Apr 21, 1998 Los Angeles Daily News
ö By: Deborah Adamson Daily News Staff Writer
FRANKLIN TO SPIN OFF FNET
Hoping to hone its expertise of the Internet telephony market, Franklin Telecom said Monday it is spinning off its FNet Corp. subsidiary.
Franklin, a maker of hardware and software that link personal computers, bank ATMs and point-of-sale equipment, said it's in the company's best interest to split.
The company said that FNet, an Internet service provider that is entering the Internet telephony market, will be better served by a management team that focuses on its specialty.
"It needs a different type of expertise," said Diane McCarthy, director of marketing for Franklin Telecom.
McCarthy said FNet started aggressively marketing its Internet telephony product in February.
Using Franklin Telecom's Tempest Data Voice Gateways product, FNet can provide person-to-person telephone calls via the Internet or a company's own internal network.
FNet's first push is toward the corporate market, where employees in offices worldwide place many long-distance calls.
In July, FNet plans to market prepaid phone cards for the consumer market.
The Internet telephony market is about 1 year old, said Bruce Carlsmith, an analyst for NationsBanc Montgomery Securities in San Francisco.
The industry holds "huge promise" since it lowers the cost of long-distance calls by dodging access charges clients pay to phone companies, he said. Savings may amount to 4 cents out of every 12 cents paid to the phone companies.
"It's getting a lot of interest from corporations," Carlsmith said.
There are about 25 small players, such as FNet, and 10 large players, like Cisco, are competing for the business and technological edge, Carlsmith said. |
