Communications with global access is dramatically changing our lives and over the next two decades, will provide rapid access to information of all types, from handheld or briefcase-size terminals anywhere on the planet.

AlphaStar not only is spearheading that race but has seamlessly integrated the world of TV/video and Internet delivery with live multicasting/streaming, providing broadcast and carrier-level quality of service offerings via a high-performance content delivery platform.

AlphaStar's delivery platform, part of the "Star Wars" initiative, has been re-purposed merging high bandwidth global satellite access with terrestrial ultra-high-bandwidth optical fiber networks to provide global access taking advantage of the ubiquitous nature and reach of Internet and the ability to customize mass-marketing messages to individual customers.
AlphaStar is a world-class Internet-based real-time IP multicast/streaming global content delivery platform using the seamless integration of high-performance satellite and terrestrial optical fiber networks.

AlphaStar is a 21st Century globally integrated Communications Company offering continuous full-motion high definition video, in IP multicasting and streaming formats, television and other multimedia programming services to the Internet through its uniquely positioned, high-bandwidth satellite and terrestrial communications platform.

AlphaStar delivers comprehensive global programming content live, as well as on-demand, on a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week basis.  AlphaStar is the first company capable of delivering global live content using a seamless integration of high performance satellite and fiber optic terrestrial networks with AlphaStreamingª.

With AlphaStreamingª from its Teleport facilities in Oxford, Connecticut, AlphaStar with its re-purposed Conditional Access facilities (i.e., Pay-for-View with dynamic media insertion) can provide new avenues of revenue heretofore unknown to the world wide web. AlphaStreamingª reaches well-defined or self-defined mass audiences with Internet broadcasting. We proudly introduce AlphaStreamingª, the future of broadcast communications which is based on multicast Internet protocols.

AlphaStreamingª is an enabling technology allowing corporations to broadcast a single stream of content with dynamic media insertion to thousands of customers or potential customers simultaneously.  Each end-user receives a high-quality (i.e., 30 frames per second), real-time simulcast at a lower cost. In comparison to normal Internet communications which are unicast, with AlphaStreamingª you don't have to send a duplicate data stream to each individual, your corporate bandwidth is utilized more efficiently, allowing you to control the demands placed on your network bandwidth while enjoying the benefits of contacting thousands of individuals with your corporate video collaterals, training, and other mission-critical communications.

AlphaStreamingª is the ideal solution for re-purposing existing video or other content including real-time functions such as marketing launch events, distance learning, ticker feeds, shareholder events and other e-Enterprise communications.  AlphaStreamingª relies on scalability for its efficiencies. With its scalable, globally integrated communications infrastructure, AlphaStar is at the forefront defining a new level of IP broadcast capabilities providing a low-cost, highly effective way to reach a globally dispersed audience, small or large, in a media-rich and interactive way. In a time when competitive advantage is defined by fast, high-quality broadcast-quality multicasting, product introduction and sales and service training are ever-increasing, AlphaStreamingª is simply the best quality, time and cost answer to real-time knowledge transfer. Our professional services and support team blend unique levels of technical, financial as well as video production delivery and internet internetworking service in support of your e-Enterprise business opportunities using AlphaStreamingª.

AlphaStar’s Teleport facility is uniquely positioned to receive video and audio transmissions from commercial and corporate sources in a large number of countries, to reprocess these signals, and to deliver appropriate programming content directly through fiber optic interconnections and satellite broadcasting to corporations dynamically via on-demand private VPN network connections without impacting mission-critical corporate communications backbones. This content would include live programming from corporate communications, marketing and sales, foreign television channels, radio stations and cable networks as well as movies, special events, music and music videos, animations, webcams, imaging, mapping and a variety of e-publishing activities. AlphaStar is the leading global IP multicasting solution, providing Fortune 1,000 companies with international operations and Global 2,000 with high-speed access, broadband capabilities and teleport services to more than 140 countries. AlphaStar has the capability of providing through its AlphaStreamingª on-demand Corporate TV channels to widely dispersed organizations both domestically and internationally, bringing the organization “up close and personal” without dislocation associated with physical meetings and conferences for normal corporate communications. AlphaStreamingª puts accountability and a new face on corporate communications especially in a time when time-to-market cycles are ever shortening and the requirement for fast, high-quality communications can make the difference between competitive advantage and positioning and lost luggage.  True to its history as a technology leader, AlphaStar is one of the first companies in the world to test a new Internet-based real-time IP Multicasting/streaming content delivery service. IP Multicasting will lower content delivery costs, increase the level and quality of collaboration while making accountability and competitive advantage a reality.

