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A new dedicated Web site (www.aicpa.org /BVFLS) has launched to support members who specialize in business valuation or appraisal, forensic services, fraud investigation, economic damages analysis, family law services, litigation services and other related areas, such as estate planning. As an online home for CPAs in the BV/FLS community, the Web site houses resources, tools and professional guidance as well as offers a network for members who share an interest and expertise in Business Valuation and Forensic & Litigation Services.

The information on the BV/FLS community Web site is conveniently organized around a home page and five core areas--Resources, Community, Events, Membership and Products. Those who belong to the BV/FLS Membership Section and CPAs who hold the Accredited in Business Valuation specialty credential have access to additional premier content on this new site.

The BV/FLS Membership Section was launched on Aug. 1 to better meet the needs of a majority of the members who had been members of the Consulting Services Membership Section. (In addition, AICPA members who are Accredited in Business Valuation credential holders automatically become BV/FLS section members.)

Besides the Web community, other benefits of section membership include access to specialized information on current BV/FLS issues, such as practice aids and AICPA-issued standards on business valuations; the CPA Expert quarterly newsletter; networking opportunities; marketing assistance and legislative advocacy. Discounts on conferences and Webcasts are offered as well.

When Florian Virchow started his company in 1987, Motortech was a one-man operation with its "headquarters" in the basement of his home in Germany. "I was the managing director and the one and only employee," he recalled. "My office was situated in the cellar of my detached house. From there I dealt in spare pare for gas engines imported from the U.S.A. for the European market."

But if the story of Motortech GmbH shows anything, it's that a lot can change in 17 years.

From those humble beginnings, Motortech has expanded its business significantly and changed its business profile from a trading company to a worldwide operation manufacturing gas engine accessories for OEMs and the aftermarket. On the employment side, what started as a one-man band has grown into an operation with close to 100 people worldwide and a two-unit headquarters in Celle, Germany, that covers more than 30,000 sq.ft. and incorporates five CNC machining centers, laser welding and engraving systems and advanced measurement and quality control equipment.

This growth has been matched on the distribution side as well, and the company has expanded its markets, particularly in North America. Motortech USA was established in 2001 with a distribution office in Harvard, Ill., run by Louis D. Hoeflich. In 2002, a sales once based in Seattle, Wash., was opened. It is managed by Dave Parker who was employed by Hatch and Kirk for 26 years. The U.S. sales network was expanded to Roscoe, Ill., where Ray Lecuyer from RDK Associates is the primary sales contact for OEM engine customers.

Along with its physical and sales expansion, the company's product line and technical supply capabilities have also developed. Once a distributor of components, Motortech has become a designer and manufacturer of its own gaseous-fueled engine controls and related systems, with a growing presence globally and particularly in North America.

Proxim, Inc., and Cayman Systems, Inc., Tuesday announced the first public demonstration of a cordless ADSL modem gateway at The Yankee Group Networked Home Symposium, exhibiting a new technology that provides cordless, simultaneously shared high-speed Internet access for home and small office/home office customers.

The solution integrates Proxim's award-winning Symphony cordless networking technology into Cayman's broadband-to-multi-PC gateway technology. At the Networked Home Symposium, Cayman's broadband gateway will connect to Pacific Bell ADSL service at Cayman's exhibit, and will utilize Symphony's radio frequency technology to share broadband Internet access with computing devices at Proxim's exhibit in an opposite corner of the exhibition area.

"DSL brings high bandwidth to the home, but the challenge then becomes sharing that bandwidth among multiple PCs. Proxim's wireless home networking eliminates the cost of running new wires and the constraints of having to be near a network outlet," said Karuna Uppal, Consumer Market Convergence senior analyst at The Yankee Group. "Among users with more than one PC demanding faster Internet access, Cayman's wireless broadband gateway is a good choice to meet this combination of needs. And we're pleased Proxim and Cayman made our Home Networking Symposium their venue of choice to unveil and demonstrate this innovative approach."

Now broadband service providers can distribute high-speed Internet access to multiple computers throughout a home or office without installing any new cabling, and can do so regardless of location of computers and other resources within the local network. This technology combination mobilizes users, giving them the luxury of high-speed Internet access wherever they choose to use their computers, with minimal setup requirements. Users can also share files and printers, and can play network games between computers using Symphony network interface cards for laptops and desktops, all located anywhere in and around the home or small office.

