One of the things I get from the last post, is
that CSCO now has a vested interest in CIEN's well-being.
(Tim B.: (IMHO) I think this goes past the 'gentleman's handshake.)
Also, CSCO has connections to AT&T (AT&T claims they hold
no bad feelings over the network blowup a few days ago -
but of course one always has to be a bit skeptical; then
again, CSCO competes with Ascend in the AT&T space, and
I think Ascend has had it's share of hardware/software
bugs, so AT&T is stuck with the best
hardware it can get. Probably CSCO's follow-up service is
the determining factor in their relationship, and I
trust this to be John Chambers VERY STRONG POINT. Plus,
AT&T will have to look into their own house, to provide
a more dependable data service - which means invest more
in high-speed data transfer equipment; possibly even
direct CSCO to develop new/specific products to deal with
this crisis. AT&T, I think I have
read, has the largest market share in the area of data
services for the corporate space. Also, it's their
main growth area. Another wards, just like Pat keeps
saying, "this is the growth area to be in." )
Some excerpts which support the above:
''They are now viewing Lucent and Nortel as competitors,''
said Lee Doyle, an analyst at International Data Corp. in
Framingham, Massachusetts.
''It doesn't make sense for us to do everything home-
grown,'' he said. Cisco has investments in several small optical-networking companies, which Fraser declined to
name.
Also of particular note:
Part of Cisco's strategy is to target the market for
products ... to corporate
computer-data networks and the Internet.
Those products are likely to be more attractive to newer
telecom service providers such as Qwest Communications
International Inc., which carries more data than voice traffic,
than they are to traditional long-distance phone companies like
MCI Communications Corp. and Sprint Corp., Doyle said.
While the amount of voice traffic has been relatively
unchanged this decade, data traffic has more than doubled every
year and both types of traffic frequently are carried on the same network.
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