Cisco beats Newbridge to the punch
By Bloomberg News
Special to CNET NEWS.COM
February 12, 1999, 1:50 p.m. PT
Newbridge Networks shares fell as much as 10 percent after the No. 5 network equipment maker
said it may lose a contract to supply Canada's WIC Connexus with phone switches for a new
wireless network.
Newbridge stock fell 2.6875 to close at 24.4375. Shares have traded as high as 39.8750 and as low as 15.4375
in the past 52 weeks.
The Globe and Mail today reported that Newbridge lost the WIC Connexus business to San Jose,
California-based Cisco Systems, the biggest maker of networking gear.
WIC Connexus, a unit of WIC Western International Communications, awarded
most of a C$450 million to C$500 million contract to Kanata, Ontario-based
Newbridge and France's Alcatel in August. Shaw Communications has since agreed
to acquire WIC Connexus with other WIC Western assets, and WIC Connexus
president and chief executive John Lacey resigned.
"It's never good to lose a contract," said Byron Berry, an analyst at Yorkton
Securities who rates Newbridge a "strong buy."
Newbridge spokesman John Lawlor yesterday said his company wasn't counting on
revenue from startup WIC Connexus and that it's fiscal 1999 and 2000 sales
projections won't change much. It may, however, get orders from WIC Connexus in
the future.
WIC Connexus officials weren't immediately available for comment.
Toronto-based WIC Connexus has a license to build a wireless network offering voice, data, and high-speed
Internet service to business customers across Canada. It planned to use Newbridge switches based on
asynchronous transfer mode, or ATM, technology to manage traffic on the network. Alcatel was to provide the
wireless radio equipment.
Copyright 1999, Bloomberg L.P. All Rights Reserved. |
