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Technology Stocks : Ascend Communications (ASND) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Joe Pirate who wrote (21977)	11/7/1997 7:26:00 PM
From: James A. Shankland	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

ASND will be $50 in 1998 on its own... *** the takeover... Even if there is any truth to the matter, BAY would only pay $30 max..* Can anyone comment substantively on how ASND's and BAY's product lines, corporate cultures, etc. would mesh? I'm not really all that familiar with BAY. I have some doubts about how well ASND can do on its own. I think they are weak in quality control, documentation, and support. My sense is that the experiences described in the following URL are characteristic: merit.edu That's less of a problem when you occupy a market niche solo. E.g., back when the Pipeline50 was $1500, it was the only game in town for ISDN dialup routing. ISDN dialup routing was such a useful thing that we were willing to pay the price, and forgive the cryptic documentation and the perverse user interface. But now, the RA market is slowing (a little), margins are dropping (a lot), competition is increasing (a lot), and, most important, CSCO, which has an awesome and deserved reputation for great reliability and support, has swung its big guns around and is pointing them squarely at ASND. Lassie, get help.

To: Joe Pirate who wrote (21977)	11/7/1997 9:00:00 PM
From: Mike Whalen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

Pirate- Couldn't agree with you more. This whole take over rap is getting old. Sit back, the stock will make it's move, but you must be patient. Mike PS Your posts are entertaining and insightful :) Keep up the good work.

To: Joe Pirate who wrote (21977)	11/7/1997 10:50:00 PM
From: Clare	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 61433

<<take over rumors: BAY, CS, etc>> Do you know what all these companies have in common? They are all Cisco victims. In 1995, Cisco went after BAY, in '96 they went after CS, and this year they went after ASND. Yeah, a three-way merger of Cisco RoadKill. Just the ticket to paradise, not! Anyway I believe ASND can do better by themselves. They will lose focus with a takeover. Despite all the end-to-end hype, stitching together these companies is like putting together Frankenstein's monster. From dead body parts. Since no one can match Cisco's end-to-end story, they shouldn't even try. Instead target a market segment (in ASND's case, remote access, WAN) and concentrate on competing with Cisco's ISP line of business, instead of trying to take on all of Cisco with a motley grab-bag of stuff from CS, BAY, COMS, and ASND. (Hey, a four-way merger, how about that?) ASND need to concentrate on where they are strong. Even Chambers admitted in the CC that it is hard to unseat the incumbent equipment provider. Sure, Cisco is taking market share. But the market is also growing as more people work from home, more businesses is done on the extranet, and more people chat on the internet. BTW, I believe 1998 Cisco will go after COMS. They just stated they're going into the consumer market. And are also partnering with Intel and other consumer products companies. Only LU can save ASND, because Cisco hasn't hurt them yet. BTW, I have a little ASND, because they are my latest worry-stock. (I've had MU, PAIR, AMTX, MCOM in the past). And the funny thing is I always have to have a small bit of money in one stock to worry about totally out of proportion to its percentage in my portfolio. So I'm hoping Ascend can regain razor-like focus on RAS and WAN instead of looking to merge with the likes of BAY or CS.