"We don't invent the technology--we've just been adept at utilizing new technologies as they become available," explained Strategic Technologies President Robert D. Rubin.

Strategic Technologies Vice President Bruce R. Behren is at his desk utilizing the exceptional quickness of his two-way cable modem.

It's hard to argue with Rubin's assertion given Strategic Technologies' track record. Since their creation in November of 1996 that fledgling company has steadily expanded; they now service parts of Los Angeles County and Sacramento in California, and in addition to Doral they also service Wellington and Clermont in Florida.

Currently, in the Doral area, Strategic Technologies competes directly with Media One for customers. Rubin believes their success in Doral is due to the range of services they offer--since start-up they've grown to 4,000 subscribers in Doral alone--an assertion that Vice President Bruce R. Behren whole-heartedly agrees with.

Behren explained that by coupling their cutting edge equipment and services with an ongoing focus on the best possible customer service, they've found a receptive market in Doral.

"I'd say that about 95% of the developments that have seen their contracts (for cable service) come up for renewal have chosen us be their cable provider since we started up here," Behren said.

Behren said that whereas, "we typically address repair problems the same day, " Media One customers, he said, "sometimes have to wait up to a week to see their problems corrected."
Strategic Technologies has even eliminated the hassle and cost of the cable box; all you need to receive their service is a cable ready TV.

But while customer service is clearly a priority for Strategic Technologies, it is the services and products that they can offer which truly sets them apart.

First of all, Behren said, most of Media One's cable is 10-12 years old while Strategic Technologies cable is brand-new, state-of-the-art, fiber optic line. This enables them to offer subscribers digital cable, a service that provides programming variety equivalent to that which you would receive from a DSS Dish (currently up to 95 channels for the complete package, and 10-12 more than Media One in the basic package) but at a lower cost.

And because the lines are being laid as fiber optic--they aren't replacing existing lines--the cost is much lower. "Customers with other companies will be sidled with the cost of upgrading the equipment. Ours will be state-of-the-art from the beginning," Rubin said.

They also offer 24 pay-per-view channels, a service that Behren contrasted against the two pay-per-view channels that he said Media One offered.

Strategic Technologies has also specially geared their lineup to accommodate the ethnic makeup of the Doral area--they have a Latin Channel Package that has 15 specialty Spanish language stations.
"We wanted to reach out to, to try and accommodate, the Latin community of Doral. Soon we'll even be making our movie channels available in Spanish," Rubin said.

There are even 24 DMX music channels on the digital cable system offering subscribers the ability to listen to a variety of musical genres in digital sound--like listening to your radio through your television but commercial free.

But clearly the people at Strategic Technologies are most excited about the internet access that they are now able to offer to Doral residents. It is a two-way cable modem that enables subscribers to access the World Wide Web through a two-way cable line that doesn't require a phone line as well.

"What it means is that people can access the internet at speeds up to a 100 times faster than a regular dial up connection and five times faster than a DSL line," Behren said.

H e continued, "And unlike most capable modems, ours is two-way, meaning that you can send out information just as fast as you receive it--most cable modems require a phone line to send out information packages, a system that is considerably slower than ours. I believe we're the only company in South Florida that offers this service."

With a strong foothold in the residential market (Rubin said they already service over 50% of Doral, from NW 25 Street to NW 74 Street and the Turnpike to NW 87 Avenue).