The wireless broadband gateway solution is currently being privately sampled to select Cayman customers. Product names, prices and availability of the new Cayman solutions have not yet been announced.

Ericsson has teamed up with Electrolux to develop intelligent, on-line household appliances. Could we soon be ordering goods through the fridge?

Among the many life-changing Internet applications targeted at consumers, the ability to communicate with the refrigerator and the washing machine seems an unlikely basis for on-line services.

But L.M. Ericsson AB and white goods manufacturer, Electrolux AB of Stockholm, have formed a joint venture company based on their belief in a mass market for exactly that. Together the two have invested a total of 70 million krona ($8.6 million) in the unnamed 50:50 venture, created to market products for the "networked home."

The concept is based on a "kitchen-centric view of household management," said Magnus Braxell, director of business innovation, Ericsson. With easy-to-use, touch screen interfaces and embedded wireless and Powerline communications devices, intelligent appliances such as refrigerators, microwaves and washing machines can become a portal for household services, such as on-line grocery shopping.

The devices themselves will also be accessible remotely, enabling consumers to change programs and allowing maintenance personnel to update software and monitor how the machine is operating.

The companies estimate the market for electronic household services at over $15 billion by 2005, and aim for a 20% market share of 20 million networked households in western Europe and the United States.

The new venture's first products will be delivered by the end of next year and are likely to include mobile and counter-top touchscreen terminals and Ericsson's E-Box communications gateway.

Although Ericsson would like to use Bluetooth wireless technology where possible, Braxell acknowledged that the current version does not work well through walls and ceilings. Another possibility is to use Powerline technology to run data over domestic electricity lines, he said.

Futuristic fridges

Electrolux's Screenfridge is also likely to s ship in some form next year. The futuristic, multimedia icebox has toured 17 countries in prototype form. Via a touch-screen keypad, households can record video messages to each other, browse the Web and send email. The fridge contains a built-in TV and radio and also keeps stock of its contents, even suggesting recipes based on ingredients within.

Working for yourself, especially at home, requires the skill of a juggler and the versatility of a short-order cook. How can you balance your family's financial needs with those of your enterprise? How can you satisfy your business's insatiable appetite for your time without depriving your family of attention?

This trio of books can help you build your business while you keep all the balls in the air. Each is aimed at a different audience. The first is an excellent hands-on course in financial management written for the entrepreneur who's ready to harness computer power as a business tool. The second is a soup-to-nuts survey for anyone thinking of launching a home-based enterprise. And the third will lift the spirits of work-at-home parents whose children are at home, too.

Author Linda Stern, a financial writer and syndicated columnist, begins Money-Smart Secrets for the Self-Employed (Random House, $20) with the premise that "working for yourself is the most fun you can have and get paid for it." Judging by her sense of humor and down-to-earth writing style, Stern is certainly having a good time, and she even manages to make it fun to learn smart business techniques -- no small feat.

Her book is like a paper version of a good site on the World Wide Web: You always know where you are and you can find your way around easily. Clear headings and graphics lead you from major topics to subtopics.

This package of goodies will become dog-eared as you follow Stern's directions on how to set up a budget and a cash-flow system that works, price your products and services, raise money, hire employees, and even plan for retirement. Particularly noteworthy are Chapter 11, on midyear and long-term planning; Chapter 13, on how not to run your business; and Chapter 14, a program for annual checkups. The section on "100 strategic saving secrets of the self-employed" -- which covers ways to save on everything from phone bills and business equipment to travel and printing costs -- is itself worth more than the price of the book.

"Secret" boxes, indicated by an icon of a fist clutching dollar bills, signal special tips. For instance, if you label late fees on a client's bill as "interest," you risk running afoul of banking regulations. In other boxes the author cites the advantages of choosing one accounting system over another and summarizes all the tax deductions available to businesses.

Critical Condition: How Health Care In America Became Big Business-And Bad Medicine:

Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele

Doubleday

Division of Random House

Investigative reporters and the only journalists in history to be awarded two Pulitzer Prizes and two National Magazine Awards, Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele have presented a riveting expose of the critical state of the health system in the United States with their book Critical Condition: How Health Care In America Became Big Business-And Bad Medicine.

