SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Technology Stocks : Ascend Communications (ASND) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: djane who wrote (47050)5/17/1998 5:51:00 PM
From: djane  Respond to of 61433
 
5/18/98 InfoWorld rumor. BAY wants $80 [ASND price keeps goin' up...]

Being forced into a basement might be the only thing that will bring about the much ballyhooed deal between Bay Networks and either Lucent or Nortel. It
seems that both companies have made offers to acquire Bay, but so far both
have been rejected. Bay's head honchos apparently want a cool $80 per
share for the company, almost three times what the company's stock is
currently going for.

Full article. Gloomy weather and tedious card games bring curious deals to light

infoworld.com

I love California, the land of sunshine and warm beaches, but lately this state
is keeping everybody on their collective toes. May, usually the time I start to
shop for a new bathing suit and make an appointment at my favorite tanning
salon, has fooled us all with funnel clouds.

Instead of searching for barbecues last week, I spent my days dodging all
that Mother Nature saw fit to deliver to Silicon Valley, courtesy of her
petulant child El Nino.

On the plus side, as we all headed for the basement to play "Clue" and wait
out the stormy weather, it gave me the chance to catch up on some of the
wheeling and dealing going on in the Valley.

Down in the dark

Forced into the darkness and at a loss for space, it only makes sense that
some deals might develop.

Apparently, Intel and Netscape are hammering out some plans to create a
combined Web site to promote their products and sell them as well. But
when I cornered one of the Intel storm refugees to ask him how far any
collaboration might extend and if an acquisition was in the offing, all he could
do was laugh. Evidently the two companies don't get along all that well.

At least he forgot about the storm for a while.

Being forced into a basement might be the only thing that will bring about the
much ballyhooed deal between Bay Networks and either Lucent or Nortel. It
seems that both companies have made offers to acquire Bay, but so far both
have been rejected. Bay's head honchos apparently want a cool $80 per
share for the company, almost three times what the company's stock is
currently going for.


At least one Cringe tipster passed a note over with his cards during the game.
It said that Oracle will replace its sales and customer-service solution --
which was cooked up hurriedly for release this spring and has gotten a
lackluster response -- through a partnership with a major independent
sales-force automation company. Although he couldn't say which company
would partner with the Big O, he did rule out Siebel Systems.

True, Siebel is big in its field, and its headquarters are just a quick scramble
to Oracle's storm doors, but it was founded by former Oracle sales executive
Tom Siebel. Apparently there is still bad blood between him and Oracle
CEO Larry Ellison. Or, as he said as he snickered over his cards, "There's
only room for one egomaniac at that company."

Through wind and rain

And while most of the refugees were huddling around the hurricane lamp, at
least two Internet-commerce companies were a lot calmer as they planned to
make good on recent success. Rumor has it around the shelter that both
Intershop and Interworld are planning to go public with their companies in the
coming months. But in Intershop's case, they plan to do so in the German
market -- no doubt to avoid the bad weather and the various tax
requirements that will be imposed to pay for storm damage.


Now that the winds have died down, and before the next twister hits,
you can pass along tips to me at (650) 312-0555; fax: (650) 286-2775;
or send a message to cringe@infoworld.com.

Missed a column? Go back for more.

Copyright c 1998 InfoWorld Media Group Inc.

| SiteMap |Search | PageOne | Conferences | Reader/Ad Services |
| Enterprise Careers | Opinions | Test Center | Features |
| Forums | Interviews | InfoWorld Print | InfoQuote |



To: djane who wrote (47050)5/17/1998 6:27:00 PM
From: djane  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 61433
 
5/6/98 Luke (Lehman) report on CSCO. No ASND reference, but report discusses strength in fast growing telecom carrier and WAN segments

lehman.com



To: djane who wrote (47050)5/17/1998 7:16:00 PM
From: djane  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 61433
 
PSINet one step closer to terabit dreams

David Kopf, May 13, 1998

americasnetwork.com

Internet service provider (ISP) PSINet Inc. (Herndon, Va.) has added 18 dark
fiber optic strands to its network, which it will integrate with its 10,000-mile,
nationwide OC-48 network (acquired last February) and its 12,000-mile,
transatlantic STM-1 network (acquired last March). PSINet acquired the fiber
from Metromedia Fiber Network (New York) for $33.2 million, with a
contract that will release the fiber to the ISP for the next 20 years.

The 18 newly acquired, dark fiber strands cover the New York City
metropolitan area (four strands), the Washington metropolitan area (four
strands), and the route between the two East Coast points (10 strands),
according to a company spokesperson. The New York-to-Washington link
will include multiple drop-offs to Newark, N.J.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Wilmington,
Del.; and Baltimore, Md.

