Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Nortel Networks (NT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: peggylynn who wrote (6558)	8/15/2000 11:30:40 AM
From: telecomguy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14638

"Sprint was basically saying that proprietary pieces of equipment that don't make nice with other people's gear are no longer welcome. This means that interoperability issues will increasingly fall on the shoulders of vendors." Tks Peggylynn for elucidating my point........it USED to be that the Carriers would spend gobs of time, & mucho dollars trying to mix & match & integrate different vendor platforms to build out their network. But couple of things are happening. Carriers are under severe competitive pressures -- i.e. FINANCIAL pressure as voice rates plummet, they lose monopoly control of pricing and the cost of the Next-Gen multi-media network build-out mounts. So what happens when costs increase, margins fall, & revenues are stagnant? The overhead will be cut -- meaning staff will be laid-off and the Carriers will increasingly rely on the Major Contractor network vendors (like NT, LU) to source, install, inter-operate, and in some cases MANAGE their network (there was an example of a huge deal between NT and a European company I can't recall who contracted NT to build AND operate their new fibre-optic network for fixed mgmt fee! First model of the kind in this business where the customer's strategy is to simply sell, & service their customer base and let NT actually MANAGE their network.....very interesting development). In addition, the Carriers may not have lot of expertise in-house to integrate & interoperate fibre optic technology due to it's cutting-edge nature. So NT would like be given a bigger piece of the pie so that the Carrier doesn't have to worry about the interoperability issues. Lastly, the new-fangled Next-Gen Carriers and ISP/ASP's do NOT want to have an army of MIS/Network specialists to spend all their overhead trying to manage 10 different network vendors. The smart new Carriers coming onto the scene probably knows that once the main networking vendor is chosen, it makes lot more sense to rely on them to undertake to build-out their network.....this means NT will use their in-house products/technology in most areas of networking needs and only off-source what they don't have (which is not much due to depth & breath of their product line -- especially in comparison to CSCO which so far is a one-trick pony)