Beginning with the assertion that American health care has been transposed from one of compassion to a system motivated by profit--the authors present a distressing analysis as to what went wrong. Where forty-four million citizens do not have health insurance, and tens of millions more are underinsured. And yet there seems to be this enduring myth propagated by many that the USA has a "world-class health system."

As mentioned by the authors, the USA spends more on health care than any other nation, when you compare it to Germany, France, Japan, Italy, and Canada. However, in these countries citizens do not think twice about seeking care if they are ill. They do not worry who will foot the bills.

In the USA, it has become a lottery. If you are fortunate to be employed by a large company providing generous health benefits, you win. On the other hand, if you are self-employed or work for a small enterprise providing little or no coverage, you lose. You may even go bankrupt and lose your home in order to pay your medical bills.

Relying on interviews, studies from various organizations as the World Health Organization, the US department of Health and Human Services, legal suits, brokerage reports, congressional hearings, newspaper articles, magazine stories, SEC filings, professional journals, and a resevoir of many other sources (all of which are mentioned in the Notes section at the back of the book), the authors deliver legitimate arguments illustrating how an assortment of factors have crawled into the system with calamitous effects.

HOMES | A strong economy and affordable mortgages will mean RISING PRICES our survey shows.

THE AMERICAN Dream of homeownership enters the new millennium more fulfilled, and fulfilling, than ever. A record 67 % of Americans own their own homes, and steady increases in value are credited with fueling not only a real sense of prosperity but also a willingness to spend that is driving our humming economy.

Yes, the surging stock market of the '90s gets a lot of credit for that, too. But no less an authority than Fed chairman Alan Greenspan sees our homes as a more powerful force behind the good feeling and loose purse strings. "The general experience of homeowners is a modest but persistent rise in home values that is perceived to be largely permanent," Greenspan explained in a November speech. "This experience contrasts markedly from volatile and often-ephemeral gains in stock-market wealth." And we can expect more of those modest but persistent gains well into the 2000s.

The number of home sales will almost certainly take a breather from 1999's breakneck pace. About 4% or 5% fewer existing homes will be sold this year compared with the 5.25 million sold in 1999. New home sales will fall a little more, by more than 6%, to about 868,000. Still, prices will climb as demand continues to outstrip supply.

Homeowners in many cities, in fact, will see their home values increase at more than double the inflation rate. Check the table on page 96, prepared for Kiplinger's by economists at DRI/ McGraw-Hill, to see the prospects for your hometown. DRI's forecasts are for the median home price--half will be more expensive; half less. But practically all homeowners can expect solid appreciation this year.

Economists for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the companies that buy most mortgages and repackage them as bonds, expect home values to rise an average of 4.5 % this year. That's about the same as in 1999--and well above inflation, which is expected to stay below 3 % this year.

Not enough sellers

ASLOWDOWN IN SALES may actually be welcomed by frustrated buyers. Many have found themselves shut out of the boom--not by price, but by a dearth of listings in hot markets such as the metro areas of New York City, northern California and Washington, D.C. In hyperactive markets, full-price offers were sometimes not good enough as buyers found themselves goaded into bidding wars. What a feast for sellers--until they tried to buy their move-up house and found the tables turned.

Jato Communications Corp., a Denver-based high-speed Internet access and applications company, was selected as the exclusive provider of digital subscriber line (DSL) service by Metrolist, Inc., a Colorado corporation jointly owned by the six metro Denver Area Boards and Associations of REALTORS. According to the exclusive one-year agreement, Metrolist will resell Jato's business-grade digital subscriber line (DSL) service to Metrolist member Brokers and Owners. The "always-on" service will give real estate professionals a competitive edge with fast access to Internet-enabled tools, including: MYmls.com, improved research capability, enhanced presentations, virtual tours, loan options, and title information.

DSL is a digital connection that transmits data up to 100 times faster than dial-up Internet access over existing phone lines. Unlike traditional dial-up access, DSL service is "always on," saving time by enabling business customers to get fast, secure connections without interruptions and busy signals.

