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

To: djane who wrote (46624)	5/11/1998 7:52:00 PM
From: Jeff Jordan	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 61433

At NetWorld+Interop, in Las Vegas, the M&A rumors churned nonstop. Why didn't I attend? I can clearly see everyone is overly optomistic. Yes, ASND is on track....WS is falling in love again...but, in my opinion we are fully valued at this point without a breather now it's all speculative trading. Yes, I still have my mother in the stock...she's not a trader. Yes, people bitched at me when I had her double up @ $23. I'm out...closed the last of my options today....I'm 98% cash. Since the market is cooling fast it would be my advice to set on the sidelines until 5/18 then jump back in...or buy calls. Tim has been great at calling interday the last few months....but in my opinion he can't pick top's or bottom's...no offense buddy your still my pal. I am certainly still bullish on ASND....I am just sounding a small warning, IMO we are not hitting 50 for at least 30 days. Long term investors should hold. Jeff

To: djane who wrote (46624)	5/11/1998 8:56:00 PM
From: Greg Jung	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

Good article, thanks for re-posting it. Asnd buy FORE? Would be interesting. Greg

To: djane who wrote (46624)	5/12/1998 12:45:00 AM
From: djane	Respond to of 61433

Regulators Are Expected to Demand WorldCom Sell Off Internet Holdings By JENNIFER L. SCHENKER Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, 5/12/98 interactive.wsj.com European regulators are expected to insist that WorldCom Inc. divest itself of some of its Internet holdings before clearing its proposed merger with MCI Communications Corp., say telecommunications industry executives familiar with the issue. The European Commission is holding closed hearings on the deal in Brussels Tuesday and Wednesday. The executives say European and U.S. regulators agree that the combined strength of WorldCom and MCI's Internet infrastructure holdings pose a problem. Critics of the merger, such as GTE Corp., are pushing for regulators to require WorldCom to sell off its UUNet unit, an Internet backbone-service provider. Phone-company executives on both sides of the Atlantic say that the divestiture of a sizable holding such as UUNet would most likely satisfy both the European Commission and the U.S. Justice Department on the Internet infrastructure issue. Phone companies, such as GTE, Sprint Corp. and a number of European ones, will argue at the hearing that the proposed merger would allow WorldCom and MCI to dictate both pricing and the pricing mechanism used to hand off traffic over the Internet. Some are expected to cite independent research to bolster their case that WorldCom/MCI would dominate Internet services. The commission, which is looking only at the Internet infrastructure issue, has until July 15 to make a final ruling. It previously notified WorldCom and MCI about its objections to the merger. The Justice Department must still rule on whether the proposed merger might have a negative impact on the U.S. long-distance market, and a decision on that issue isn't expected for eight months. A spokesman for the commission's merger task force said the object of the hearings is to determine a fair way to measure market power over Internet infrastructure. A commission official said three options are being considered: measurements based on network capacity; measurements based on how many Internet-service providers are connected to the network, or measurements based on how much traffic is carried over the network. Some of the phone companies testifying embrace the third option and are expected to use methodology developed in an soon-to-be-released report by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to bolster their arguments about why the proposed merger shouldn't be approved without modifications. OECD research on Internet traffic exchange traced routes to the 100 most popular sites on the Internet. While a combined WorldCom and MCI would be able to handle traffic to and from about 50 of the sites without relying on any other carrier, Sprint, the next biggest market competitor, is able to do the same only for about 18 of the sites. The OECD's research shows that even a large Internet-service provider like Sprint needs MCI/WorldCom more than MCI/WorldCom needs it. For example, MCI/WorldCom would need to hand off to Sprint to reach only three of the top 100 sites while Sprint would have to go to MCI/WorldCom to gain access to 26 of the top sites, according to the OECD research. Bell Atlantic Corp. has made similar observations, based on separate research it has conducted that also measures market power based on the third option. Using its own measuring tool, Bell Atlantic argues that the proposed merger would control between 50% to 60% of Internet infrastructure in the U.S. Return to top of page \| Format for printing Copyright c 1998 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

To: djane who wrote (46624)	5/12/1998 12:58:00 AM
From: djane	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 61433

Intel Says Asian Countries Should Continue Technology Investments An INTERACTIVE JOURNAL News Roundup, 5/11/98 interactive.wsj.com Intel Corp. repeated its stance Monday that the best way for Asian countries battered by financial turmoil to recover is through long-term investment in information technology. "If countries don't invest in information technology, they'll get isolated very quickly" and economic development will inevitably slow down, John Davies, general manager of Asia Pacific operations, said at the company's 1998 Asia Pacific Technology Forum in Taipei. "Countries can't afford not to" invest in information technology, Mr. Davies added. The only way Asian governments can pull themselves out of the crisis is by investing long-term in technological development that will play a key role in increasing business and trade, he said. "The need...to invest in information technology is a necessity, not a luxury," he said. The U.S. spends about 4% of its gross domestic product on information technology, while Asian countries spend only about 1% to 2%. Intel will continue to hold seminars to educate executives from top Asian companies about the need for technological development, Mr. Davies said. Last week, Intel said it plans to invest $50 million over the next five years in an information-technology and development center in China, part of the $2.8 billion the company expects to spend on global research this year. Intel also just opened its first manufacturing plant in China, an investment of $198 million. Intel has offices in 14 Asian countries, with its regional headquarters based in Hong Kong. Taiwan has become the center for producing the "building blocks" of the PC, Mr. Davies said. Taiwan produces about 60% of the graphic cards used in PCs world-wide, and Intel announced Monday that it plans to increase its purchase of Taiwanese electronics products by 50% to $240 million this year. Chairman Andrew Grove declined to comment on whether Intel is seeking new business partnerships with Taiwanese companies, especially in contract manufacturing. The world's largest chip maker said its sales are increasing to China, India and Taiwan, which has helped make up for falling sales in Southeast Asian countries hit by the ongoing financial crisis. But Mr. Grove urged Taiwanese technology companies to show caution in expanding into the production and design of microprocessors. "It's a very complex and expensive business," he said. "It's not something you can do as a sideline." Mr. Grove seemed unperturbed by the prospect of Taiwanese companies competing with Intel. "If there's more people in it, we'll just work harder," he said. Separately Monday, Intel said it opened its first 0.25-micron microprocessor plant outside Dublin at a cost of $1.3 billion, including equipment. Intel said the factory, called Fab 14, will make advanced chips including the Pentium II, Pentium II Xeon and Intel Celeron. Intel also plans to convert its Fab 10 plant, adjacent to Fab 14, to the 0.25-micron process technology in a move that should be complete by next year and cost several hundred million dollars. Fab 10 makes chip sets on a 0.6-micron process technology. Intel wants to convert its entire microprocessor operations to 0.25-micron technology by the beginning of the fourth quarter. The physically smaller 0.25-micron chip can operate at speeds up to 400 megahertz, Intel said, while consuming less electricity and generating less heat. Intel has three other factories, located in California, New Mexico and Arizona, that build chips on 0.25-micron process technology. Return to top of page \| Format for printing Copyright c 1998 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.