A couple of tidbits from Efficient Networks' IPO S1 filing :
As of March 31, 1999, our products have been deployed by Ameritech,
BellSouth, Covad Communications, Hong Kong Telecom, Singapore Telecom and six other network service providers, and purchased by eight network equipment vendors. An additional 39 network service providers have begun to test our customer premises equipment solutions.
The technical innovations required for us to remain competitive in the DSL industry are inherently complex, require long development cycles and sometimes depend on sole-source suppliers.
Our current products are not interoperable with certain products offered by suppliers to our customers and are subject to evolving industry standards.
In some cases, network equipment vendors, such as Cisco Systems, Inc., sell to our target customers proprietary or non-interoperable systems with which our products will not function. In these cases, potential customers who wish to purchase DSL customer premises equipment and who have purchased other network equipment which does not function with our DSL customer premises equipment may not purchase our products.
Also, the emergence of new industry standards, whether through adoption by official standards committees or widespread use by our target customers, could require us to redesign our products.
we obtain certain semiconductor chipsets from Alcatel Microelectronics, Analog Devices, Inc., Texas Instruments Incorporated, and Conexant Systems, Inc.
Our business strategy relies on our strategic relationships with network equipment vendors, network service providers, and suppliers of DSL technology. |
