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

To: Immi who wrote (1423)	5/4/1998 9:18:00 PM
From: Tech97	Respond to of 1629

Ascend adds new voice to convergence By Laura Kujubu and Stephen Lawson InfoWorld Electric Posted at 7:10 AM PT, May 4, 1998 Remote-access powerhouse Ascend Communications this week will give a major boost to the trend for voice-data integration through a new partnership with eFusion. The company will make the announcement at the NetWorld+Interop exhibition in Las Vegas. Using eFusion's technology, Ascend will offer service providers the ability to let their customers browse the Web and make voice calls simultaneously. The technology is expected to provide a boost to Internet commerce and also allow new features for call centers and technical help desks, observers said. Ascend is planning to offer the eFusion software as optional features on its recently announced Max Voice Gateway devices, and at least one ISP was enthused about the combined products' possibilities. The ISP is currently using Lucent Technologies' PortMaster, but, "if, in fact, there is consumer demand for this, we may have to look at Ascend hardware again," said Rich White, chief technology officer at Best Internet Communications, in Mountain View, Calif. Analysts agreed such a technology could provide a boost for applications including I-commerce. "One of the biggest problems with buying from the Web now is that there's no human interaction," said Deb Mielke, an analyst at TeleChoice, in Verona, N.J. Ascend, a dominant provider of ISP networks, stands to remove that limitation, she said. Although the ubiquity of the Web browser has opened up a powerful new set of tools for users to communicate with enterprises, customers, and mobile workers, most users equipped with only one phone line have not been able to use the Internet and a telephone at the same time. The eFusion applications are designed to let end-users initiate a voice call through a browser and to make and receive calls without interruption while using the Internet. Ascend initially will resell three applications to run on its gateways: Internet Call Waiting alerts Internet users to incoming calls and lets them answer or forward the call without leaving the Internet session. Call-completion software can automatically send incoming calls to the user's network-based voice mail inbox, or calls can be captured by the eFusion system for later online retrieval. Push-to-Talk lets users click a button on a Web page to automatically initiate a voice call through any PC equipped with a microphone and speakers. While the call is in progress, users' browsers can be synchronized so the technician or salesperson can direct the remote user around a site, officials said. The software will direct voice and data traffic from the Ascend gateway, usually deployed at an ISP's point of presence. The gateway can drop voice traffic onto the public switched telephone network or send it directly across a private IP infrastructure or the Internet, officials said. The software in the first phase of the partnership will be available in the second half of this year, they added. Francois de Repentigny, an analyst at Frost & Sullivan, in Mountain View, Calif., applauded the partnership and the integration of two already-solid products. "This is one of the first true real-world [IP telephony offerings]," de Repentigny said. Ascend Communications Inc., in Alameda, Calif., is at ascend.com. eFusion Inc., in Beaverton, Ore., is at efusion.com.