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Technology Stocks : Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Uncle Frank who wrote (38470)	7/24/2000 11:35:38 AM
From: telecomguy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 77398

Uncle Frank, we all have opinions and who knows who will ultimately be right. Read this though and you will see that NT is clearly as close to being a Gorilla in the optics space as you can get -- whatever the definition may be. And note that CSCO doesn't even register on the radar screen of NT. redherring.com Cisco Watch: Nortel leads optical market By Phil Harvey Redherring.com, July 24, 2000 There are some good reasons one analyst calls Nortel Networks (NYSE: NT) "Lucent without the disappointments." Another name for the telecom equipment giant might as well be "Cisco without the suave public relations machine." In any case, while Cisco is often hailed for its acquisitions in the optical networking market, Nortel is touting its contracts. On July 13, Nortel said it won a $100 million multiyear contract from CoreExpress, a firm that's buying all kinds of optical gear to complete a 22,000-mile IP network. Also that day, France Telecom said it has entered into trials with Nortel's Optera Metro product. This week, Telefónica (NYSE: TEF)'s Emergia subsidiary said it signed a deal to buy Nortel's optical gear, but it didn't disclose details. Williams Communications also signed a contract extension with Nortel that lasts until the end of 2002. The contract in that deal is now worth about $1.5 billion. And Worldcom said it would extend its contract to buy gear from Nortel for 19 months. The exact value of the contract is unknown, though both sides say it's a multibillion-dollar deal. Don Smith, president of Nortel's optical Internet division, says there's nothing special about the timing -- things are blindingly busy all the time. Mr. Smith does, however, point out that Nortel is still the game when it comes to long-haul optical networks. "We've won [the business to provide gear for] 43 out of 57 of the pan-European optical networks," he says. "We certainly don't have an opportunity to sit back and relax." The data from telecom analyst RHK seems to jibe with Mr. Smith's assessment. Its recent study shows Nortel Networks has 29 percent of the North American optical-transport market, which RHK defines as the total dollar shipments for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), Synchronous Optical Network (SONet), and digital cross-connect systems (DCS) equipment. Nortel's lead is followed by Lucent (24 percent), Fujitsu (14 percent), Alcatel (12 percent), Tellabs (11 percent), NEC (3 percent), and Ciena (2 percent), with the remaining 5 percent being split by Cisco, Hitachi, Siemens, Sycamore, and other firms. In 1999, the optical transport market was worth $12.3 billion, according to RHK. PLAYING POLITICS Further proof that Cisco executives are a politically savvy lot came this week as the networking firm and the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced an online training program for small businesses. The government agency that backs small firms got together with Cisco because, according to Cisco boss John Chambers, both organizations agree that making businesses more competitive is key to strengthening the overall economy. Mr. Chambers and our government are continuing to assert that the Internet levels the playing field for businesses of all sizes, something that's easier to say when you're already the size of Cisco. Cisco says it has spent at least $1 million on the SBA program, which includes developing several courses on electronic-commerce basics and other technology primers, all hosted on Cisco's Web site. The benefits for Cisco's involvement go beyond just giving it another opportunity to educate and work hand-in-hand with the government. Whether intentional or not, entrepreneurs will be exposed to the Cisco brand throughout their learning experience, bringing quick closure to questions they're bound to have about where to find the networking gear needed to "dot-com" themselves and compete globally