The full name of DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) is 'Digital Subscriber Line'. This technology began to sprout in the late 1970s. In the 1980s, due to the demand for high-speed data transmission technology for cable TV and network communications, DSL technology gradually gained ground.
Simply put, DSL is a technology that uses higher data frequencies to transmit data over traditional telephone lines.
The biggest advantage of DSL technology is that it breaks through the maximum data transmission limit of 56Kb/s that can be achieved by low-frequency analog signals in traditional voice communication.
ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) translates as 'asymmetric digital subscriber line', which is a type of DSL technology.
With standard DSL technology, the speed at which users upload and download data should be equal. However, in actual application, the data downloaded by users often far exceeds the data uploaded. If the transmission rates are kept equal, it will cause a lot of waste of resources. ADSL technology just solves this problem.
Compared with DSL technology, using ADSL can more than double the user carrying capacity of a communication network.
In the past few years, the Internet access services provided by AOL have mainly been the most traditional dial-up Internet technology and the more advanced ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) technology. The maximum network speed of the former can only reach 56Kb/s, and the latter It is also a data transmission technology that appeared in the 1980s, which can double the speed of traditional dial-up Internet access to 128Kb/s.
Compared with the former two, DSL technology is roughly like the difference between analog signals and digital signals, which are rapidly being updated in the field of mobile communications.
Four years ago, when Westeros had just taken a stake in Quantum-Link, the predecessor of AOL, Simon used his status as a major shareholder to ask Steve Case to buy the relevant patent licenses for DSL technology and invest in subsequent technology research and development.
ADSL is a new generation digital subscriber line standard developed by America Online based on DSL.
In Simon's memory, ADSL was almost synonymous with broadband for a long time, although these are actually two concepts.
However, this is enough to prove the popularity of ADSL technology.
Compared with the original timeline, ADSL appeared at least five years earlier.
In fact, just like many technologies such as the Internet, semiconductors, digital cameras, etc., ADSL appeared several years in advance when DSL has been developing for more than ten years. It just needs an opportunity to promote the development of technology. To be more precise, it is an opportunity that can provide enterprises with Profitable business opportunities, so there are no technical barriers.
Just like humans completed the first moon landing in 1969.
If every space program could bring commercial returns that were several times or dozens of times higher than the investment, humans might have immigrated to Mars long ago.
In the original time and space, the explosion of the Internet industry at the end of the 20th century could basically be said to be disorderly and chaotic.
Everyone knows that there are huge business opportunities in this, but they don’t know which path to take to find the treasure. This is actually the root cause of the failure of most new technology giants in the Internet 1.0 era to continue to be strong.
Because I don’t know how to take the road ahead.
There is a complete treasure map hidden in Simon's mind.
Compared with the history of major Internet service providers groping between different technologies before finally determining ASDL technology as the standard for high-speed Internet transmission, Simon this time bypassed all possible futile attempts and went straight to The best quality selection has been identified in memory.
The former AOL, around 2000, went from being a super giant with a market value of almost US$200 billion to collapse in just a few years. To a large extent, this company gave up its role as an Internet service provider. Instead of focusing on the fundamentals of business, it turned towards becoming an Internet media company, and therefore completed the acquisition of Time Warner, a traditional content company.
Therefore, during the critical period of the transition from dial-up Internet access and ISDN technology to ADSL, AOL was focusing on content. It did not understand that in the Internet era where the amount of information exploded exponentially, unlike traditional Hollywood studios or major television Net, as a mere Internet media company, is simply unable to meet the differentiated content needs of hundreds of millions of Internet users.
At the same time, because of taking the wrong route, AOL handed over its ISP business, the basis for its survival, to traditional telecom operators that were slow to respond but did not forget their own business. Finally, in the twin waves of the bursting of the Internet bubble and technological upgrading, Next, an Internet company that could have become a super ISP giant disappeared in an instant.
This time, Simon firmly locked in AOL's ISP properties from the beginning.
In the past few years, AOL has been investing as much resources as possible in the construction of its own backbone fiber-optic network and other infrastructure in order to get rid of the embarrassing situation of needing to lease lines from traditional telecom operators.
Now, AOL's line network in its own business areas on the east and west coasts has been very complete, and it has even completed the laying of a backbone optical fiber that runs through the east and west coasts of the United States and is exclusive to AOL. At the same time, AOL has also been testing the ADSL technology under development on a small scale.
After completing the preliminary preparations, the number of Internet users in the United States has reached a considerable level, so it is time for technological upgrading.
Prior to this, if there had not been the exclusive agreement originally signed, even if AOL completed the laying of the main lines, traditional telecom operators would rely on their century-long accumulation of infrastructure to replace AOL's market position. Still big.
However, once the upgrade from traditional dial-up Internet access to ADSL is completed, AOL will have an advantage that is difficult to match in the ISP field.
Because although it still relies on telephone lines to provide data transmission, ADSL is already two completely different data transmission modes compared to traditional dial-up Internet access. Both parties require completely different equipment for support between the ISP access and the user terminal. Therefore, A large amount of capital investment is required for the upgrading of the service network, which of course also involves time costs.
Any company that catches up with its peers in terms of time and technology will easily maintain this advantage as long as it does not lose its way.
In the next year, AOL plans to invest a huge amount of US$1.5 billion in upgrading its service network.
The huge plan involving a huge capital investment of 1.5 billion US dollars and the crazy bet on ADSL technology are almost a desperate act in the eyes of people who cannot see the future.
Because unlike later generations who planned to equate ADSL technology with broadband, in this era, it is not that there are no other technologies that can be used.
Many AOL executives and board members are more inclined to further upgrade ISDN technology based on dial-up Internet access in order to improve AOL's overall network service speed.
