[Nerves and notes from conf call]
<<<Take it from a veteran of hundreds of calls over the years. After a while you're doing well if you can avoid falling asleep between the time you push the "1" and your name is called.>>>
You're kind. And I look forward to the day I nearly fall asleep waiting to speak.
I would much, much rather meet someone in person than over the phone.
Okay, now to my notes:
Gary Seamans, Steve Hawrysz, and Jay Nelson all spoke in turn.
GS summarized the cable modem challenge and said it would encourage telcos to deploy their DSL counter-solutions. He quoted Bell Atlantic's chairman, Ray Smith, who said, "We will get into the high-speed market or we will fail." [rough translation.] CLECs and other service providers will also provide competition.
Westell has shipped 5,000 systems to end-user customers. GS said in the years to come we would most likely look back on this quarter as "the beginning of commercial deployment."
Strategy is to be first to market to meet all standards and at the lowest cost.
Will look at additional acquisitions. Partnerships are a key element in plans.
Summarized Amati's partnerships, alliances, contracts.
Announcements coming up will be "consistent with our strategy."
Mentioned financing possibilities, though no mention of secondary, and no time frame.
We are positioning ourselves to be a major player. Initial contracts being signed. Deployment in 1998 will be "significant."
We won't win every customer. In those cases where we did not win it was because we did not have a DMT solution.
When asked about BC win for Alcatel, GS took great pains choosing his words. I did not see this as evasive but more as having bands of attorneys looking over his shoulders. After listening to GS every quarter for the last year or more, I would say he's generally anything but evasive. I got the distinct impression he was being reticent for a reason.
When asked if ILECs or CLECs would be first out of the gate, he said ILECs, though CLECs would be as large a market in time.
When asked about the merger, he confirmed Amati had been lent $5M to be drawn as needed. He also mentioned S-4 would be filed next week.
Someone [McLeod?] asked about the 3 contracts mentioned in the last conference call and if they would be announced any time soon. GS said the customers decide when to bring out press. Then he added, "We're working on press announcement language on two of these now. . . . which could indicate they'll be sooner rather than later." [Again, a loose translation.]
New guy at TeleChoice, John Hunter, asked if DMT and CAP products would eventually be priced the same and GS said they would be over time.
To my question about whether GTE would be likely to talk about ADSL in their November 18 analyst meeting, he said they would announce when they were ready. "They're aggressive in ADSL. They're first to market. Westell and Amati represent 100% of the trials. They are moving ahead aggressively." [rough rendering.]
Asked about CG, he said they were alpha partners and had the silicon now.
Mike Pappas (a good friend and extremely knowledgeable re: ADSL) asked about the C6X 4-modems-on-a-chip solution [due mid-'98], and GS gave a generic response. Mike pressed him on whether there was anyone else in the industry who had a similar solution and GS said no one that he knew of who could talk about it. I guess this means if it's out there, it's too early to go public.
Seamans then summed up the call by saying it was an exciting time in the industry. "The actions we've taken will position us as a major player."
End of call.
I had a list of questions that didn't get asked simply because I didn't have the courage.
1) When will you have an ATM-based DSLAM ready to ship?
2) If BA wins its fight with the FCC over their present restriction re: inter-regional data exchange [FCC 706], will it speed ADSL deployment? How likely is this to happen and when? [Thanks to CK]
3) Will you do a DMT line card for LU's 5ESS switch? [Thanks to MA]
4) What surprises have you encountered this side of the merger?
>>>
Well, there's always another quarter and another conference call.
Cheers!
Pat
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