israeli company Foxcom is introducing another term, "first mile", with a new product it announced at the beginning of the year, and a new name for the company. As of this week, Foxcom is changing its name to OnePath Networks. Normally, a change in a company's name has a significant meaning beyond the semantics. President and CEO David Stehlin describes the changeover: "The new name reflects the services and products we currently offer on the market most appropriately - One path through which all communications required by homes and businesses pass."

The company's relatively new product SDTVplus facilitates transmission of television, DBS, Internet and cable broadcasts on a single optic fiber. According to Stehlin, the new communications system meets all of today's communications needs in a single infrastructure. "In the US, a demand currently exists for convergence between all technologies and service providers. People are well informed about their requirements and available possibilities, and prefer to create a quality service package through one supplier. Our new product is a milestone. It enables all landlords to supply all their tenants communications requirements through one point." Alongside existing services, SDTVplus offers the possibility of adding or removing future services without the necessity to upgrade hardware, and at low cost to each home. The system has high communications capabilities, the lowest number of failure points, and is suitable for multiple dwellings and offices (MDUs) using a single provider.

Company founder and CTO Howard Loboda told "Globes" that SDTVplus solves the bottleneck problem that emerges at the 'first mile" stemming from the need to transmit multiple broadcasts. Foxcom was founded in 1993 by Loboda, who immigrated to Israel from Los Angeles. Loboda was chief scientist at Ortel Corporation of the US.

Foxcom's basic product translates wireless signals to a laser ray over fiberoptic. The signal is compressed by amplifier and reinforced, thereby affecting the light source emitting from the laser ray, which can be many kilometers away. The high-speed wireless signals of up to 2Mbps lose a minimal amount of energy along the way yet transmit over relatively large distances.

The new product is in fact an advanced development of an earlier Foxcom product which facilitated DBS broadcasting to multiple dwelling units with many customers, through a single dish. The new product facilitates transmission of all types of broadcasts on the same fiber.

"Our strategy currently focuses on an integrated product," Loboda says. "In the US, there are 80 million households, and 95% of them do not have solutions of this kind. Cable television companies want to sell data communications, Internet and telephony services in addition to video. At the same time, telecoms also want to sell data communications and video. We offer possibilities for selling all existing communications services in one basket, at low cost.

"We have both access, fiber optic and service convergence capabilities. We're changing the company's name to show the world that we're changing direction. We're no longer the Foxcom we were. We have a more focused direction now."

"Globes": Who is responsible for development? Loboda: "Oz Goren, formerly of Motorola, is currently in charge of development. We already have high-speed data communications capabilities and we're working on voice."

How about financing?

"The value of all companies in this sector has increased considerably in the past six months. It will help us if we find it necessary to raise capital. However, I'm unable to say very much on raising finances. "

Published by Israel's Business Arena on 30 March, 2000

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