HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL

Groundhogs and economists have a lot in common. The groundhog saw his shadow this year, meaning six more weeks of winter. Economists see Enron in every earnings announcement and predict six more months of recession. Still, evidence that things may be getting better — or at least aren't getting any worse — is peeking through the ground like wary spring blossoms. Web hosting giant Digex, for instance, just reported rosier-than-expected fourth-quarter and year-end 2001 results. It helped that the company continues to get a huge financial boost from WorldCom, but perhaps this is a sign that hosting is finally taking off. At least it's an indication that Digex will still be around in 2002 — itself a positive for a shaky Internet space. There are other signs. Fixed broadband wireless players are cautiously upbeat about international opportunities and the chance to develop second-generation gear for WorldCom and Sprint (see story on page 42). Voice over cable and video over copper, two notions from the wild '90s, are leaving hibernation — albeit on small, trial scale bases. There are, to be sure, still clear indications that the harsh economic winter continues. Lucent and other big-time vendors bleed money as if stuck in the navels with ice picks. The Bell companies and the IXCs hang limp on the vine, and cable monoliths such as AOL Time Warner have trouble making all the pieces fit economically. But those are on the surface. Beneath ground level, growth is starting to sprout again, and the economic forecasters need only look past than their shadows to see it.