Bay to resell ATM: Company plugs WAN gap
By Stephen Lawson
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 10:23 AM PT, Feb 9, 1998
Battle lines are being drawn in the market for end-to-end networking as Bay
Networks seeks an ATM partner to fill a critical hole in its offerings to carriers.
Bay plans to announce this week that it will resell a third-party vendor's ATM
switch for enterprise backbones, according to sources. But this deal will leave open
the company's need for a carrier-class core switch.
Sources said last week Bay has been in discussions with WAN equipment vendors
to resell carrier-class ATM switches. Sources had indicated that Bay would turn to
Fore Systems, but Bay officials denied the company had agreed to resell a Fore
switch. Fore officials declined comment.
Such a reseller agreement would allow Bay to compete against competitors that are
now supplying core switches for carrier and large ISP networks, including Cisco
Systems, Ascend Communications, and Newbridge Networks.
Networking vendors are scrambling to build product lines and partnerships that give
them a presence in both the LAN and WAN markets. The promised payoff for users
is guaranteed data and multimedia services that span from enterprise headquarters
to branch offices, partners, and customers.
Bay has made its plan for these types of offerings the cornerstone of its corporate
agenda. With recent acquisitions and a repositioning of some enterprise products to
serve carriers, the company has focused significant resources on service provider
networks.
The stakes are high for all parties.
"The WAN battle of the future is in the carriers and ISPs, not the enterprise," said
Frank Dzubeck, president of Communications Network Architects, in Washington.
"In their strategy, Bay has a massive hole."
Analysts said a large ATM switch would give Bay a platform to carry services
initiated in Bay LANs across the wide area.
Most of the promised LAN and WAN services are in their infancy, but more
competition should benefit users by proliferating features and lowering prices,
analysts said. |
