Under construction: Entrepreneurial Arepa focuses on broadband software

Improving the variety of content available for broadband networks is the mission of Arepa Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.-based start-up claiming to be the first company dedicated to such services and technology.

The company has caught the initial interest of several cable companies, including MediaOne and @Home Network Corp. Arepa officials boast that the company's software platform will allow CD-ROM material to be directly copied, stored and encrypted on a server for on-demand distribution.

"The success of any paradigm shift is based on the ability to create an application compelling enough to bring it into the mass market," said David Fellows, senior vice president of Internet and engineering operation for U S West Media Group. "Arepa's technology has been designed specifically for showcasing the capabilities of broadband networks."

Arepa was founded in 1996 by Ric Fulop, 23, who recognized the need for a broadband content platform.

"He talked to me about it and agreed it was a problem, but I told him, 'Technically, we can't solve that problem,'" said Derek Atkins, a co-founder and chief technical officer of Arepa.

Using a distributed architecture, Arepa's platform allows PC users connected to a broadband service to access broadband applications and software, including multimedia CD-ROM games and educational and productivity programs.

Now in its final development stage, the platform soon will operate over any interactive broadband network-cable modems, digital subscriber line and wireless and satellite networks.

"We founded Arepa to offer the missing piece of the broadband puzzle," said Rouzbeh Yassini, Arepa's chairman and inventor of the cable modem. "Now that broadband deployment has begun, there is a need for a common, open platform that will deliver quality broadband service to each customer."

Arepa is targeting broadband service providers and content service providers, said Jennifer Felch, director of marketing and business development.

"For the broadband service provider that is providing high bandwidth right into people's homes, the challenge is to increase the number of subscribers, especially those willing to pay a premium for speed," she said. "For the content publishers, the challenge is increasing profitability and offering new products. Arepa is enabling them to offer [huge amounts of] new content to subscribers, eliminating downloading and installation."

Arepa's plans are based on numbers projecting significant growth for broadband services. It is expected that between 500,000 and 900,000 broadband users will exist by the end of this year, up from the current 110,000. By 2000, between 2 million and 4 million people will be broadband customers, said Felch.

"We are providing a compelling application, and there will be lots of people trying to take advantage of it," she said.

Arepa's solution opens an incredible pool of material for operators that are looking to distinguish their services from competitors, said a spokesman for @Home.

Technical trials for Arepa's platform are planned for April and May, Felch said, with deployment directly following. The company is still working on pricing for the product, she said.

"Arepa is providing the icing on the cake of broadband," Fulop said. "Thanks to us, broadband networks will gain immediate access to large libraries of compelling, high-bandwidth content and applications."

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