bucky89, come on, you really believe ASND would turn down a $72 offer from ERICY, or anyone else (OK, maybe Zapata :))? Its very difficult for me to accept ASND getting 75% takeover premium from anyone, in this market environment.
And why do think Mory has such a bias toward LU? I would think just the opposite. Most of his company, including the piece that would rightly be called "his baby" (TNT), competes directly with LU's remote access business. I'd think Mory was pissed as hell when LU bought Livingston, and doubly pissed when they bought Yurie (total SA overlap), and then triply pissed when they bought Prominet (GRF overlap). I just can't envision such a high premium when billions will end up on the chopping block, just to get WAN switching. I know it's of premiere importance, but LU had there chance to get the whole caboodle when there was no overlap, rolled their dice, and lost, and moved on.
And don't underestimate the IP expertise that was purchased in that Prominet deal. I know, I know, LU can't spell IP. Damn, that makes me laugh everytime I see it. But LU is major player, and I'd guess there is plenty of IP expertise in the company, both from the Prominet deal, and homegrown in the last couple of years.
I will try to gather as much info as I can from someone working in their ATM trenches. No high placed executive contacts like others purport to have. Just a peon engineer, like me who was hired about 6 months ago specifically to do ATM.
Also, don't believe for a minute that companies such as LU and CSCO have many teams "competing" to develop like products. Those days are long gone. Way, way too expensive. I worked for IBM (the biggest of the big) for 11 years until 1993, and that practice was virtually non-existant since the late 80's, and even then only occurred on the rarest of occasions.
gary |
