@Home, Compaq sign distribution deal
Compaq Computer and @Home announce a distribution deal to market the cable Net access provider's broadband service.
The agreement calls for Compaq, the No. 1 PC maker, to distribute the @Home service and both companies will collaborate on a joint marketing and promotional campaign. Specific details of the agreement were not yet released.
The companies intend to roll out the marketing and technology initiatives in early 1999 in regions where @Home is available. @Home has about 210,000 customers in 27 states and provinces in Canada.
"Compaq has a tremendous loyal following among its set of retail outlets," said @Home chief executive Tom Jermoluk.
The deal comes on the heels of a similar partnership with PC giant Dell Computer.
The Dell pact calls for the No. 2 computer maker to make sure @Home's high-speed Net-over-cable service works with Dell's line of Dimension PCs aimed at the home user and small businesses.
"I think these are real bellwether acknowledgments of where [Compaq and Dell] think the business is going, the fact that they would make the effort to build this type of capability into their systems," Jermoluk said.
Dell is expected to release a line of cable modem-ready computers by early next year.