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

To: Tech97 who wrote (801)	12/25/1997 9:18:00 PM
From: Maverick	Respond to of 1629

3Com, Ascend Raise Remote Bar By Scott Berinato December 19, 1997 2:48 PM PST PC Week Remote access vendors will roll out products early next year that address customer demand for advanced Internet services such as virtual private networking, Web hosting, electronic commerce and voice over IP. 3Com Corp. is adding voice and other multimedia capabilities to its Total Control HiPer Access concentrator through its DSP (digital signal processor) architecture. Meanwhile, Ascend Communications Inc. will bolster its Navis management platform, giving administrators a single management point for new service offerings. Because vendors now offer remote access equipment with high port densities, providers are better able to offer new services such as virtual private networks and remote access outsourcing. "Absolutely, the hardware enables these services," said Michael Binko, marketing manager for PSINet Inc., in Herndon, Va., which services more than 23,000 corporate clients with 3Com's Total Control platform. "Our customers are asking for these new services, and we need to work very closely with vendors to ensure the hardware will handle not only the demand, but also provide maximum uptime and reliability," Binko added. 3Com's HiPer Access will add voice-over-IP and DSL (digital subscriber line) capabilities in the first half of 1998. Users will be able to download the new capabilities as a software-only upgrade to HiPer Access modules, which use DSPs. This will save time and money for administrators and provide greater flexibility, since multiple services can be configured on a single DSP, then changed if necessary, said officials of 3Com, in Santa Clara, Calif. 3Com will also add an ATM uplink to the device in the first half of the year and double the density of the HiPer Access from 336 ports to 672 ports by the end of 1998. Still, officials said adding services to the access concentrator is first priority. For its part, Ascend will tackle network management to address the services issue. Ascend will integrate the three pieces of its Navis management software--Navis Core for the LAN, Navis Access for the WAN and Navis Extend--into one platform that controls the core of the network all the way to the remote user, officials in Alameda, Calif., said. This suite, called CNM (Customer Network Management) Gateway, will also be Web-enabled. The RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service) piece of CNM will be significantly fortified with more detailed billing and stronger authentication. Ascend intends to have the integration complete by June, said company officials. Better RADIUS and Web-based management are primary concerns for service providers that want to offer advanced services. The former provides detailed billing and security guarantees, while the latter provides ubiquitous access to management information. Bay Networks Inc., which also uses a DSP architecture, plans to add services to its remote access 5000MSX box in 1998. Cisco Systems Inc., which this year introduced its own AS5300 access concentrator, is expected to add DSL modules to the device next year.

To: Tech97 who wrote (801)	12/25/1997 9:20:00 PM
From: Maverick	Respond to of 1629

Product strategy struggles put Ascend on descent By Scott Berinato, PC Week Online 12.22.97 10:00 am ET Is Ascend Communications Inc. losing its grip as a leader in the remote access hardware market for service providers? The company has stumbled in delivering a voice module for the MAX TNT access concentrator and, so far, has failed to develop an end-to-end VPN (virtual private network) architecture. Couple this with the Alameda, Calif., company's overburdened 56K-bps modem trade-in program and the headache of its $3.7 billion merger with Cascade Communications Inc., and you have "an ascendant WAN power that doesn't seem to know it," said one analyst who requested anonymity. "They have to wake up." That perceived lack of direction has also fueled acquisition rumors; the latest potential buyer is said to be Lucent Technologies Inc. Customers are more concerned with product development than acquisitions. "The level of support is good, but Ascend is definitely at a point where they have to figure out what they want to be when they grow up," said one IT administrator at a major ISP (Internet service provider) using Ascend equipment, who requested anonymity. Analysts said Ascend must adapt quickly, or it may be outdistanced by most of the other WAN equipment providers. Ascend will try to get back on track with a super-high-density access concentrator in the first half of next year. The voice module and a comprehensive VPN strategy that bridges Ascend and Cascade products are due in the first quarter of next year, according to sources. "They have to bolster customers' confidence that TNT can be applied to [new services]," said Brad Baldwin, an analyst with International Data Corp., in San Francisco. What users want is a mature platform, which is not how TNT was perceived. "They did the worst thing. They brought a platform out that wasn't ready," said the ISP administrator. "[But] I'd say the problems have been identified and are being addressed."