Will Fast-Changing Market Eliminate Cabletron?
Inter@ctive Week
April 6, 1998
By Joe McGarvey and Larry Barrett
Is the Big Four of the network equipment arena - 3Com Corp., Bay Networks
Inc., Cabletron Systems Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. - on the verge of
becoming the Big Three? Following a perplexing shuffle in its executive
ranks, which came one week after Cabletron turned in its worst financial
quarter in its 15-year history, analysts and industry insiders said the
Rochester, N.H., company could be on the verge of spiraling into extinction.
Donald Reed resigned as chief executive officer after just eight months on
the job. Other top executives are leaving without fanfare. The company has
been slow to adopt switching technology in its lineup of networking gear.
And several quarters of poor financial performance have now turned to red
ink.
...
"The future looks pretty bleak," said Tom Nolle, president of CIMI Corp.,
a Voorhees, N.J.-based research firm. "Cabletron must be grooming itself to
be bought."
...
"Why all of a sudden would Reed decide he wanted to leave?" said Dataquest
Inc. analyst John Armstrong. "The whole thing is incredible."
...
Reed is on his way to being cast as a slow-moving telecommunications
veteran who was unable to keep up with the pace of change in the data
networking industry. Yet, analysts said, Cabletron's current problems can
be traced back to Reed's predecessors, Benson and co-founder Robert Levine.
...
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