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

To: Chi-X who wrote (22681)	11/11/1997 2:51:00 PM
From: sepku	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

>>>"Currently, AT&T WorldNet subscribers in the 11 cities can use the 56k technology through modems made 3Com Corp (COMS)." <<< The key word is "currently". When modem vendors favor Flex over X2 by 10/1 margin, AT&T must support Flex as well, or lose out on tons of business. Yes, LU supplies AT&T with Flex modems, but LU currently resells ASND's RAS equip. despite the addition of Livingston, right? That's where the money is...also, it looks like AT&T will be looking to CSCC to build its ATM network. COMS doesn't seem to be doing so hot with its modem sales, now that Flex is catching up...witness their channels over-flowing with modems. When COMS is virtually the only X2 56K supplier, who the hell else is a company supposed to go to for X2 modem build-out? So what's so significant about that? AT&T needs to build-up both competing standards for a hedge, until the new standard is made. What's important for ASND is getting a piece of AT&T's RAS, FR, and ATM deals. COMS will always get X2 -- there's no one else to sell it to them. But AT&T must also build up support for Flex as well, and LU or ASND...it's all fruit from the same tree. When it comes to K56 tech, Flex -- period -- needs to compete against X2. Beyond that, ASND's equipment can build up the network around it. Style Pts.

To: Chi-X who wrote (22681)	11/11/1997 2:54:00 PM
From: Jeff Jordan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

Style Pts., lets just say that ASND doesen't get any part of AT&T WorldNet deals on their 56k modems. AT&T Worldnet uses 3COM modems & is planning to add Lucent Technologies Inc. for 56k. K56flex is a 56 Kbps modem specification developed by Rockwell and Lucent, and is being backed by most major modem manufacturers, developers and implementers. It allows for 56 Kbps transfers from a digital modem to an analog modem on the downstream portion of the call and 33.6 Kbps on the upstream portion. 4.Is there a 56 Kbps modem standard? The 56K modem standard available today is being supervised by the Open 56K Forum, which is a group founded by 28 companies, including Ascend. This forum represents over 70 percent of the modem communications industry. The Open 56K Forum is backing the protocol they believe is the most open and provides the best foundation for widespread interoperability, which is currently the K56flex specification. 5.How does the Open 56K Forum standard compare to other standards like U.S. Robotics x2? The x2 protocol is not interoperable at 56 Kbps with the Open 56K Forum standard, which is based on K56flex. U.S. Robotics has been invited to join the Open 56K Group, but it has not yet decided to become a member. The Open 56K Forum will support any technology/protocol including x2 that can be part of an open, interoperable solution. At this time, however, x2 is a proprietary specification from U.S. Robotics. The truth about 56 Kbps modem technology ISP Support for K56flex: An independent third party has confirmed that more than 500 ISPs activated live K56flex service as of early September, at more than 4,000 points of presence (POPs) in nearly 4,000 cities. K56flex ISP equipment customers are on track to deploy 10,000 to 12,000 POPs by the end of September, working with 1,500 ISPs in all major cities across America and worldwide. CMP Media has independently verified that 1,500 ISPs have deployed live K56flex service or are in the process of deploying it. Boardwatch Magazine has also conducted a survey of ISPs, and reports in its latest (May/June 1997) comprehensive directory that 524 ISPs are supporting x2. Overall Market Support: A comparison of recently announced shipment figures from Rockwell and Texas Instruments for the same type of modem chipsets shows that Rockwell has shipped considerably more units just during the past six months than TI has shipped during the past year. This demonstrates Rockwell's worldwide modem market presence, which continues to be strong among ISPs, modem manufacturers and PC OEMs. ISPs: All of the world's leading ISPs support K56flex. x2 K56flex AOL Yes Yes CompuServe Yes Yes Prodigy Yes Yes MSN No Yes Earthlink Ltd. Yes Modem makers: K56flex is offered by the overwhelming majority of the world's top modem makers, including Motorola, Diamond, Hayes, Zoom, Philips, Boca Research, Best Data, Global Village, PPI, TDK, and Simple Technology. Consumers have dozens of K56flex brands to choose from, as compared to only a few brands that are available with x2. ISP equipment suppliers: the world's top ISP equipment suppliers including Ascend, Cisco, Microcom, Shiva, Livingston, Bay Networks and Ariel all support K56flex. The market research firm Dell' Oro Group said in its 1996 report that the overwhelming majority of the digital access concentrator market supports K56flex. PC OEMs: K56flex is supported by PC manufacturers who account for over 70% of all PCs sold worldwide (Source: DataQuest). Standards: Today, Rockwell ships software-upgradeable K56flex chipsets -- there is no need for consumers to wait until an ITU standard is finalized, because today's K56flex-based modems can all be easily upgraded to the eventual ITU standard. Rockwell's modem customers are offering guaranteed free software upgrades to the eventual ITU standard. Rockwell is assistant editor of the draft standard, which is now expected to be completed during 1998. At the most recent ITU-T Study Group 16 Working Party plenary meeting that ended September 12, the Rapporteur group working on the 56Kbps modem standard (V.pcm) was unable to resolve 15 remaining issues and therefore could not "determine" the standard as the last step before ratification. The next opportunity to resolve these issues will be in January when the full Study Group 16 Working Party reconvenes. Rockwell does not believe that the Townshend patents recently announced by 3Com -- if and when they are issued to Mr. Townshend -- will be fundamental to K56flex or to where the ITU standard is headed. Rockwell is also surprised that, given 3Com's stated belief in the importance of Townshend's technology, they chose to keep it quiet during the nearly year-long standards process. If 3Com's true intention is to expedite the standards process, then we now call upon 3Com to publicly reveal what components of the contributions are based on Townshend's technology. Only then can the committee move beyond these marketing issues and forge ahead toward completion of the ITU standard. Rockwell has always been committed to the rapid completion and market implementation of ITU standards. Rockwell is strongly committed to the rapid completion of a 56K ITU standard.