@Home, Arepa say click and play is just a year away

Cable operator @Home Network will work with start-up Arepa Inc. to offer click-and-play access to CD-ROM content over @Home's broadband network. Last week's announcement marks Arepa's first high-profile partnership.

Ric Fulop, who recognized the need for a broadband content platform, founded the company in 1996. "This alliance represents a key milestone toward a critical mass of multimedia applications that differentiate broadband networks from dial-up," Fulop said. "Through our joint efforts, @Home and Arepa are creating the first open architecture allowing high-bandwidth content and virtually any multimedia CD-ROM to be accessed instantly over broadband networks."

Trials will begin this year, but the service is not expected be on the market before 1999. The advanced, high-bandwidth platform will let @Home users access education and entertainment applications originally created for CD-ROM without long downloads or installations. Users will not need a CD player.

The new service would solve user problems, said Charles Moldow, vice president of media development for @Home.

"Customers will have the access to thousands of CD-ROM titles without having to make the commitment of buying them first," Moldow said. "Lots of people lack the information to make good decisions at the CD-ROM counter. And with our instant install, in one click you can have the title appear."

The announcement "certainly gets a hot issue into the consumer space," said Joe Bartlett, an analyst with The Yankee Group. "It's a narrowband world, and the service they've proposed would facilitate a wealth of content available over what is available now over dial-up.

"But the timing is a little suspect," Bartlett added. "The earliest they could have it on the market is a year, and that's assuming all the trials go well. So there's excitement over the announcement, but it's tempered a little by the fact that it's not here now."