>USRX violates the rule and want to establish de-facto standard. And
>nobody is happy about their marketing campaign.
No kidding? Do you think ROK, LU, MOT would not love to do the same?
>But it is a communication product, then a communication protocol is a
>must.
That's right... a communication protocol is a set of rules. You must
follow the rules of the protocol to "talk" or communicate if you prefer. If USRX's X2 protocol becomes a defacto standard which is protected under patent law then it is not unlike owning the x86 instruction set... or since it is really just S/W... owning the modem "OS".
When Microcom came up with MNP, other modem makers were unhappy and pushed for a similar V.42 standard. Their efforts ultimately proved successful... mostly because there was no dominant player in terms of share. Things have changed since then. USRX has about 40+% share of "client" modems (with growing share). More importantly, they have
AOL, Compuserve, Netcom and most of the internet access (ISP) business sewn up... control these access points (with X2) and they will control all "client" modems. Control client modems, and you control (to a large extent) all remote access. (i.e. ASND, SHVA, etc)
Clearly USRX is in a very strong position with X2. That is not to say that their strategy will succeed but they are in a better position than anyone else by a mile IMO. ROK, LU, MOT and ASND, SHVA etc... see the problem very clearly. Most analysts/investors do not.
All IMO
Cheers,
Daniel |
