Is Sandvine going under?
p2pnet news view P2P | Freedom:- Is Canada’s Sandvine sinking?
It’s the purveyor of the grossly misnamed FairShare bandwidth management product, p2pnet posted in May.
But apparently, all is not well with its efforts to cash in on Net censorship and corporate plans to nobble Net neutrality.
“A neighbour of mine is kicking himself for not selling his Sandvine Corp. shares when they hit $7 last fall,” says Matt Walcoff in the Waterloo Record’s Net Gain.
“It’s hard to blame him for his pessimism,” he says, going on >>>
Writing about Sandvine shares today relies heavily on the thesaurus entry for ‘drop.’
After the maker of network-management equipment withdrew its annual revenue guidance yesterday, shares plunged 21.4 per cent. Today, they’ve plummeted – that’s a good word – another 7.9 per cent, to $1.05.
“Sandvine Corp. shares drifted toward penny-stock territory yesterday after the company announced a second-quarter loss and cancelled its revenue forecast for the year,” says The Record, continuing >>>
Sandvine shares fell as low as $1.08 before closing at $1.14, down 31 cents, or 21.4 per cent, on the day. Sandvine’s share price has declined 70.2 per cent since Dec. 31.
The company lost $4.6 million, or 3.4 cents per diluted share, in the quarter ending May 31. It recorded a profit of $10.3 million, or 7.9 cents per diluted share, in the same period a year ago.
Sandvine claims, “Innovative developments in new and popular Internet applications and ongoing investments by broadband service providers are fueling dramatic growth both in broadband adoption and overall traffic levels,” said p2pnet.
But that wasn’t how the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) saw it, we stated >>>
An OECD official has singled out Canada’s ongoing ISP traffic shaping scandal for special mention in a report on the country’s eroding position as a ‘global broadband internet leader,’ says an earlier p2pnet story.
Denmark leads OECD countries with 35.1 subscribers per 100 inhabitants, followed by the Netherlands at 34.8 and Iceland at 32.2, it says, going on:
But Canada had only 8.6 million broadband subscribers as of December 2007, ‘or about 26.6 per 100 inhabitants, ‘enough to rank 10th among the 30 developed countries that make up the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’.
Now, “Keeping pace with these broadband successes, Sandvine is introducing FairShare to augment its widely deployed Traffic Optimization solutions with new and enhanced congestion management capabilities,” says the company.
Sandvine, “used to be largely a one-customer vendor, that customer being Comcast Corp,” says Walcoff.
“The company has been trying to diversify its customer base by seeking opportunities among DSL and wireless internet service providers and among ISPs overseas. This strategy shows signs of being successful. DSL, wireless and overseas revenue went from almost nil last year to about $5 million, $2 million and $3 million, respectively, last quarter.
“The problem is that due in part to the controversy over its use of Sandvine equipment to interfere with file-sharing traffic, revenue from Comcast has dropped faster than sales to other customers have increased. No one was expecting revenue from Comcast to drop 86 per cent in a year.”
For “other customers” read Canadian ISPs, in part.
But it’s no surprise.
The Net giveth and the Net taketh away and in Comcast’s case, its efforts to tightly control what its users do with their bought-and-paid-for Comcast accounts via traffic throttling technology made by you-know-who resulted in a huge, and continuing, PR disaster.
“Comcast has taken heat from consumer advocates for using Sandvine equipment to interfere with internet users’ file sharing,” says The Record, adding:
“Comcast’s policies have invigorated a debate on net neutrality, or the doctrine that internet service providers should not interfere with traffic based on its content.
“The net neutrality debate was a major reason behind Sandvine’s decision to withdraw its revenue forecast of $80 million for the year ending in November.”
(Thanks, Robb)
.
.Stumble It!
p2pnet – Sandvine – branded, May 23, 2008
Net Gain – Sandvine: Quicksand or a buying opportunity?, July 9, 2008
The Record – Sandvine shares dive on loss, July 9, 2008
we stated – Sandvine FairShare traffic throttling, May 21, 2008
bought-and-paid-for Comcast accounts – Comcast impedes hi-speed file sharing, October 20, 2007
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July 10th, 2008 at 8:11 am
As Nelson Muntz (the schoolyard bully
from the Simpsons) would say:
HA HA!!!
July 10th, 2008 at 8:38 am
Didn’t Sandvine legally threaten you already for using their logo in parody?
Whatever happened with that?
July 10th, 2008 at 8:58 am
^^ “Whatever happened with that?”
Dave Fewer over at the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) had a word with Sandvine’s legal guy, but I haven’t heard anything of late.
Cheers!
July 10th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
We have been following the net neutrality debate very closely and from what I have researched, Comcast or Bell seem to be the major culprits for the misuse of technology whether it was supplied by Sandvine, Cisco, Cartiza or some other vendor. Traffic shaping technology applied properly will ehance everyone’s use of the internet. As we move forward the need for network bandwidth management and monitoring is a real one given that the amount bandwidth is finite. The changes in technology and increased services available over the internet in the coming years will be very exciting but will occur at a much faster rate than network hardware can evolve to handle. Whether it is wireless services (G3 & G4 enhanced services) or wired, without some kind of management it will be like trying to move an orange through a straw making the internet a very frustrating experience. Especially if you rely on it for doing business like I do. From what I have read and understand ISP’s do not wish to censor any information, they are trying to manage it’s flow. Much like the role of a traffic officer, to help maintain an orderly flow of vehicles on a highway. They are not there to determine what size, engine, type or colour of vehicle you drive but to help make sure that you can navigate the highway reliably and safely. The internet is becoming more and more an integral tool in our lives everyday, which will require some sort of fostering to grow with the needs of its users. I do not know if Sandvine has the right solutions but in my opinion something will be needed. Thanks for keeping us up to date.
July 10th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Short the stock!!! Note that this is not an actual recommendation, just probably a good idea.
July 10th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Hey – That’s a color photograph. Not a black and white, as it seems are virtually all photos ever posted on this site. (Though lately more and more color pictures slipping in.)
Rumor has it that like playing Beatles records backwards, there are secret coded messages hidden within.
July 10th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
^^ Nine times out of 10, I post portraits in B&W and everything else in colour. Why? I just like people pix in B&W. Reminds me of when I used to been a keen amateur photographer back in the days when you had glass negatives. heh
And there are secret messages in Beatles records.
Cheers!
July 11th, 2008 at 2:06 am
Bye bye nasty little company – go and join phorm in falling off acliff
July 11th, 2008 at 5:30 am
glass negatives – I bet that was an expensive hobby.