The price is incredible. Utterly beyond comprehension.
Proof their stock is funny money.
Okay, turning back to NN, press releases are popping up everywhere:
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August 25, 1999 16:24
Alert: NEWBRIDGE SAYS TO BUY REST OF TIMESTEP, NORTHCHURCH FOR C$350 MLN
OTTAWA, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Newbridge Networks Corp. unveiled the first investments in its hotly-anticipated Internet strategy on Wednesday with the purchase of two affiliate companies.
The Ottawa-area based networking company said it expects to spend C$350 million over the next two years buying neighboring TimeStep Corp. and Boston-area Northchurch Communications.
The cost of the acquisitions, which build on Newbridge's existing 30 percent-stake in firms, includes payments based on performance projections. Newbridge said it has completed negotiations for the acquisitions, which will combine the two firms' technology.
TimeStep sells virtual private network (VPN) technology, which secures communication on networks based on the Internet.
Northchurch develops high-speed routers that work on networks using Internet or asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) technology to give a carrier's customers access to data, voice, video and electronic-commerce services. Newbridge's flagship ATM gear sends multimedia signals along networks at high speeds.
"Today's announcement introduces a solution for service providers to move beyond simple IP transport to making money by offering differentiated IP services," said Newbridge President Alan Lutz in a statement.
A takeover circular for the TimeStep acquisition, which that firm's board has already approved, will soon be mailed to shareholders. The purchase of Northchurch is expected to close over the next week.
The announcement follows Newbridge's release of stronger-than-anticipated first-quarter results on Tuesday. Newbridge shares were up $2.35 to close at C$43.30 on the Toronto Stock Exchange before the announcement was released.
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August 25, 1999 16:40
Newbridge Networks Unveils Groundbreaking IP Services Strategy
KANATA, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 25, 1999--
-- Company Announces Intent to Acquire IPSec Industry Leader TimeStep Corporation and IP Edge Routing Technology Innovator Northchurch Communications --
Newbridge Networks (NYSE: NN)(TSE: NNC) today announced strategic Internet protocol (IP) portfolio enhancements which offer service providers the ability to generate revenue by delivering differentiated IP services. The Company has completed negotiations for two acquisitions that will combine industry-leading IPSec from TimeStep Corporation, of Kanata, Ontario and innovative IP edge routers from Northchurch Communications Inc., of Andover, Massachusetts. The move expands the addressable market and greatly enhances the Company's ability to deliver innovative IP services solutions.
According to Infonetics Research, Inc., a leading market research firm, the IP-VPN services market will reach U.S. $11 billion by 2001. The service provider edge market is expected to grow from U.S. $1 billion today to U.S. $3 billion by 2002.
"Today's announcement introduces a solution for service providers to move beyond simple IP transport to making money by offering differentiated IP services," said Alan Lutz, president and chief operating officer, Newbridge Networks. "It builds on our enhanced IP service solution, which enables service providers to meet their requirement to offer billable IP services that possess the quality of service attributes essential for handling voice and video services."
"We are focused on hot growth markets with an eye to enabling carriers to deliver revenue-generating services," said Jim Arseneault, executive vice president, IP & Internetworking Products Group, Newbridge Networks. "By entering the right markets at the right time, and blending the best of IP and ATM, we can immediately address the exploding markets for IP-VPNs and intelligent edge routers and enable e-services."
With the commoditization of Internet connection services, carriers are eager for innovative technology to help them launch new, revenue-generating business and residential IP services. TimeStep's IPSec technology, embedded into the Newbridge enhanced IP platforms, provides a critical element in building secure IP-VPN solutions. The Northchurch edge service router, a next generation programmable platform, integrated into Newbridge's rich service management suite of products, enables the creation of personalized IP services, further enhancing the intelligence of the edge router.
"TimeStep views this acquisition as a big win for both companies, but more importantly it is a win for our customers," said Tim Hember, president and chief executive officer, TimeStep Corporation. "Within Newbridge, we will extend our industry-leading secure IP-VPN solutions into global, geographically distributed secure services, while continuing to develop the best IP-VPN technology into the next millennium."
A pioneer in the secure IP-VPN industry, TimeStep has focused on developing scalable and manageable secure IP-VPN solutions for network service providers and large enterprises. TimeStep's flagship product line recently won Network Magazine's "1999 Product of the Year" and InfoWorld's "Golden Guardian Award". TimeStep has taken a strong leadership role in the development of the IPSec standard. Its suite of hardware gateways, software clients, and central management is the most comprehensive solution for corporate intranets, extranets, and Internet remote access.
"Newbridge Networks' global presence and managed network solution model will strengthen TimeStep's award-winning VPN offerings to partners such as GTE Internetworking," said Robert McKinney, director of VPN and Internet Security Services, GTE Internetworking. "The acquisition of TimeStep by Newbridge Networks affirms GTE Internetworking's selection of TimeStep's secure and scalable VPN technology as a key component of our market-leading, managed VPN Advantage service."
The Northchurch platform provides industry-leading circuit aggregation capacity, offering over 4000 T1s in a seven-foot rack. It is the only edge solution capable of wire-speed traffic management and processing at OC-48 line rates. Integration of this platform into the powerful Newbridge management suite will afford service providers a highly flexible solution supporting industry-leading QoS, traffic shaping, VPNs and accounting combined with simplified policy management, traffic monitoring, profiling and planning functionality.