"The real estate industry is at the beginning of a momentous shift that will impact how consumers and Realtors work together to buy and sell homes. It started with the move from printed MLS books to dial-up access to point and click Internet graphics. Now by solving the slow connection speed issues with DSL, we can accelerate our development of powerful on-line tools," said Dana Bennett, Metrolist director of marketing. "Many are predicting that the entire transaction will eventually be conducted on-line." Metrolist currently provides competitive tools to more than 3,800 Broker offices and 14,000 real estate professionals in the Denver metro area,

"In a recent interview, entitled 'Building the Future,' in the January issue of Realtor Magazine, Dennis Cronk, president of the National Association of Realtors, said, "A top priority for 2000 will be helping real estate professionals recognize and embrace technology as a vital business tool that can help boost their bottom line. The industry is springing forward into Web- based transaction platforms and networks are facilitating on-line transaction management. Electronic transaction closings are probable in the near future. Any real estate professional today who hasn't made a commitment to technology has, by default, made a commitment to retire."

Setting up shop at home is not as difficult as you may think. Here are three are at business start-ups for the new American workplace

WHEN CYNTHIA BROWER STARTED

Atlantic Optical Framewear (which imports and exports ethnic eyewear) four years ago, finding a location was the least of her worries. "I always wanted to do something home-based because you have the advantage of being able to work any hours that you want and your office is always at your disposal." grower, who imports ethnic eyeglass frames from South America, Asia and Africa, operates her business out of a spare bedroom of her Owings Mills, Maryland, home.

It turns out that Brower is not home alone.

When it comes to starting a business, millions of would-be entrepreneurs are finding that there's no place like home, and are converting dens, bedrooms, basements and attics into offices. According to IDC/LINK, a New York-based market research firm, there are 20 million home-based businesses nationwide in areas ranging from computer consulting and cleaning to medical billing and meeting planning. Growing at an annual rate of 7%-8%, the number of home-based businesses is expected to reach 27.8 million by the year 2001. There are few statistics to show the number of African Americans working at home. However, according to a recent study by Fidelity Investments, the nation's largest mutual fund company and one of the leading providers of financial services, 37% of all home-based businesses are operated by women. As for income, in 1996, 56% of all home-based businesses earned net revenues of less than $50,000, 24% earned $50,000-$99,000, and 20% made more than $100,000.

Self-employment expert Paul Edwards says there are many reasons for choosing to work at home. "A certain proportion, particularly men, work at home because there are tremendous cost savings," says Edwards, who has co-authored several self-employment books, including Working From Home and The Best Home Businesses for the '90s. "For another large segment, it's the idea of having more control over your life and being able to spend more time with your family." For the person looking to balance career and family, a work-at-home environment can create the best of both worlds.

Intel Corp. announced a new benefit program to offer computers, Internet access and services at no charge to all Intel employees worldwide. The new Intel Home PC Program will help employees and their families participate fully in the information revolution and take advantage of the educational and e-Commerce opportunities on the Internet.

As part of this new program, employees will receive systems based on high-end microprocessor and hardware configurations. The Intel Home PC Program will allow employees to have secured access to information about corporate benefits programs, training, and communications via PCs and the Internet for employees and family members. Delivery of the PCs to employees' homes should start by early Q3 with rollout to be completed by the end of the year.

"We want our employees and their families to participate fully in the Internet revolution," says Craig Barrett, Intel's president and chief executive officer. "An Internet-savvy workforce supports our mission to be the preeminent building block suppliers to the worldwide Internet economy. We see these employer-based programs as a positive trend illustrating the importance of technology literacy to us all."

Details of the new Intel program are being communicated to Intel employees worldwide during the month of March. All regular full-time and part-time Intel employees worldwide - currently over 70,000 - will receive baseline PC configurations using high-performance processors (currently a Pentium III processor) and unlimited Internet access. In addition, the bundle will include: printer, keyboard, mouse, monitor, Intel Create and Share camera pack, office productivity software, unlimited use of Internet service, technical support and the choice of one Intel Play product.

This is an ongoing program, not a one-time offer. Employees will get periodic "refreshes" to ensure the hardware and software stays current. Employees will also have the option to upgrade the configuration of their systems, peripheral devices, and connectivity by contributing to the price of the system. Options would include: notebook platforms, processor and memory upgrades, broadband access and peripherals.

Excite@Home is readying to launch a new browser and high-speed content portal the company says will give customers more and better access to the broadband firehose.