AlphaStar Technology Innovator
There is no doubt that IP is one of the greatest success stories in the history of information technology.  Today, IP and the structures built upon it, such as World Wide Web, are changing our lives, our interactions, and our businesses.  The growth rates for IP traffic and users are unique and immense networks that once appeared inexhaustible have been brought to their knees.

Today IP has moved from the realms of academia and entertainment into mainstream business. e-Commerce/e-Business, web-based business, corporate intranets, and extranets are clearly the future. Indeed, AlphaStar has the ability with AlphaStreamingª to create an on-demand internet IP/TV channel for geographically distributed "virtual corporation" establishing a collaborative environment for real-time communications in a business-to-business format.

So today, we are running towards a world with two defacto realities: IP services and an ATM infrastructure. AlphaStar is positioned to allow your organization to take advantage of these technologies with its AlphaStreamingª facilities in re-purposing your existing video and broadcast communications delivering this content in support of your e-Enterprise in a accountable and targeted fashion over the Internet.  The convergence of these two worlds, coupled with the dramatic growth the industry are experiencing, confronts us with a number of challenges.

We need to ensure that the networks we are building:
 

• Can deliver to our customers the services they require and demand
• Make best use of the resources (bandwidth people, and capital) that we employ in their development.
• Are capable of meeting the demand for growth in client users and bandwidth
• Are able to support current and future applications, from telephony to multimedia
• Enable us to deliver the breadth of services at affordable costs.
• Have the reach to meet the needs of a global community into the new millennium.

AlphaStar's facility is a FCC-licensed satellite teleport, which has been re-focused and transformed into a globally integrated communications platform with full production studio for video origination, Conditional Access capabilities and a IP multicasting/streaming AlphaStreamingª Center for Internet deployment. This teleport facility, which was built to military specification for the "Star Wars" initiative, is one of only a few such facilities of this type existing in the U.S. today, and one of only about a dozen worldwide.

The facility is a fully integrated digital complex capable of simultaneously receiving thousands of broadcast streams from television, radio stations and Internet, processing these streams, and then delivering them through fiber connections or satellite via a small Ku-band dish (i.e., approximately 36) to Corporate VPN's or through the multicast-enabled Internet connections. The AlphaStar AlphaStreamingª facility is capable of providing customers with broadcast quality video and program audio, as well as voice and data transmissions. It is strategically located in Oxford, Connecticut providing an excellent global gateway to the world community due to its ability to receive feeds from satellites around the world, either directly or with one "hop". The cost to replicate this facility and the long lead times needed to obtain appropriate zoning and licensing approvals are significant barriers to entry to any potential competitors.

IP Multicasting/Streaming: A Win-Win for e-Commerce/ e-Business and e-Enterprise communications.  The world of international operations is changing. New markets are opening in China, Russia, India, Eastern Europe, and South America. Regional trade pacts are expanding in Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia. New information technology is changing the way business is being conducted. The net result is a more integrated world in which companies that can transform themselves into globally focused marketing and production networks gain significant competitive advantages.  AlphaStar provides a comprehensive one-to-many IP multicasting capability called AlphaStreamingª including professional DBS/DTH broadcast system capabilities and high bandwidth connectivity into the Internet.