"Combining Northchurch's strength in IP routing with the strong presence of Newbridge in carrier service management will, for the first time, offer service providers the ability to deliver true carrier-grade IP services to its customers," said David Sawyer, president and chief executive officer, Northchurch Communications.
"Service providers like SAVVIS/Bridge have been looking for a system-level approach to IP services, offering high-capacity access, flexible interfaces, and carrier-grade routing support. At the same time, we want a solution that provides us with the ability to deploy value-added services, such as IP-VPNs, traffic shaping, and intelligent subscriber management," said Dr. Rick Bubenik, executive vice president and chief technology officer, SAVVIS/Bridge. "Strengthened by the Newbridge management offering, the Northchurch intelligent edge device gives Newbridge a unique market opportunity, allowing it to introduce IP-based services with the service quality associated with its ATM-based product offering."
"Early on, Northchurch recognized the need to deliver both a next generation router device and an IP-based service delivery platform, thus maximizing the overall size of the market opportunity," said Michael Howard, principal analyst, Infonetics Research, Inc. "Northchurch's technology will result in new market opportunities and an increased customer reach for Newbridge."
The total cost of the acquisitions to Newbridge is expected to be approximately C$350 million, payable in cash over the next two years. The acquisition costs include projected performance payments. The Newbridge ownership position prior to the acquisitions was approximately 30 percent in each of TimeStep and Northchurch.
A take-over bid circular in connection with the TimeStep acquisition will be mailed to TimeStep shareholders shortly. The acquisition has been approved by the board of directors of Newbridge and is subject to various closing conditions. The board of directors of TimeStep has agreed to support the acquisition. The acquisition of Northchurch is expected to close over the next week.
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August 25, 1999 17:34
Newbridge unveils first stake of Internet strategy
(repeats fixing slug)
OTTAWA, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Newbridge Networks Corp. unveiled the first investments in its hotly-anticipated Internet strategy on Wednesday with the purchase of two affiliate companies.
The Ottawa-area based networking company said it expects to spend C$350 million over the next two years buying neighboring TimeStep Corp. and Boston-area Northchurch Communications.
The cost of the acquisitions, which build on Newbridge's existing 30 percent-stake in firms, includes payments based on performance projections. Newbridge said it has completed negotiations for the acquisitions, which will combine the two firms' technology.
TimeStep sells virtual private network (VPN) technology, which secures communication on networks based on the Internet.
Northchurch develops high-speed routers that work on networks using Internet or asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) technology to give a carrier's customers access to data, voice, video and electronic-commerce services. Newbridge's flagship ATM gear sends multimedia signals along networks at high speeds.
"Today's announcement introduces a solution for service providers to move beyond simple IP transport to making money by offering differentiated IP services," said Newbridge President Alan Lutz in a statement.
A takeover circular for the TimeStep acquisition, which that firm's board has already approved, will soon be mailed to shareholders. The purchase of Northchurch is expected to close over the next week.
The announcement follows Newbridge's release of stronger-than-anticipated first-quarter results on Tuesday. Newbridge shares were up $2.35 to close at C$43.30 on the Toronto Stock Exchange before the announcement was released.
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August 25, 1999 18:02
Newbridge Buys TimeStep & Northchurch
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1999 AUG 25 (NB) -- By Grant Buckler, Newsbytes. Moving to flesh out its ability to help telecommunications providers offer new kinds of services, Newbridge Networks Corp. [TSE:NNC][NYSE:NN] has announced it is buying up two companies that were members of its affiliates program. Newbridge will pay a total of C$350 million in cash for Ottawa-based TimeStep Corp. and Andover, Mass.-based Northchurch Communications Inc.
TimeStep specializes in Internet security technology, while Northchurch provides Internet Protocol (IP) edge routing technology.
Alyson Gaffney, director of internetworking marketing at Newbridge, said the company wants to offer communications carriers - including both incumbent and competitive carriers and Internet service providers (ISPs) - the tools to provide new money-making services to their customers.
"I think everybody knows that data traffic has just taken off and it's just driving a huge network revolution and it's driven by IP," Gaffney said. The problem, she continued, is that "nobody is making any money off that IP traffic. The money is being made still by voice."
To help carriers develop a new range of billable business and residential IP services, Gaffney told Newsbytes, a telecom equipment supplier needs to offer four key things: traffic management, end-to-end security, flexible and scalable devices at the edge of the network, and ease of provisioning.
Newbridge is strong in traffic management and ease of provisioning and has part of the edge puzzle with its Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology, Gaffney said. The TimeStep acquisition fills in the security gap, and the Northchurch takeover will add IP edge capabilities to complement existing ATM offerings.
TimeStep's IP virtual private network (IP-VPN) technology is available now. Northchurch's IP routing equipment is due for beta testing early in 2000 and volume shipments later in the year.
Both companies will be integrated into Newbridge, and over time the company will incorporate their technology across its product line, said Gaffney. Shane Eleniak, director of internetworking strategy, added that to avoid losing the driving force of the companies, their present top managers will remain and will in both cases report to Jim Arsenault, the executive vice-president in charge of Newbridge's Internetworking Product Group.
The deal, which is subject to securities regulators' approvals in the US and Canada, is expected to close within about three weeks, Eleniak told Newsbytes.
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