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

To: Sector Investor who wrote (867)	1/8/1998 2:49:00 PM
From: Maverick	Respond to of 1629

Gary, thanks for all the works. A small correction to MS follows. 1) ASND's GRF (NetStar) division is working on SW supporting BGP4 and other routing protocols so that the GRF can coexist with other routers such as GSR12000. This would go a long way in snatching new contracts as CSCO's stalled base is huge and a forklift upgrade is unacceptable. Madge and everybody else does the same. The new SW also improves reliability which has limited GRF's early adoption (This is from a high-level reliable source). Take my words for it. This is one of the reason, ASND's mgmt has been mum about GRF's prospect. Don't get me wrong here. If the routing SW works well, I think GRF will be a dark horse contributing mightily to 2Q98 and beyond easily compensating for RAS biz if the 56K std is not approved fast enough. 2) ASND is working on IP-over-SONET (94% bit efficiency) besides IP-over-ATM (80% bit eff.). The former is the rage of the industry. The big 4 have recently started working on this. ISPs and carriers clamored for it. 3) If we think the Williams contract is big, the adjective "big" will have to be redefined when the AT&T WorldNet contract is announced. ASND's mgmt was indeed right when they said they were comfortable w/ FY98 estimates. We need more people like Gary and Sector in this thread. May be you can apply for the financial community as a second job using these posts as prev. experience..

To: Sector Investor who wrote (867)	1/8/1998 7:04:00 PM
From: Maverick	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1629

AT&T Goes Local Shares of Teleport Communications Group (Nasdaq:TCGI - news) plunged $3 3/8 to $54 3/8 after the Wall Street Journal reported that AT&T (NYSE:T - news) was considering a "take-under" that would value the shares at $56 a pop. Shares of Teleport's pending partner ACC Corp. (Nasdaq:ACCC - news) slipped $3 to $49 1/2 in sympathy with the fall in Teleport stock, as ACC is being purchased for a fixed amount of Teleport stock. Investors should not feel too bad for Teleport shareholders, as you pretty much had to buy stock in the local phone service provider based on the AT&T takeover speculation in early December to get in at higher prices. The deal would finally end speculation about when AT&T will enter the local phone market for the first time since the break-up of Ma Bell in 1984. Investors have been speculating for months that AT&T was interested in buying Teleport, the first and largest competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) in the U.S., but then again, investors have been speculating that AT&T was going to buy something since the close of 1996. Although much anticipated, long-distance companies have had difficulty penetrating the Baby Bells' monopolies on local phone service. AT&T's reluctance has probably been a combination of management turmoil and a desire to find a partner that matches the company's nascent business strategy. This delay, however, has not stifled shareholder enthusiasm about AT&T, whose stock has risen substantially over the past year as investors have anticipated the potential benefits of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Under the guidance of Chairman C. Michael Armstrong, investors believe that AT&T will shed nearly a decade of underperformance and become a lean, mean, telecom machine. In Teleport, AT&T would acquire a company that provides local phone service to businesses in 66 metropolitan markets -- including 29 of the top 30 regions. With only $850 to $900 million in anticipated revenues this year pending the completion of the ACC Corp. acquisition, the deal puts Teleport at approximately 14.4 times historical sales, including ACC Corp. revenues but not counting a number of small acquisitions the firm has completed over the past few months. This is a pretty steep price tag, but given that AT&T could push cheap, local phone service to businesses bundled with its panoply of other offerings, it is not an entirely outrageous price. As Teleport currently does not generate cash, AT&T is really buying the company for its equipment and current customers as a way to get into the local phone market quickly. The deal is also contingent on the approval of a few very large Teleport shareholders, including 28.5% owner Tele-Communications Inc. (Nasdaq:TCOMA - news) , 22.4% owner Cox Communications (NYSE:COX - news) , and 14.7% owner Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq:CMSCA) . By Motley Fool's Lunchtime news