Susan Britton, VP-market development for Excite@Home, said the "double-barreled" announcements are part of the final integration of Excite and @Home after merging nine months ago -- even though both were in the works at @Home before that time. It also gives Excite@Home a stronger stance in an ever-widening circle of broadband providers competing for customers.

The first part of the upgrade, set to debut March 28 is a new browser dubbed @Home 2000. It will build off the Internet Explorer engine, but it will completely retool the browser that will be automatically upgraded. That will avoid requiring customers to reinstall the browser each time there is a new version.

"We've from the ground up built an online, full-service browser," Britton said. It's all created to make your life as a consumer easier and it connects directly and more quickly to broadband content."

Second, Excite@Home will debut a new broadband content portal. Up until now, the content portals at Excite@Home have relied heavily on a narrowband configuration, but now everything will be optimized for the high-speed Internet user, Britton said.

"Every place we could, we took existing content and built it up, juiced it up, turbocharged it for broadband," she said.

The portal will include a shortcut button leading users to useful utilities such as online maps, yellow pages and other resources -- all configured for broadband.

And at the top of the home page, Excite@Home will create a block for personalized content, offering users a choice of information bytes such as horoscope, stock quotes, lunar charts, news flashes and sports scores. Again, it is based on the personalized content setup of Excite's own portal page, but it is "broadbandized," Britton said.

The retooled Excite@Home broadband content page is part of a threefold strategy for the company that also includes a free narrowband ISP service newly renamed FreeLane and the narrowband Excite ISP.

"Essentially what we are doing is not only launching Excite's personalized products in narrowband but now for broadband," Britton said.

Nortel Networks (NYSE/TSE: NT) has established its former NETGEAR subsidiary as a separate company with aggressive plans to build on a leadership position in the market for home and small business Internet infrastructure solutions.

To assist with its new, independent focus on strengthening SOHO market leadership, NETGEAR has received a US$15 million equity financing investment from Pequot Capital Management.

The NETGEAR spin-off continues Nortel Networks' successful strategy of establishing independent businesses with flexibility to form the strategic relationships necessary to accelerate adoption of innovative new technologies," said John Roth, president and chief executive officer, Nortel Networks.

Other similar Nortel Networks spin-offs in recent years include Entrust Technologies, a leader in the Enterprise Internet security market, and Elastic Networks, a leading high-speed Internet access and mobile computing technology company. Pequot Capital Management was a key investor in the Elastic Networks spin-off as well.

"NETGEAR is committed to providing its customers with the best possible networking and Internet connectivity solutions," said Patrick Lo, newly appointed chief executive officer of NETGEAR, Inc. "As this market booms in the coming years, customers will be looking for affordability, ease of use, expanded functionality and outstanding customer service, all the cornerstones that NETGEAR is known for in the market today."

"NETGEAR has the best existing home and small office networking and Internet solutions we have seen," said Jim McNiel, senior vice president of Pequot Capital. "The market for NETGEAR solutions is already large, and we believe continued demand for home computing, broadband connectivity, mobility and Internet appliances will further accelerate NETGEAR's growth."

As many as 24 million American homes will have computer networking by the end of this year, and the home networking market will grow to US$1.4 billion by 2003, according to Cahner's In-Stat, a leading industry research group.

NETGEAR is creating an Internet infrastructure for the home that will enable consumers to connect all types of IP (Internet Protocol)-enabled products. NETGEAR shipped the first 10 megabits per second (mbps) home phone line networking product last fall, and will be among the first companies to offer an affordable 11 mbps wireless solution this year.

Centillium Communications Monday announced the availability of its first Full-Rate Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) solution for Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). Aimed at such products as business routers and bridges, as well as consumer-oriented home gateways and set-top boxes, the CopperFlite Utopia chipset supports both Full-Rate and G.lite industry standards, including ITU G.992.1 (G.dmt), ITU G.992.2 (G.lite), and ANSI T1.413 Issue 2. This highly flexible solution enables network service providers to rollout different levels of services quickly and easily, thus enabling them to meet the diverse broadband requirements of both residential and business customers.

Centillium's new CopperFlite CPE solution supports voice-over-Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) for uncompressed toll-quality voice services. This enables ISPs and data Local Exchange Carriers (LECs) to increase revenues by offering customers multiple data and voice service offerings. Because it does not require external memory or Voltage Control Crystal Oscillators (VCXOs), the CopperFlite solution can help dramatically reduce the total Bill of Material (BOM) costs for consumer-priced market segments.