At AlphaStar we are continually re-inventing ourselves, from one of only six uniquely designed military spec "Star Wars" earth station re-purposed to a DBS/DTH facility then refocus and fully integrated into a Globally integrated Communications Platform - the next generation network delivery system. From AlphaStar’s Oxford, Connecticut-based earth station, “we see the world up close and personal” with amazing capabilities for everyone, everywhere communicating with universal access in any format and content in live real-time video multicasting or streaming.

From our broadcast-quality studio for origination to our Conditional Access facilities for controlling "pay-for-view" and targeted real-time dynamic media insertion all in support of electronic commerce, to our carrier-level internet access from satellite or terrestrial fiber network, scalable into the terabit range - no delivery is too small or too large. Our infrastructure, connectivity, scalability and functionalities of this unique earth station are above and beyond Internet2 specifications for establishing QoS and Level of Service for a corporate VPN/TV network on-demand or to simply facilitating a world wide web event or product launch.

AlphaStar is your first and last choice.
A big benefit of AlphaStar AlphaStreamingª to most businesses is the ability to dramatically lower marketing costs through re-purposing of existing video. IP multicasting/streaming is a powerful new marketing communication tool. Secondly, any corporation that is globally diverse can use AlphaStar to create an on-demand IP/TV channel to communicate without impacting the corporate mission and critical communications network backbone.

The Opportunity
Over the past few years, the volume of data traffic across public communications networks has increased significantly due to the use of the Internet as a communications and transaction medium. According to International Data Corporation (IDC), the number of worldwide Internet users reached approximately 69 million in 1997 and is forecasted to grow to approximately 320 million by 2002. IDC also estimates that the value of goods and services sold worldwide through the Internet will increase from $12 billion in 1997 to over $400 billion in 2002. In addition to electronic commerce, business usage of web-based communications, remote access for tele-workers, applications hosting and other services have generated enormous traffic for the existing communications infrastructure. To meet this demand, service providers have installed high-bandwidth fiber optic transmission equipment, high-speed switches and core routers in backbone and interoffice networks.

In contrast to these core networks, which support digital transmission speeds exceeding 9 Gbps, most access networks, or connections between client users and central offices, (often called the "last mile,") are made through the copper infrastructure originally built to transmit analog voice signals. In fact, over 140 million businesses and homes in the United States are served by this copper infrastructure, and the worldwide installed base of copper lines exceeds up analog modems with connection speeds that do not exceed 56.6 Kbps, inadequate to meet their high-bandwidth requirements.  Until recently, the incumbent local exchange carriers (ILEC’s), consisting of the Regional Bell Operating Companies, were the exclusive operators of this last-mile, copper wire-based infrastructure and primarily offered ISDN and T-1 services to address the need for high-speed connectivity. These service offerings enable symmetrical data transmission at rates up to 28 Kbps and 1.5 Mbps, respectively.

ISDN, which requires the installation of special equipment at each end of the copper access lines, has achieved limited success due to the complexity and high cost of deployment. T-1 services provide 12 times the bandwidth of ISDN, but require expensive infrastructure modification and investment. While there are various transmission media alternatives for providing broadband connectivity, such as coaxial cable and wireless, its believed none have the cost and coverage advantages of using the existing copper infrastructure.

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) is a technology that was developed to address the last-mile bottleneck.  While there are several variants of DSL implementations, they all share several important advantages over traditional high-speed services delivered over the copper infrastructure as well as cable and wireless broadband alternatives.

Guaranteed, Dedicated Bandwidth
DSL is a point-to-point technology that allows for guaranteed levels of bandwidth.  Because DSL connections are dedicated to each user, DSL does not suffer from service degradation as other subscribers are added to the system, and, in addition, allows a higher level of security. Alternative broadcast solutions, such as cable and wireless, are shared systems which suffer service degradation and increase the risk of security breaches as additional users share bandwidth.   Because DSL uses the existing copper-based last-mile connection, it can be significantly less expensive to deploy to businesses and home than other broadband solutions. In addition, recent advances in semiconductor technology and industry standardization have made the widespread deployment of DSL increasingly economical to both service providers and subscribers.

