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Technology Stocks : Newbridge Networks -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tathanka who wrote (14364)	11/6/1999 4:20:00 AM
From: pat mudge	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18016

Tathanka -- I don't think Sycamore and Cambrian are apples and apples. Ironbridge and Sycamore are more similar. Cambrian has MAN DWDM systems, not terabit router/switches, though both address the optical network. I wonder if NN would consider bringing Ironbridge in-house? Probably not their first concern considering their recent management shake-up. As for the roots of the problems, some go back before Alan. I spoke at length with a NN engineer today at the conference and he explained how the carrier to which he's attached wasn't buying NN gear and when he asked them to list what they wanted, he took the list to HQ and nothing was done to meet their needs. In other words, NN's stance was sell what we have period. He said those decisions date to before Alan's arrival. Clearly there have been many product changes since then, but perhaps too little too late, I don't know. The Cambrian sell was based on the co's decision not to go into long-haul transport. As I understand it, it's a capital intensive space and it's tough to compete against the big boys. For a case in point, look at what happened to Ciena when ATT cancelled some contracts just before the Tellabs buyout. Lucent's fingerprints are all over that debaucle. But, hey, that's the way the industry works. Whimpering that it's unfair doesn't change anything. The harsh fact is NN can't compete against Lucent and Nortel in the big accounts. Slice it any way you like, you'll come to the same place. If they can bring out the 50/450 before their competitors have something similar, they could regain credibility and become a more viable buyout candidate. I'd certainly hate for them to go on the block now, though it could happen. The journalist was absolutely right, you can't play catch-up in this market. You can, however, leapfrog, and I believe that was Alan's plan. Unfortunately some shipments of their bread-and-butter 170s were cancelled at the end of the quarter and the rest is history. Pat