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Technology Stocks : Voice-on-the-net (VON), VoIP, Internet (IP) Telephony -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Curtis E. Bemis who wrote (517)	5/10/1998 7:43:00 PM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Respond to of 3178

Curtis, There has been sufficient demise, cross-pollination and skills acquisitions (read: early retirements-layoffs, job-hopping and pirating) in the larger companies, both data and voice, to dismiss a lot of the stereotyping that previously existed up until a few years ago. Maybe not in the closet trenches where we may still come across the occasional bell-head, or in the server room we may still run into the occasional shell-head, but certainly in the Labs, the marketing departments, and the business development areas. No one is looking to manufacture rusty switches for voice, or thick-coax appliques for Ethernet, anymore. Fact is that it borders on the embarrassing today, to speak with some of the leading voice vendor folks at firms like LU and Cisco who cannot discuss rudimentary matters, especially where international ITU standards are concerned. Other than VoIP, that is. But I attribute this to micro-specialization to a large extent, and it affects every high tech company in one way or another. In any event, many of these stereotypes, as a function of sector, are fast becoming anachronisms, IMHO. One of the first VoIP gateways we examined was the service provider (SP) model from LU last fall at about the time that the ITU VoIP draft was being circulated for comment and review. I had an opportunity to speak with some of the folks behind the curtains, and was surprised to find that they weren't voice-heads. The latency and gate-keeping specs in their manuals were written as though they could have been written by Cisco (and for all I know, they were written by someone who once worked there), right down to the buffer tables and real time protocol parameters. Conversely, I've reviewed other products made by traditional router-oriented companies, and I was unimpressed due to the paltry coverage of what we considered to be some of the more vital features, and the almost ubiquitous absence of signalling considerations needed to meld the new paradigm with the old. These could certainly be viewed as extreme circumstances, and they are only offered to make a point: You can't tell these books by their covers any more. If you've got the change to put into this sector, buy both. But they're not pure plays as you already know, and their rise or fall will come about due to many other product and service lines, other than VoIP, alone. But, as the upstream release today demonstrates, voice is becoming an ever larger piece of the equation. Good chatting with you, and Regards, Frank Coluccio

To: Curtis E. Bemis who wrote (517)	5/10/1998 8:36:00 PM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3178

Curtis and All, I just came across another LU vs CSCO article from Fortune Mag in George Gilder's thread (I'm sure Forbes ASAP wont be pleased with that one), posted by my Last Mile Technologies associate, Sam Citron. pathfinder.com The author, Andrew Kupfer, makes a point in the trailer to the title: Title: "Lucent Has a Brand-New Battle" Trailer: 'Lucent is headed for vicious competition with datacom power Cisco Systems. The AT&T spinoff has an unusual advantage: its past.' If you choose to read this article in its entirety, note that it is in four parts and requires that you click the continue button at the bottom of each part. Seems like this battle is (excuse the expression) gaining some voice. Enjoy, and Best Regards, Frank Coluccio