The use of multimedia applications is increasing at a rapid pace with the growth of the Internet, video conferencing, voice, and fax.  Revenues for the networking multimedia market in year 2000 are expected to be $55.0 billion up from $8.5 billion in 1996. Revenues from networks including LANs, switches, routers and cabling are expected to reach $137 billion in 2003 up from $61 billion in 1997. Shipments of PC’s, net appliances, and gateways is expected to grow rapidly. Significant part of these network components will need networking multimedia support. Forecast shipments of PCs is estimated to be 89 million in 1998 and 103.8 million in 1999 ad continue to grow. Net appliances (including web phones) shipments is estimated to be 8 million in 1999 and rapidly growing to 41 million in 2002. The cumulative number of high-speed gateways in the USA residential market in year 2003 is expected to be 4.6 million ADSL gateways, 0.6 million ISDN and 7.3 million Cable modems. These gateways are in addition to the 56K modems and high-speed wireless internet access. Larger numbers are expected worldwide. AlphaStar is uniquely positioned to provide IP/Multicasting/streaming to this growing audience.  The Market Potential for Internet "Streaming" Services - 45 Million Streamers Equal a $12 Billion Market

"Opportunities in Streaming Media" report estimates that one-third of the U.S. Internet users -30 million people- now tune into Internet radio, and the world monthly market is approximately 45 million streamers.  Users are an increasingly international group, with approximately one third of downloads/registrations now originating outside North America. Fifty percent of U.S. streaming media users are expected to have broadband access by 2002 either at home or in the office, and European businesses will need to roll out broadband access to compete.  Industry statistics underline the facts behind the growth.

There are:

1. 45,000 hours of live content broadcast each week
2. More than 400,000 streaming pages
3. 3,000 radio stations forecast to be webcasting by the end of 1999
4. 58 U.S. television stations webcasting live, 34 on demand, plus 69 International TV webcasters
5. More than 4 million people with digital music players, 400 percent up in 12 months, 100 percent audience growth in 4 months

Some substantial numbers of video streams have been served in the past year, with leading sites achieving monthly video streams of 3 to 4 million. In Europe, in August 1999 BBC Online's European solar eclipse microsite was estimated to have served a million streams in a day. A significant factor is the rate of market growth: the BBC estimates that its streaming audience size is growing exponentially by 100 percent every 4 months.  It currently reaches an audience of 1 million a month.AlphaStar with its AlphaStreamingª capabilities overcomes the main barrier, for most, if not all broadcasters (and the infrastructure industry), is that of the economic concept of webcasting. Broadcasting has high fixed costs, and low variable costs.

AlphaStreamingª business model is the exact opposite. With an FCC licensed, DBS/DTH earth station fully integrated as a communications platform with a global reach-- barriers to market entry are low in serving large growing audiences in business-to-business and consumer niches. Businesses with their investment high-speed Internet access already represent a sizable market opportunity for the delivery of an streaming media services through secured satellite transmission in a multicasting/streaming format within their WAN infrastructure.

As the consumer segment invests into high-speed, always-on, broadband Internet access will provide a prime medium for streaming media via xDSL, cable modems, and other interactive services including wireless and Ka-band satellites. Once such an investment has been made at the consumer level they will expect high-quality, high value added services, and will use the services proportionately more in line with the value of the investment. This AlphaStar believes will create an ideal environment for premium advertising rates, and pay and Pay-Per-View services.

Indeed according to Vision Consultant Group’s recently published study, the office broadband environment will provide an ideal premium advertising market, and this will assist streaming media achieve premium advertising rates, such as those realized by business media such as the Wall Street Journal, Der Spiegel and Financial Times. This results in office related streaming media revenues of $8.7 billion by 2004.

AlphaStar with its international reach with its FCC licensed Teleport facility easily reaches the largest international audience from its vantage point as a integrated communications platform with its DBS/DTH roots. Vision estimates the European broadband homes will reach 13.4 million by 2004. Broadband users domestically will total 18.8 million by this time. It therefore follows that there will be far more broadband office users (38.5 million) compared with home users by this time, about twice as many. Total home advertising revenues reach $1.9 billion by 2004, with pay services at $1.3 billion, providing a total home market of $3.2 billion.

