[ COMS/WSTL ]
Since Telechoice feels COMS and Westell will partner... lets discuss the negatives and postives for Westell..... along with some of my concerns....
On the positive side Westell is partnering with a company that wants to dominate the Edge Networking Market... that is... Remote Access. COMS is presently partnering with Pulsecom for a DSLAM device, and AFC for a Digital Loop Carrier "DLC" system. Both COMS and Pulsecom will/are using the ADI/AWRE DMT linecode and after the merger with USRX the CAP line code. COMS is the #1 vendor today for remote access. Before the merger USRX was #1, ASND was #2, COMS was #3, and CSCO "I think" was #4.
Of interest...
1) .... including Alcatel/Mitec (who has been interested in supplying Westell he said.... . Alcatel interested in selling chips to Westell. That sounds good for Westell.....
2) .....Lawrence said that DLC deployment is going to continue to be aggressive -- more than 1,000,000 lines a year. Both Lucent and DSC DLCs will be outfitted with Westell equipment.... This should indicate the direction the industry is going. Those vendors that don't have partners in this area... better find one.
3) ..... He is getting "warm fuzzy feelings" from regulatory about being able to restrict all ADSL on BA lines to CAP only, but no decision is imminent on that.... If you want to sell equipment in the BA 40 million line region... you better have a CAP solution... and one that interoperates with a DSC and LU DLC system. The CAP vendors should be coming to Westell to partner.
4).... He said that Bell Atlantic would take 8-10 years to fully outfit its territory with ADSL, but that would be a logarithmic curve, with sizable penetration in the next 2-3 years.... Bell Atlantic isn't going to drag their feet on ADSL... they want to get into long distance and they want a solution which will force the ISP's into partnering with BA for ADSL.
5) ....As such, Westell is looking for a partner(s) to provide..... PC Motherboards, and PC Processors.... . COMS isn't the first company that comes to mind for the PC Motherboard or PC Processor business.... INTL.
Here are some of my concerns.
1) In X years down the road, when home ADSL units are sold at CompUSA... and you have a Westell modem sitting beside a COMS modem on the store shelf, which modem are you going to purchase?
2) I see Westell sharing profits on the DLC side with Lucent, DSC, and AFC and now sharing profits on the customer modem side with COMS. This is a big market, but Westell seems to be sharing the profits on both ends now.
3) Did anyone notice the release version of the Westell DSLAM which will be released in 1Q98.... Version 1.0. Isn't a 1.0 usually the first release of a production product? What release is out in the field today... Version 0.5? I don't think of a 0.5 release is a production mass deployment product.... I could be wrong on this one. Lets take this one step forward.... what is Westell going to sell to BC and BT a V 0.5 release?... contracts may be signed, but will deployments start with a pre-V1.0 DSLAM device?
4) How does a Westell/COMS partnership work... if COMS builds the Westell solution into it's products, does Westell get a few $$ for every device sold? Westell is letting COMS into a 40 million customer region, they should be able to work a good deal.... I hope... until later.
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