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

To: Maverick who wrote (31783)	1/22/1998 8:23:00 PM
From: Jeff Jordan	Respond to of 61433

ADSL keeps gaining momentum By Robert Lemos January 22, 1998 4:39 PM PST ZDNN Building on a broad partnership to standardize high-speed Internet communications, No. 1 PC maker Compaq Computer Corp. and Midwest telco Ameritech Corp. have struck a deal to bring fast Web access to Ameritech's customers. "Along with Ameritech, [we are] making high-speed Internet access easy for our customers to get and use," said Michael Rubin, director of product marketing for Compaq's Presario line, in a statement. Ameritech (AIT)announced on Thursday that the telco had provided Compaq (CPQ) with asymmetric digital subscriber line, or ADSL, modems for testing in new Presario computers. The plan: Compaq retailers will offer to configure systems for high-speed access in Michigan and Illinois -- the two areas where Ameritech will offer ADSL service in the near future. The company's ADSL Internet service, called Ameritech.net, provides users with data download rates of up to 1.5M bits per second -- about 30 times the speed of today's fastest modems -- and upload rates of 128K bits per second. The service costs $150 to start up and $60 a month afterwards; new customers also get a discount rate of $50 a month for the first year. "Right now, Compaq is reviewing our network cards and modems to make sure they interoperate with their systems," said Jean Medina, spokesperson for Ameritech. The Compaq Presario computers will be available by the spring of 1998. The agreement could be another boost for ADSL, which is competing with ISDN (integrated services digital network), cable delivery, and other forms of data transmission to bring fast Internet access to the home. "This is definitely an important move; one that we will see others doing in the coming weeks," said analyst Barbara Ells of Zona Research Inc. "With whatever product they come up with, the key is going to be whether it is user-installable and how fast will they roll out solutions for business." In the last week, ADSL has come back from near-obscurity when Compaq and Ameritech -- along with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Intel Corp. (INTC), and most major telecommunications providers -- announced their intent to make ADSL a nationwide standard for high-speed Internet access. Before that, Microsoft's and Intel's interest in cable companies had most industry watchers pegging cable as the future high-speed gateway to the Internet. Microsoft had invested $1 billion in cable provider Comcast Corp. last year. More announcements are right around the corner. "With the premature announcement of the ADSL consortium, news is coming in spurts rather than with the impact of a unified announcement," explained Zona's Ells. On Tuesday, the New York Times had reported the story, focusing the industry on the potential of ADSL technology. Ameritech started up ADSL service in Ann Arbor, Mich., last month, and plans to have Chicago up and running in the near future. Over the next three years, the Baby Bell expects to add service in areas that cover 70 percent of its customers. Ameritech offers services in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

To: Maverick who wrote (31783)	1/22/1998 8:25:00 PM
From: Jim Lou	Respond to of 61433

(10) China's IT Spending to Reach 71 Billion By 2002 [CND, 11/14/97] Market research firm Killen and Associates predicts that information technology (IT) spending in China - including Hong Kong - will rise from $25 billion in 1997 to $71 billion in 2002, with an annual compound growth rate of 24%, Newsbytes reported. Of the IT growth areas, analysts believe that applications software purchases will increase the fastest, growing at 34% Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) to reach more than $7 billion in 2002. More information is available from Killen and Associates's web site killen.com. (Ray ZHANG) For more details look: cnd.org:8026/CND-China/CND-China.97/CND-China.97-11-16.html

To: Maverick who wrote (31783)	1/22/1998 8:31:00 PM
From: Jim Lou	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

Here is a more recent one with AT&T involved. I don't belong to this field, could you gurus please tell where Ascend would possibly be working on in this backbone construction? (16) US-China Fiber Cable Project Construction Deal Signed [CND, 12/12/97] A group of fourteen international telecommunications carriers has signed contracts worth $950 million for the construction of a 30,000 km undersea fiber optic network that will link China, South Korea, Japan, and the United States, Newsbytes reported. The new China-US cable will be the first direct cable link between China and the United States. The system, which is scheduled to enter service by December 30, 1999, will be equally owned and operated by a group of 14 international carriers, including Telstra Corp.(Australia), Telekom Malaysia, Teleglobe USA, Sprint Corp., Singapore Telecom (SingTel), SBC Communications Inc., NTT Worldwide Network Corp. (Japan), MCI Communications Corp., Korea Telecom, Kokusai Denshin Denwa (KDD, Japan), Hong Kong Telecom, Chunghwa Telecom (South Korea), China Telecom, and the AT&T Corp. AT&T will operate the Brandon, San Luis Obispo and Tanguisson landing points; China Telecom the Chongming and Shantou sites; Korea Telecom the Pusan site; Chunghwa Telecom the Fangshan link; KDD the Chikura landing point; and NTT Worldwide the Okinawa center. The eastern and southern legs will be constructed by Tyco Submarine Systems Ltd. (TSSL), Alcatel Submarine Networks, and Fujitsu Limited, which includes the world's longest direct undersea cable at 12,500 km. KDD Submarine Cable Systems (KDD-SCS) and NEC Corporation (NEC) will be in charge of the constructions of the northern and western segments. The network will be a four-fiber pair system, which will have a record maximum capacity of 80 gigabits per second and 967,680 circuits, equivalent to the bandwidth needed to carry four million simultaneous telephone conversations. Technologies such as Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM), Optical Amplification, and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) will be employed on the system. (Ray ZHANG) ____ ____ ____

To: Maverick who wrote (31783)	1/22/1998 9:11:00 PM
From: Gary Korn	Respond to of 61433

Stock performance of selected networkers since NWX peaked on 10/9/97 (same day ASND reported 3Q earnings): (Maverick, thanks for your note and, upon reviewing ASND's performance relative to other networkers, that performance is much less troubling. The sector as a whole has been hit hard, and there could have been far worse investments than ASND which, as several analysts said at the CC, has effected a turnaround) (Also, the chart suggests -- notwithstanding my LU rumor post -- that the market is doing the bulk of the job in restraining ASND's share price): Stock 10/09/97 01/22/98 %gain(loss) CSCO 54.58 57 3/4 5.8 LU 88 7/16 83 5/16 ( 5.8) TLAB 58 50 5/16 (13.2) ASND 33 1/8 28 7/16 (14.2) XIRC 12 1/8 10 1/4 (15.5) FORE 20 15/16 16 5/16 (22.1) NT 54.6 41 15/16 (23.2) NWX 362 265.78 (26.6) SHVA 14 10 1/16 (28.1) MRVC 38 24 15/16 (34.4) PAIR 29 1/2 19 (35.6) BAY 41 25 5/8 (36.1) XYLN 23 3/8 14 1/4 (39.0) COMS 55 5/16 31 (43.4) MADGF 8 3/8 3 7/8 (53.7) NN 64 3/8 28 9/16 (55.6) CS 33 3/4 13 5/8 (59.6) Gary Korn P.S. Maverick, I'd like to meet you some time. You are a good egg.