Multicasting/streaming technologies presently employed by AlphaStreamingª are creating a rapidly growing market because of its fundamental advantages over traditional television, radio and cable outlets.

This global aggregation of popular programming content will be offered free to Company website users and is expected to generate significant traffic that will lead to advertising and e-commerce revenues. The Company also expects to enter into strategic partnering arrangements with ISPs and other backbone and network providers whereby AlphaStar will deliver multicast programming content through select routers and servers linked to the Company through fiber connections, satellite and/or corporate VPN's.

In addition, the Company is projecting that a majority of its revenues will come from business customers who will be attracted to AlphaStar because of the Company's broadcast origination capabilities, its full service satellite teleport services, and its ability to multicast Internet streaming media. Potential sources of revenue from these business customers will include: bandwidth for stream delivery, encoding services, server access, archival hosting and storage, and other services with Streaming Services, Redistribution (which is the processing of signals from satellites to fiber or vice versa), and Program Origination and Playback generating the bulk of those revenues in the near term.

The factors which inhibited the growth of the Internet video streaming market in the past included use of bandwidth intensive unicasting which required that a transmitter send a single stream of data to a single requesting user, the inherent bottlenecks and delays of the Internet backbone, and the need to process video signals prior to Internet delivery. AlphaStar believes that it can successfully overcome these difficulties by using a multicasting versus unicasting delivery approach; by utilizing satellites to aggregate content for redistribution to remote servers; by using its broadcast origination infrastructure to ensure quality and stability of signal sources; and by becoming a redistribution gateway for domestic and international satellites, thereby achieving global Internet connectivity.

AlphaStar's Strategic Advantage
AlphaStar is well-poised to capitalize on the Internet video streaming market at this time. Its business plan was designed to take full advantage of its currently licensed, upgraded facilities and the recent advances in technology which now make it possible to receive television quality video over the Internet. Most of this technology was completed within the last several months and includes the following:
Microsoft's recent introduction of Windows Media Player that facilitates the transmission of near TV quality pictures (i.e. 30 frames per second) over the Internet;
Real Networks introduction of a new version of RealPlayer (G2) which provides further improvements in picture and sound quality; Apple's introduction of Quick Time that provides near TV quality pictures;
Cisco Systems' introduction of new multicasting technology;
The expansion of high speed Internet access through use of cable modems, digital subscriber lines and other connections; and an improvement of the Intranet technologies with such products as Cisco Systems' IT/TV which allows private networks to receive TV picture quality.

In terms of AlphaStar's progress to date:
A. Microsoft and Real Networks have already licensed streaming media products to the Company which will enable Internet users to view full motion video from the Company's websites;
B. Apple is in the process of licensing its Quick Time product to the Company to accomplish the same objective;
C. AlphaStar has entered into an agreement with Sprint to offer multicasting nationwide using Cisco Systems' multicasting software; and
D. Cisco Systems has licensed its IT/TV product to AlphaStar for intranet uses.

With these technological relationships, AlphaStar aims to provide forward looking businesses with the ability to deploy this enabling extension of the Internet to reach large number of defined audiences efficiently and successfully as possible to meet the challenges and exploit the opportunities that IP/TV and IP multicasting brings.

Attractive Market Dynamics
Market analysts cite a number of factors driving the growing use of streaming technologies. They include the exponential growth in the total number of web users, increased amounts of time being spent on the web, the need to sustain the interest of the "eyeballs", the small percentage of websites currently using audio and video streaming, the rapid improvement of webcasting encoding and serving technology, and the introduction of high bandwidth in-home delivery systems.

According to advertising industry statistics, dollars being spent for Internet advertising have been growing exponentially. Forrester Research estimates that online advertising spending in the US will total $22.0 billion by 2004, up from the current figure of $2.8 billion. In addition, despite the lack of marketing activity at present for the Company’s Internet video streaming services, broadcasters from several European countries have already expressed an interest in working with the Company to implement its plan. AlphaStar is uniquely positioned to take full advantage of these and other opportunities with the ability for dynamic targeted media insertions generating revenue streams on a click basis.

