MANILA, PHILIPPINES, 1997 SEP 16 (NB) -- By Jennifer B. Malapitan,
Metropolitan Computer Times. Ascend Communications, Inc. [NASDAQ:ASND]
is scheduled to put in place its Philippine office before year-end.
Kenneth Kan, general manager, made this announcement for Ascend's South
Asia Operations, in a recent press briefing attended by Newsbytes.
The Philippine office will be put in place as the vendor is anticipating
"its first real, major victory in the country," and to provide support for
prospective clients.
Ascend will initially recruit a local country manager and a system
engineer to man the local operations, and will be expanding as the need
arises. This in spite of the growing political unrest in the country
lately.
"I believe the growth potential will outgrow political
problems," the enterprising Kan asserted.
Kan disclosed that there are currently about four Internet service
providers (ISPs) in the Philippines, including Philippine Long Distance
Telephone Company's (PLDT) Infocom Technologies, which are pilot testing
Ascend's MAX WAN access switch products.
The executive said they are not really looking at very high number of
ISPs to test and install their products since most are still trying to
convert from analog to digital technology and are just beginning to
install E1 lines.
Kan estimated the Asia Pacific remote networking market to be around
US$100 million in 1997, and that they have 75% of the market primarily
because "we've got the ISP market."
The executive further expressed confidence that demand and the
availability of new technologies like the 56K-bps and cable modems will
eventually drive down the cost of Integrated Services Digital Network
(ISDN), which at the moment is still quite expensive compared to ordinary
telephone lines.
Ascend, it will be recalled, began shipping its Series56 Digital Modem
modules employing K56flex technology to ISPs in mid-May. Already more than
50 ISP points-of-presence (POPs) in all major metropolitan areas of Asia
are now equipped with the new Ascend digital modems.
Major ISPs in Asia are said to be deploying Ascend's K56flex digital
modems, including Asia Online, HK Telecom IMS, Singnet, Star Internet,
Telecom New Zealand, and Telstra. Many of these ISPs, according to
Ascend, are also deploying MAX TNTs, which can support up to 672 digital
modems per chassis. The vendor also perceives as a growing opportunity
the [ISP] industry's migration to MegaPOPs, where thousands of digital
modems can be concentrated onto high-speed backbone networks.
In a massive upgrade program called GET FLEX, aimed at ISPs that already
employ Ascend's MAX and MAX TNT WAN access switches, Ascend is swapping
all of its modems shipped since November 1996 and replacing them with its
K56flex digital modems. Ascend estimates the upgrade will take place over
three to four months. During the same time, it is estimated that orders
for the new K56flex modems for Ascend's MAX and MAX TNT will continue to
grow, adding significantly to the installed base of K56flex ports.
"We find the K56flex to be very acceptable even without
the standards. We're not too worried about the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU) decision with regard to 56K standards. Most
of our products are software upgradable, with the software capable of
being downloaded while the system is running," Kan explained.
While the vendor is not into the cable modem industry, they are
apparently watching the cable business even while they are continuing to
invest in their DSL business.
The need for cable modems will be felt as video-on-demand applications
increase. As market acceptance increases, there will be more third party
vendors and OEMs. Otherwise, cable modems might undergo a similar fate as
Token Ring, a very good technology that failed, the executive added. |
