Market Reports Illustrate Ascend's Continued WAN Market Leadership
08:37 a.m. Jan 19, 1999 Eastern
ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 19, 1999--
Reports from Cahners In-Stat, Dataquest, Dell'Oro, IDC, Infonetics, RHK and Probe Recognize Ascend as the Continued WAN Switching Market Leader
Ascend Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq:ASND) a leader in wide area networking (WAN) and Intelligent Network (IN) solutions for service providers and users of the next-generation public network, today announced that the latest figures from several analyst groups confirm the company's leadership position in numerous WAN market segments. Reports covering the first half and third quarter of 1998 from Cahners In-Stat, Dataquest, Dell'Oro, Infonetics, International Data Corp. (IDC), Ryan Hankin Kent (RHK) and Probe recognize Ascend as the number one vendor in ATM, Frame Relay and combined multiservice WAN markets.
The Dell'Oro Group's recent report covering the third quarter of 1998 places Ascend at the top of the multiservice WAN market. Ascend led all competition in WAN switches sold to ISPs with an astounding 45.5 percent market share -- nearly three times that of the nearest competitor. Ascend's success in the third quarter pulled it's year-to-date market share to 44.1 percent. In addition to it's impressive lead in the ISP segment, Ascend also held a solid lead in WAN switches sold to carriers with 31.0 percent market share, pulling it's year-to-date lead in the category to 30.1 percent, according to Dell'Oro figures. The leads in the service provider segments contributed to Ascend's overall lead in worldwide WAN switch manufacturing revenue with 22.2 percent of the market in the third quarter.
In-Stat's recent third quarter WAN market share report placed Ascend in the top position in a number of categories, including ATM, Frame Relay and combined ATM and Frame Relay WAN equipment revenue. Ascend remained the leader in worldwide ATM WAN equipment and Frame Relay switch revenue sold to service providers with 29.8 percent market share in the third quarter, bringing its year-to-date lead to 28.7 percent. Broken down into individual categories, Ascend led in both worldwide ATM WAN equipment revenue sold to service providers with 26.1 percent and worldwide Frame Relay switch revenue sold to service providers with 35.8 percent -- more than double the nearest Frame Relay competitor -- in the third quarter. The year-to-date leads in the categories were 23.3 percent and 37.2 percent, respectively. Additionally, Ascend led the total worldwide Frame Relay switch revenue market with 21.8 percent in the third quarter, and 23.0 percent year-to-date.
"Ascend continues to lead the WAN market, based on its success in the service provider segment," said Jeremy Duke, Director of Cahners In-Stat Networking Group. "Their rapid rise to the top of the ATM market, coupled with their perennial leadership in Frame Relay, gives them a comfortable and balanced lead in the overall WAN switching market."
Recent figures from Infonetics further demonstrated Ascend's rapid entry into the core ATM market. According to Infonetics' Core ATM Switch Market research paper, Ascend became the clear ATM switch shipping leader with 48 percent market share in the third quarter of 1998, nearly doubling the market share of its nearest competitor. This followed a virtual tie for the market lead in the second quarter (Ascend's first quarter of shipping a core ATM product). For the combined results of the first three quarters of 1998, Ascend held the number one position with 36 percent market share, despite zero revenue generation in the first quarter due to its recent entry into the core switch market. (Per Infonetics' definition of core ATM switches -- including layer 2 switches only, OC 48 capable and more than 20 gbps -- the report included only Ascend's GX 550 and not the previously released CBX 500 core ATM switch.)
"In 1998, Ascend has become an instant leader in this key backbone market segment," said Greg Howard, director of service provider programs at Infonetics. "Ascend has quickly outsold core ATM solutions from established vendors. The immediate rise to the leadership position over competing vendors that have been shipping products for as long as four years is validation that Ascend continues to deliver excellent technologies and solutions."
In addition to the other reports, Dataquest, RHK, IDC and Probe reports also confirmed Ascend's WAN leadership. Dataquest's recently issued report, "Midyear 1998 Review of the ATM and Frame Relay Markets," illustrated Ascend's continued leadership in the Frame Relay market. According to the report, Ascend led all competition in the first half of 1998 with 24.2 percent of the market in Frame Relay backbone switch revenue. RHK ranked Ascend number one in ATM switches sold to Service Providers for the first half of 1998 with 31 percent market share. IDC found Ascend to be the market leader in public data network multiservice WAN switch revenue for the first half of 1998 with 25 percent market share. Probe also placed Ascend number one in multiservice WAN switch revenue to service providers for the first half of 1998 with 31 percent market share.
"Our mission is to establish Ascend as the leading supplier of products, technologies and services for network service providers and users of the public network, and we will continue to reach for this goal," said Mory Ejabat, president and CEO of Ascend. "These market share reports verify our continued commitment to supplying the most powerful WAN switch solutions available. We have worked diligently to maintain our leadership in the Frame Relay market and we are very pleased with our rapid rise to the top of the ATM market." About Ascend Communications
Ascend Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq:ASND) develops, manufactures, sells and services wide area networking solutions for telecommunications carriers, Internet service providers and corporate customers worldwide.
For more information about Ascend and its products, please send e-mail to info@ascend.com. For Investor Relations, please call our communications hotline at 800/648-3059 or 760/704-4423 (outside the US & Canada). Additional investor information can also be accessed at: ascend.com.
The foregoing statements may contain forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from these expectations as a result of factors including, but not limited to, the Company's success in developing, introducing or shipping new products, competition, the mix of distribution channels employed, the Company's dependence on single or limited source suppliers for certain components used in its products, risks inherent in international sales, seasonality and general economic conditions. These and other factors are discussed in Ascend's 10-K, 10-Q and other filings made periodically with the Securities and Exchange Commission Ascend is headquartered at One Ascend Plaza 1701 Harbor Bay Parkway Alameda, California 94502 Phone: 800/ASCEND4 Fax: 510/814-2300 E-mail: info@ascend.com
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