The JNPR investment in a sub of MRVC looks legit...
you JNPR owners ought to look at the company JNPR just invested in through a
sub...MRV Communications (MRVC). Some say bleeding edge stuff(hence JNPR
investment) selling at 2x revenues and a market cap of $600 milion. Take a look
NEW YORK. 3:00 PM EDT?Juniper Networks (nasdaq: JNPR), the latest networking
miracle to hit the
telecom world, is getting ambitious and is moving into the transport-equipment market. In its
latest move it
has made a significant investment in New Access Communications (NAC).
NAC develops equipment that can be used in metropolitan fiber optic networks and was
started by Dr.
Near Margalit 18 months ago with initial funding from Chatsworth, Calif.-based MRV
Communications
(nasdaq: MRVC). MRV shares are trading up 88 cents a share to $21.12 while Juniper is
down 94 cents to
$196.31 a share.
David J. Abramson, a Juniper Networks spokesperson, confirmed the investment but
refused to divulge any
further details. Juniper cofounder Pradeep Sindhu will take a board seat with New Access
Communications.
Juniper makes super-routers that are optimized for Internet needs. According to
Framingham, Mass.-based
market research firm IDG, the market for devices that can carry information at gigabit and
terabit speeds will
exceed $1.4 billion by 2003.
"New Access has an Internet protocol friendly DWDM platform," says Aman Kapoor,
analyst with RHK
Inc., a San Francisco-based consulting firm. Dense wavelength division multiplexing
(DWDM) is a
technology that allows network operators to boost the capacity of their optical networks,
many-fold.
By securing access to New Access? products, Juniper is taking rear-guard action against
rivals Nortel (nyse:
NT), Cisco Systems (nasdaq: CSCO) and Lucent Technologies (nyse: LU). With the
combined high-speed
router and transport product, Juniper is trying to take control of the fiber optic networks in
the local
metropolitan loop. Analysts say that Juniper wants to eliminate the SONET protocol and put
IP directly over
DWDM, and its products have the interface to bring this vision to fruition.
Juniper stock jumped 200% on its first day of trading this June. At present the company has
a market
capitalization of $9.8 billion, compared to $10.2 billion for 3Com (nasdaq: COMS) and
$2.8 billion for
Cabletron Systems (nyse: CS).
forbes.com |
