Mr. Rakib: Terayon Communication Systems was incorporated in 1993 in California. We started the research and development activities in late 1994 with a charter of becoming a leading supplier of broadband access systems with an initial focus on cable television systems as the broadband media. Our first set of cable modem products started shipping in early 1998. These cable modems enable a high-speed connection to the Internet as well as systems to provide telephony over the cable infrastructure.
TWST: What do you expect the significant trends to be over the next
couple of years?
Mr. Rakib: I believe several trends are expected in the next couple of
years. The first one is that broadband access as a means to access
residential areas and small offices will be the dominant way to connect
peripheral computers. Later on, what I see is more connectivity devices,
or what I call consumer networking appliances, coming into the market.
Currently, peripheral computers are the dominant way to connect from the
residence to the Internet. But other equipment at home, including the
TV, and maybe one of these days your washer and dryer, may be connected
to an Intranet or the Internet. We're going to see a trend of what I
called earlier the consumer networking appliance. Other media, such as
copper with ADSL and also wireless, will also become applicable for
high-speed connections. More and more devices that provide this kind of
connectivity will start seeing retail sometime late this year or next
year.
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