FCC Licensed, Fully Operational Facilities
The Company's 20,000 square foot Internet streaming center is a fully redundant, totally climate-controlled facility capable of simultaneously broadcasting thousands of TV channels either live or on-demand to the Internet. Its unique location facilitates global connectivity. The facility is capable of downlinking C-band and Ku-band feeds from satellites located in the domestic geostationary arc (extending from 1 degree west to 137 degrees west) and then uplinking to any satellite in that same arc or in the Atlantic Ocean region arc. This allows the Company to service customers throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India and a large portion of the former Soviet Union. In addition, with one satellite "hop", the Company can service the Pacific Rim and the rest of the world. The facility also has multi-terabyte per second fiber optic interconnection capability already installed within the complex.

Advances in Technology
Currently available technology allows delivery of video and audio content over widely used 28.8 or 56 kilobit /second narrow bandwidth modems, yet can scale up in quality to take advantage of higher speed access being provided Internet users by digital subscriber lines, cable modems, satellite delivery and other emerging broadband technologies. In addition, Microsoft and Real Networks have developed streaming media products which enable Internet users to gain access to continuous "streams" of video and audio content via the Internet.

Significant Barriers to Entry
The AlphaStar facility was originally built under President Reagan’s “Star Wars” defense program to monitor satellites of the former Soviet Union. By the time upgrades were completed, the total costs of construction were estimated to have been approximately $50 million.  In addition, the lead times required to identify suitable sites, apply for and obtain equivalent zoning and licensing approvals, design and build such a facility, and to fully equip it would, in the aggregate, present added significant economic considerations for potential competitors. AlphaStar is already "up and running" and prepared to capture a significant share of this currently attractive market.

Technical Competence / High Value Added Business
AlphaStar currently employs highly skilled full time technical support individuals who maintain the day to day operations of the facility. These individuals have the technical competence to handle all signal reception and generation activities including compression, encryption, filtering, amplification, noise suppression, quality monitoring and Internet streaming. They are also responsible for program origination and post production activities such as content coloring, sizing, resequencing, storage and signal quality improvement as well as insertion of ads, promotions and graphics. In addition, the Company receives a great deal of outside technical support from companies with which AlphaStar is currently collaborating.

Competition
AlphaStar is a DVB compliant digital direct-to-home (DTH) satellite television service. AlphaStar’s digital earth station at Oxford, Connecticut, is the nerve center of AlphaStar International’s network, driving the technology for transmission of the highest quality digital programming and data services for business-to-business television users and to consumers.

AlphaStar earth station features:

• Twelve acres of land and 20,000 square feet of floor space
• Two 13-meter Ku-band transmit/receive antennas
• Sumulsat-7 receive antenna
• Two 4.5-meter Patriot received antennas, one Step motion 13 m Ku-band and one 13 m full motion C/Ku band antennas
• Fully automated facility, utilizing Alamar MC-2095 automation, Tektronix FDR-100 Digital Video File Servers, as well as D-3, Beta-SP, and S-VHS tape formats
• CD quality audio
• Capable of originating 22 automated Pay-Per-View channels
• 200 channel network capability
• 300 kilowatt uninterruptible power supply (UPS) with diesel generation
• 500 kilowatt diesel generator for up to four days of continuous back-up power
• Current capabilities of Teleport:
• Domestic Ku-band Uplink
• Domestic C-Band Downlink
• Domestic Ku-Band Downlink
• C-Ku Turnaround
• Video Origination

Current equipment up and operational at the facility

• Simulsat Dish with 15 satellite capability R/O (Domestic C-Band arc only)
• Agile C-Ku Hybrid R/O
• Fixed Ku-Band Dish R/O
• 13 m full motion Ku-Band Dish T/O
• 13 m Step Track motion Ku-Band Dish T/O