Upgrading on the basis of the original technology not only reduces the cost significantly, but also avoids the risk of going the wrong way as much as possible.
You must know that once the ADSL technology is rolled out and it is not as good as imagined, then AOL will lose not only the investment of 1.5 billion US dollars, but may even drag the entire company into the abyss.
Just like the mistakes AOL made on the fundamental development path of the company in the original time and space.
Therefore, in the end, this plan is the result of Simon using the Westeros Company's absolute controlling position in AOL to push forward vigorously.
On January 20, Simon had been in New York during the day attending high-level meetings with AOL and did not fly to Washington until the afternoon.
On the same day, Bill Clinton officially took over the White House throne from George Bush. The inauguration ceremony lasted until the evening, and a grand celebration ceremony was held in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
Simon did not go to the celebration ceremony to cheer, but met several members of Clinton's cabinet at a cocktail party in another part of the city.
There is still no direct contact with Clinton himself.
However, Simon also got the information he wanted this night.
Clinton's promised visit to Silicon Valley was scheduled for early March, the same month that the U.S. Congress would hold a final vote on the "Information Superhighway Plan." After the recent election changes, both the House of Representatives and the Senate are in the hands of the Democratic Party. It is unlikely that there will be any surprises in this vote.
Therefore, compared with the time point in September 1993 in Simon's memory, the launch time of this space-time information highway plan will be half a year earlier.
Although it is only half a year, Simon knows how powerful this national plan will be for the entire Internet industry.
The most intuitive point is that the "Information Superhighway Plan" will definitely come with tax exemption and subsidy policies for new technology companies. Even if the technology companies in the Westeros system are not short of money, it will be enough to make their own capital chain more abundant. , at the same time, this plan can also further promote the flow of capital into new technology fields and promote the continued explosion of the Internet industry.
After the inauguration of the new US president, AOL's ADSL upgrade plan was also exposed.
Prior to this, because of the differences within AOL on this plan, the media with a keen sense of smell had begun to focus on this matter.
With the official announcement of the upgrade plan involving a capital investment of US$1.5 billion, it once again aroused heated discussion in the media.
After completing the ADSL plan, AOL can easily break through the existing network speed limitations based on dial-up Internet technology and provide users with network speeds of more than 256Kb/s.
256Kb/s, equivalent to a data download speed of 32K per second.
At this stage, most of the stand-alone games in the Igret software store are only about 1M in size. In the past, the network speed was 56Kb/s or 128Kb/s. After the user purchased it, it took a few minutes to download. Once the ADSL upgrade is completed, , users can basically download the same game or software within a minute.
At the same time, after completing the technology upgrade, the web animation and audio technologies developed by Yigrit can also be more widely used, thereby further enriching the content of the Internet platform.
The further enrichment of Internet content will, in turn, increase the appeal of the Internet to the public and thus promote the development of the entire industry.
Overall, this is a pretty good virtuous cycle.
Of course, in the next few years, it will mainly be a virtuous cycle within the AOL operating area.
Moreover, after completing the upgrade of ADSL technology, if traditional operators are still slow to respond, AOL will no longer stick to its own business area. The management has even formulated a plan to expand to the Great Lakes region in advance.
However, the outside world obviously cannot see clearly the possibility of a virtuous cycle.
Instead, many media outlets are criticizing AOL's overly aggressive expansion strategy.
During the industrial explosion period of the previous two years, AOL had been operating at a loss. Now, it has just completed its layout in several major regions on the east and west coasts. According to the normal operating philosophy of a company, it should wait for at least a few years to recover the previous profits through the existing technology network. huge investment before considering upgrading.
We have just completed the layout of the basic line network and have not recovered much funds, so we can’t wait to update it. Moreover, we are updating to a technology that has not been proven to be successful. It is really a bit blind.
Therefore, on January 21, the day the news was announced, AOL's stock price fell 3.1%.
The subsequent response of the Westeros system was somewhat surprising.
It's also very simple.
Simply and crudely increase your holdings.
After the market closed on Friday, January 22, Westeros submitted a holding increase document to the SEC. In just two days, AOL's stock price fell 5.3%, and Westeros also unknowingly , increased its shareholding ratio in AOL from 65.4%, which has remained almost unchanged since the IPO, to 66.1%.
In the past year, the number of World Wide Web users in the United States reached 28.67 million, of which 17.32 million were AOL users.
Compared with the total user base of 13.17 million and AOL's 7.68 million at the end of 1991, both data have achieved more than 100% growth.
Not to mention the whole, just AOL, in the past year, preliminary revenue figures have reached 3.8 billion U.S. dollars. Although the full-year financial report is still expected to be a loss, due to the rapid growth of users and revenue, the previous January 20 On that day, the market value still reached a high of US$18.6 billion.
Therefore, although Westeros Company's shareholding increase ratio is only 0.5%, it has invested approximately US$80 million in just two days.
At the press conference on Saturday, Westeros President James Raybould also said that the Westeros system is very optimistic about the development prospects of AOL and will invest more funds to buy the company's shares if necessary. .
In the blink of an eye, 80 million US dollars was invested. In addition to the powerful capital strength of Westeros Company, the capital market also came to its senses.
AOL's rapid growth in the past few years is obvious to all. Moreover, considering that the company's operating area is only limited to the east and west coast states, there is still huge room for performance growth. It was only because of public doubts about AOL's ADSL plan that it was hastily abandoned. It would be very unwise to own stock in this company.
This is not the first time that the media has made misleading judgments.
In comparison, Simon Westeros has created too many business miracles.
As a result, when the weekend passed and the new week began, on Monday alone, AOL's stock price rebounded back to the price on January 20, and the market value was still on track to exceed the US$20 billion mark.