"In a large sense, all those patents up until the 1980's breakup and deregulation should be viewed as belonging to the US public since they had no choice but to pay for it."
I was at the Networkers (Cisco's annual Networking event) in Denver last week when the news about LU's lawsuit broke out. It appears that CSCO is making all the right moves at the right time. I was amazed to see all the new products in the show room (DSL router, Cable router, Gigabit Switch, Voice over IP, Voice over FR and ATM, Gigabit router and many more). I think LU is beginning to get the heat. LU is scared and paranoid after Nothern-Bay merger announcement. LU is a re-seller of Bay and it would be perfect merger if they would have merged with Bay. And now since the arch-rival Nortel scooped up Bay, LU find itself in a very awkward position. I don't think it will be easy for LU to buy ASND (too expensive!). They have to find another niche player like Xylan or a new startup. On the air, I was reading the fortune magazine on my way back. One of the article indicated that while all the shares of the networking companies performed poorly, CSCO shares appreciated 100% in a year (April,1997-April,1998).
As an investor, I have lots of faith on CSCO. John Chambers, CEO of CSCO, wants VOICE to be virtually free. And after attending the Networkers, it appears that CSCO is doing all the right thing to achieve that goal.
/Trina
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