Modem wars...
I agree with David. I don't see K56flex as winning either the client or server sides of the market war.
X2 now has 1000+ ISPs up and running, according to 3Com, and backed up by an independent auditor. K56 is way behind that, and ISPs that had been completely Ascend customers have been forced, by the market pressure of sales of X2 modems on the client side, to install X2 hubs.
This success in penetrating new server markets is a direct result of the client wins that X2 has made. On the other hand, the early install of X2 at ISPs like AOL, Netcom, IBM, Earthlink, etc., drove additional X2 sales over the slightly cheaper K56 modems.
Look at the earnings reports for Rockwell's OEM modem chip customers for the last quarter: ZOOM, BOCA, Hayes did poorly, while DIMD stresses successes in their graphic card business and softpedaled their slow modem line. Ascend, a major server side provider, also had a poor quarter, and took a big hit over it. Motorola's modem division is up for sale!
In the longest run, it won't matter, because, when standards are finally adopted, the two products should interwork. But in the meantime, market share is shifting toward X2 on both sides of the line, and that's a big win for COMS.
Dick |
