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To: Finder who wrote (14175)	3/2/1998 2:05:00 PM
From: Mang Cheng	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 45548

All you care to know about Rockwell : "Rockwell dangerfield - Born again as an electronics company, Rockwell isn't getting the respect it deserves on Wall Street" Modem chip mess Rockwell's other major operation, semiconductor systems, is more of a gamble. The division has been the largely unknown leader in modem chips, a business now undergoing dramatic changes and perhaps facing extinction. Nevertheless, the company says that it is committed to semiconductors, even though the division turned in flat sales from 1996 to 1997. The group's revenue in 1997 was $1.6 billion, 20% of Rockwell's sales, with operating earnings representing 21%. Sales for Rockwell semiconductors boomed in the first half of 1997, but were poor in the second, largely because of a hiccup in the 56k modem market. About half ($800 million) of Rockwell's semiconductor revenue is derived from sales of chips for PC modems. It supplies most modem makers, and is still the largest modem chip supplier. Its leadership began in sales of modem chips for Japanese fax makers. Rockwell's struggles began during the transition to 56k modems that started in early 1997. Knowing that one of its largest customers--and the biggest consumer modem company--U.S. Robotics (now part of Santa Clara's 3Com Corp.) was switching to Texas Instruments Inc., Dallas, as the supplier for its 56k chips, Rockwell announced an incompatible design, k56flex. Then it couldn't deliver the new chips, but overnight prices dropped dramatically on its older V.34 modem chips, which were considered old-fashioned. "It shot itself in the foot," notes Will Strauss, president of Forward Concepts, a research firm in Tempe, AZ. eb-mag.com Mang