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

To: Gary Korn who wrote (1104)	2/4/1998 5:45:00 PM
From: Maverick	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1629

Nortel Gets Serious About Data Communications By MATTHEW FRIEDMAN Nortel's passes at the data market over the years have seen the vendor pouncing from packets to frames to cells. Now, it's IP's turn. Nortel this week launched a new business unit focused on enterprise data communications, under which it will group WAN and virtual private network products, as well as its Micom Communications and Entrust Technologies subsidiaries. While the enterprise data networks division is being spun out of the existing enterprise networks division, the latter will continue to offer the company's computer-telephony integration and call center products. "Data begins in the enterprise, and we need more focus in this space and more breadth in our products portfolio," said Bill Conner, the division's new president. Conner said one of his division's first priorities will be "filling the gaps" of Nortel's IP product offerings, with a particular emphasis on campus switching. While the company has made runs at data networking in the past, Conner concedes that Nortel is hardly synonymous with routing and high-speed networking in the same way as Cisco or Bay Networks. However, he's quick to argue that things will be different this time. With competition heating up in the WAN space, Dataquest analyst Craig Johnson said that Nortel's move has been a long time coming. "Nortel has been dabbling in the space for quite a while without making a real commitment," he said. "Networking companies and traditional hardware manufacturers are drawing their lines in the sand. Everyone wants to control this space." Johnson said the reorganization is just a prelude to what he expects will be a battle among Nortel, Lucent and Cisco, as each moves into the others' core markets. "It's like the Sharks and the Jets," he said. "They're all basically circling, looking at each other's turf, so that when the markets really take off, they can hit the ground running."

To: Gary Korn who wrote (1104)	2/4/1998 6:22:00 PM
From: Maverick	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1629

Buyout rumors are just that...RUMORS...there are regularly such rumors surrounding Ascend, some of them are pathetic attempts to plant/spread certain opinions by people/groups trying to manipulate the stock. No one should make any kind of purchase decision based on rumors. I think it extremely unlikely that any company would be interested in paying more than about $40/share for Ascend at this point, which is also a realistic figure for Ascend to reach on its own in the next 12 months. The most likely/frequent candidates rumored are Lucent, Nortel, and Compaq, due to supposed synergies. Lucent does appear to be establishing a relationship with Ascend, but that is no indication of a buyout; moreover, Lucent is unable to do any pooling until October '98. Ascend can be a good partner with many companies and in the long run it will probably merge with someone, but shareholder value might best be served if it continued to stay independent. Don't worry so much about rumors unless you're a day trader playing very short term momemtum games. Worry about fundamentals and valuation. {Posted for brandybuck who posted on 1/22/98 originally]