Worldwide Cable Modem Market Grew 19% in Third Quarter

SAN JOSE -- Worldwide cable modem market shipments totaled more than 3 million units in the third quarter of 2002, a 19.4 % increase from the same period last year, according to Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner Inc.

"North America continues to see strong demand for cable broadband access services in the third quarter of 2002, and shipments of cable modems reflect this trend," said Patti Reali, principal analyst for Gartner Dataquest's worldwide telecommunications group. "U.S.-based vendors will start to see even more intense competition for the low-end, simple-functionality modems from the Asian-based manufacturers and -- until the market launches advanced services that require more complex, higher-functionality CPE devices -- prices will continue to fall."

"Continued introduction of new broadband cable markets and the migration of dial-up users to these access modalities will continue to drive demand for cable modems. However, price will become an issue as the market moves into the 'early majority' phase of adoption."

Motorola Broadband Communications remained No. 1 with 32.6% of the market. The company continued to do well in the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) space, where it was also the top vendor.

Terayon fell from No. 2 to the No. 5 spot because of a weak quarter in the non-DOCSIS segment. Gartner Dataquest found that non-DOCSIS units accounted for only 1.3% of worldwide cable modem CPE units in the third quarter.

Meridian Project Systems Expands Management Team With New CEO

FOLSOM -- Meridian Project Systems, a leading provider of project management software and ASP solutions, has appointed James T. Olsen as its new chief executive officer. Olsen has previously worked as a marketing executive at Nortel, DSC Communications, and most recently, Objective Systems Integrators.

Co-founders John Bodrozic and David Towert launched MPS nearly a decade ago to develop leading-edge technology solutions for the project management arena. Since its inception, MPS has made the INC magazine’s 500 list two years in a row, grown its customer base to more than 75,000 users and established a market leadership position with its Prolog and ProjectTalk solutions.

"This new CEO appointment is part of MPS' long-term growth strategy," said John Bodrozic, president and co-founder of MPS. "With Jim's operations software background to Fortune 500 companies, we can advance our market leadership and effectively bring MPS' powerful project management solutions across multiple enterprise markets."

Bodrozic will continue to act in the capacity of president, managing the sales, marketing and service functions at MPS in Folsom.

"Olsen is a seasoned technology company executive with strong strategic planning and management skills. “He has demonstrated a tremendous track record through his leadership, vision and understanding of strategic market issues," said David Towert, who will formally transition the title of CEO to Jim, but maintain his chief technology officer role leading the MPS R&D team and the company's technology initiatives from Vancouver, B.C.

"MPS has a demonstrated history of growth and innovation, and I'm very impressed by the company's market leading products and internal teams," said Olsen. "As MPS looks ahead to some exciting new markets, I'm delighted to take on the challenge of leading the company and its experienced management team to even greater success.