The CopperFlite Utopia CPE chipset also supports the requirements of the Japanese ADSL market, making it the only proven and deployed solution that supports both Japan and the rest of world on a single platform. Annex C addresses the unique characteristics of copper loop plants in Japan that require different technology than loops in the United States (Annex A). By integrating Annex C support, Centillium provides modem manufacturers with flexibility, enabling them to design a modem solution for global markets.

"The network service providers that we survey tell us they have significant issues with infrastructure costs," said Beth Gage, DSL Consulting Director, TeleChoice, Inc. "Their business models improve dramatically whenever they can better utilize their existing infrastructures. This includes customer premises routers with ADSL connections that interoperate with existing central office equipment. Additionally, service providers need integrated voice products that utilize existing lines without requiring the installation of new copper plant."

When Patricia J. Bruce decided to purchase her third home in the Rivers Edge subdivision of Fayetteville, Georgia, in July 2000, she liked what she heard from the representatives of Cendant Mortgage Company. The interest rate would be 8% (the prime rate at that time) with no prepayment penalty clause.

Many consumers aren't familiar with prepayment clauses. Not knowing, however, could cost you money. Prepayment penalties are used by lenders to attract investors to purchase the originated loan. Investors want to ensure that they will receive income from the mortgages they buy for a minimum amount of time.

"If such a clause had been in my contract, I would have exercised another option in financing," says Bruce. "I knew I would refinance because the market rate seemed to continue to go down. I refinanced 12 months later at a 6.5 % interest rate."

In exchange for a borrower accepting the prepayment penalty, an investor will often accept a lower interest rate on the mortgage. Mortgage companies will generally charge a flat fee on a loan that is paid off in two to five years. The fee can be as much as 3% of the balance of your loan if you refinance or sell the home within that time.

According to Mercy Jimenez, senior vice president of Single Family Mortgage Business for Fannie Mae (www.fanniemae.com), the nation's largest source of financing for home mortgages, Alabama, New Jersey, Texas, and Vermont have outlawed these penalties. Other states have placed restrictions on them, while others do not limit them in any way.

"If someone has good credit, [they] may be offered a much lower interest rate in exchange for the prepayment penalty. Make sure you are getting economic value," advises Jimenez.

Consumers with blemished credit histories usually pay higher interest rates but the prepayment penalty may help reduce these rates. Fannie Mae offers the Expanded Approval/Timely Payment Rewards product for these consumers. It allows lenders to offer at-risk clients a lower interest rate than they may otherwise get.

If you are considering accepting a prepayment penalty clause, make sure you know the details of your contract:

* How and when the penalty applies.

* What the cost of the penalty will be.

* That you're getting a lower interest rate in exchange for the prepayment penalty.

A month ago the nation's largest cable-modem Internet portal said it was getting into the DSL business.

It's not because Excite@Home Corp. believes DSL is a better technology. The decision came amid fears that a host of cable companies -- which carry Excite@Home's Internet package -- may not renew contracts that will expire in the coming years.

So it should come as no surprise that Palo Alto, Calif.-based Excite@Home is also going wireless. The May 1 announcement is yet another move to expand its reach while distancing itself from cable operators such as AT&T Corp., Comcast Corp. and Cox Communications Inc.

"The wireless medium is an extension of Excite@Home's broadband strategy to bring personalized content to its users anytime, anywhere and on any device," said Rob Wilen, group manager for the company's wireless services.

The move to wireless comes as analysts expect the number of mobile phone users to reach 1 billion in 2003, with about half those phones capable of accessing the Internet, according to market research firm The Yankee Group. This year alone, nearly one-third of mobile phones shipped in the U.S. are expected to have a browser, and eight of 10 phones will have browsers in two years, according to Yankee and Strategy Analytics.

The new service, called Excite Mobile, delivers personalized Internet access and content for mobile users to any Web-enabled cell phone in the U.S. Services include news, maps and directions, weather, e-mail, address books and other information.

Last month, Excite@Home Corp. made its first move outside the cable sphere by cutting a distribution deal with Rhythms NetConnections Inc. The Englewood, Colo., firm, which is expanding, offers DSL service in 46 metro areas representing 15 million homes in markets including Boston, Denver, San Diego and Seattle.