Using wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), PSINet's new fiber will be
able to carry 96 Gbps, and the ISP says that it expects improvements in dense
wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) will let it increase bandwidth to 2
Tbps. Why all the network muscle? Internet telephony, according to William L.
Schrader, PSINet's chairman, president and chief executive officer.

"I anticipate that more than 80% of all voice traffic in the world will be carried
by the Internet within five years," Schrader says. "While some switched voice
traffic may remain on the traditional PSTN [public switched telephone
network], I believe the entire market will be dominated by the Internet. In
order to service these burgeoning demands, PSINet requires large amounts of
capacity in this corridor."

Despite the newly added fiber, PSINet has not yet announced any voice/IP
services, but expects to do so later this year, the company says.


In any case, PSINet still has to light the fiber. The ISP plans to buy and
activate the optical equipment necessary to bring the network online over the
next five years. PSINet expects lighting its dark fiber to cost approximately
$45 million. A portion of PSINet's recently completed $600 million financing
will pay for the fiber and equipment, the company says.

Back to home

Copyright 1998 Advanstar Communications. Please send any technical comments or
questions to the America's Network webmaster.



To: djane who wrote (47050)5/17/1998 7:23:00 PM
From: djane  Respond to of 61433
 
Pulver Points(tm) on the Internet Telephony Industry

pulver.com:80/points/

May 18, 1998

I've decided to chisel some of my current observations about the trends in the Internet Telephony
space in digital stone since I hate being misquoted by the press (or at least quoted out of context).

1. It's a done deal. Future Public Networks will be IP based. Until recently we all have been
putting Data over Voice Networks. Now we will be putting Voice over Data Networks.


2. Not a 1998 Threat to Service Revenue. Despite the Hype propagated by the media and
mis-informed market analysts - in the current US$ 70 Billion Dollar Global Minutes Marketplace -
1998 Revenue for IP Telephony Minutes will be no more than US$ 30 million.

3. Many PSTN/IP Gateway Vendors will start to support more than one operating system - most
likely NT and a favorite flavor of Unix.

4. 1999 May be the year of Gateway Interoperability. As of May, 1998 there are very few (if
any) PSTN/IP Gateways which interoperate with PSTN/IP Gateways of Multiple Vendors. This
issue will have a negative effect in the build out of 1998 public IP Telephony based Networks.
This will have NO effect on trials or build out of private networks where it is customary to single
source a vendor. (But imagine if two Carriers got together and there was close to zero
interoperability between their switches? This PROBLEM needs to be addressed and corrected by
the Industry by early 1999.)

5. Internet Telephony Technologies will become part of embedded systems of future IP devices.
Look for many more Hybrid IP Telephony Appliances in 1999.

6. By the year 2000, look for IP to be a supported protocol on the 5ES switches of Lucent, Nortel and Ericsson.

7. H.323 will not be the ONLY protocol used by most carriers and service providers when they
roll out their Internet Telephony Services. H.323 interoperability has been proven and
implemented with PC to PC Internet Telephony Client Software. Same can be said for PC to
Phone services. But don't count on Carriers and Service providers blindly accepting H.323 as the
sole protocol to run on their Phone to Phone networks.

8. In 1998 Internet Telephony is all about cheap minutes. This is not hype but fact. The Internet
"Applications" will start to show up in late 1998 and early 1999 - but it is the excitement of cheap
minutes that has gotten the attention of the Global US$ 800 Billion dollar telecommunications
industry. But it will be because of the contributions from the Internet Telephony Industry that the
Global Telecommunications Industry will grow to a US$1.6 Trillion valuation in a time span much
quicker than it took to grow to today's US$ 800 Billion.

9. The Education of NextGen Telcos and PSTN/IP Gateway vendors has begun. Until recently
there was no knowledge of the legacy IN environment demonstrated by many of the NextGen
Telco Operators. During 1998 I have noticed a strong demand of experienced Telecom operators
who have been joining the ranks of NextGen Telcos. Equally strong demand for engineers with
working knowledge legacy telephony equipment/environment by PSTN/IP Gateway vendors. The
growing Internet Telephony Industry could be the last major boon for IN Engineers.

10. Run Internet Call Center applications on well managed Corporate IntraNets and ExtraNets.
Forget about using the Internet for customer Care unless you really don't care much about caring
for your customers.

11. The Regulation of Internet Telephony will accelerate the movement of minutes off of the Public Switched Telephone Network and onto Virtual Private Networks.

Jeff Pulver
President/CEO
pulver.com

Feedback/Comments? Please mail: points@pulver.com.

(c) 1998 pulver.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.