FYI Opening remarks from the Ericsson / Newbridge conference call with financial analysts,
ericsson.se
September 9, 1998.
Participants from Ericsson:
-Anders Igel, Executive Vice President of Telefonaktiebolaget L.M.Ericsson and head of business
area Infocom Systems
-Michael Thurk, Vice President Ericsson and Managing Director of the business unit, Datacom
Networks & IP Services
Anders Igel:
"Ericsson is pleased to announce the acquisition of ACC and to welcome the company to the
Ericsson family.
ACC is a very competent company in the field of routing and remote access technologies and was
involved in the early days when the Internet was first built. Today ACC has a very strong carrier class
remote access program called Tigris.
The acquisition of ACC is in line with our "string of pearls" acquisition strategy acquiring primarily
small to medium-sized companies to strengthen our presence in data networking. We believe this
approach supports long-term shareholder value, whilst taking reasonable risks.
A paradigm shift is occurring from circuit switched networks to IP based networks. This shift will
result in more data than voice traffic over existing and future networks. This offers a great opportunity
for our customers in the form of new solutions and services and of course for Ericsson as a supplier
of these networks.
Our goal is clear. We are committed to becoming a major player in carrier class data networking. Our
strength in telecom, mobility and our expansion into data networking will fuel Ericsson's future
growth.
The main reason for the acquisition of ACC is to become a major player in the fast growing carrier
class remote access market, based on the Tigris products.
Newbridge CSI partner program, is beyond the scope of the present agreement but our acquisition of
ACC gives us an opportunity to evaluate that. In general, Ericsson supports open standards and if
CSI, which means Carrier Scale Internetworking, becomes a standard we will of course support it.
Ericsson supports CSI in working together with Newbridge to find the best possible carrier class
solutions.
ACC carries a value to Ericsson far beyond the stand-alone remote access market, which I said was
the main reason for the acquisition of ACC. We do use ACC technology in IP access for our current,
both mobile and fixed Telecom solutions and we will continue to benefit from ACC competence as we
migrate the Telecom network of today into the converged new telecoms of tomorrow.
For example, when ADSL is introduced in the fixed networks, and GPRS in the mobile networks, IP
based networking solutions will be there.
The same IP capability will be used to build the next generation of mobile networks, which will largely
be based on IP.
We also see opportunities to exploit ACC capabilities for our integrated voice and data enterprise
solutions.
In essence, we see tremendous opportunities for the combined Ericsson ACC team."
Michael Thurk
"We recently announced the creation of the Ericsson Datacom headquarters in Boston. This
business unit has global responsibility. We already have a significant business in data networking
and many ongoing developments in Sweden, UK, Norway, U.S. and many parts of the rest of the
world. We recognize the need to build a strong solutions portfolio that is carrier class for our Internet
Service Provider, CLEC (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier), and carrier clients.
ACC is a perfect fit for our carrier class platform in the fast-growing remote access market. This
market today is estimated at 1.7 billion U.S. (dollars) and growing at 40 percent annually. Our growth
objectives are of course much greater.
ACC will be the cornerstone of our access solution product line. The Tigris product line is a
leadership platform, which we expect will be a great interest to our customers. This high-density
carrier class access platform has the potential for many uses in many areas of Ericsson's Internet IP
solutions portfolio.
Of course, access is not the only element of an Internet solution. Ericsson Datacom will continue to
expand in access, transport, services platforms and comprehensive management systems. Our
investments will continue to be made in the form of internal development, equity participation, and
acquisitions as in the case of ACC.
As Anders (Igel) said earlier, Ericsson's goal is to be one of the leading providers in the access
market for carrier class access systems. We have taken a major step in achieving that goal today."
ERICSSON PRESS RELEASES about ACC CONFERENCE CALL INTERVIEWS
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Published: 1998-09-15 |
