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Technology Stocks : Cabletron Systems (CS: NYSE) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: blankmind who wrote (2906)	2/7/1998 10:19:00 AM
From: kech	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8358

Nice article on Nortel alliance with CS: February 09, 1998, Issue: 701 Section: Bandwidth Nortel: Serious About Data Communications Matthew Friedman Northern Telecom's passes at the data market over the years have seen the vendor bouncing from packets to frames to cells. Now, it's IP's turn. Nortel last week launched the enterprise data networks division, under which it will group WAN and virtual private network products, as well as its Micom Communications and Entrust Technologies subsidiaries. Although the new unit 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. Though 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. Laurence Huntley, vice president of marketing for Equant, Nortel's largest WAN hardware user, is pleased the company is "getting serious" about data communications. "We expect good things," he added. "The closer Nortel gets to users on the data side, the better they'll be able to deliver the products we want." 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. "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," he said. Equant's Huntley is watching the brewing battle with interest, convinced that users will come out as winners. "We're users of both Nortel and Cisco. One's coming from switches and one's moving to switches, and either way, we get more choices." Conner said the long-standing partnership with Cabletron won't end with Nortel's new division. "Our sales, marketing and joint technology efforts will continue. We are going to continue to bundle the hubs," Conner said. "We've got the relationships the customers want." But Nortel is not moving into Cabletron's space, rather "extending the market around the WAN interface," he said. For now, at least, Conner denied that Nortel has acquisitive designs on Cabletron. However, he said that acquisitions will be part of the new division's expansion strategy.