From the Prudential testimonial (see FORE site), critical issues to consider for early adoptors of ATM appears to be total cost of network ownership. The message appears to be that ATM may end up being the choice for LANs and WAN because:
1. Eliminates scalability problem
2. Greatly reduces network management costs through simplification
3. Guarantees quality of service for heterogeneous data streams (video, voice, data).
A killer ap driving acceptance of FORE equipment appears to be work group video conferencing. I suspect that their immediate fortunes may be linked to the video desktop conferencing firms. Is this revolution big enough to drive significant revenue growth?
Ironically, early IP telephony is one of the drivers because no telecom manager today can ignore the option of using data networks for voice to avoid the high cost of upgrading proprietary PBXs. Given the emerging plans of the leading switch vendors, this will be an explosion in 2 years. That is probably one of the reasons that FORE is involved with Sphere Communications. Does anyone have any knowledge about where this is headed?
Is FORE better suited to premise equipment or Central Offices? Can they win on their own or is the value in a strategic sale to another firm?
Are the big switch manufacturers still jockeying for position, or is it too late for FORE to be purchased? (Buyers: Nortel, Mitel, Lucent, Alcatel, Siemens, Erickson, etc.) Would any of these firms turn into big winners with FORE? |
