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Technology Stocks : Newbridge Networks -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: timroy who wrote (4638)	5/27/1998 1:37:00 AM
From: djane	Respond to of 18016

Convergence M+A Still Order of The Day [ERICY to buy ACC?] By Phil Jones, ISSUE #11, WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 1998 totaltele.com The merger and alliance merry-go-round that is the converging public network and private data network space, kept spinning last week as Ericsson reiterated its plans to acquire new IP technology, but Cisco chief John Chambers said a potential pact with Lucent is probably off. Sven-Christer Nilsson, who succeeded Lars Ramqist as ceo of Ericsson in April, had earlier said he would not hesitate to add data comms expertise to Ericsson's established public network strengths at the Cebit show in Hanover. Last week, in Australia, Nilsson returned to his theme, specifying that small to medium sized companies were the most likely bid or alliance targets. Nilsson's latest remarks probably put Bay Networks out of the picture as potential bid target. Bay is already working closely with Ericsson on a number of convergence issues, and recently revealed its openness to a marriage talks after it admitted that recent merger talks with Nortel had been abandoned. Nilsson's latest remarks suggest the likely price of a Bay merger may be too much. Instead, speculation may now pass to a variety of smaller targets, of which ACC, a subsidiary of Newbridge Networks could turn out to be a leading candidate. ACC's pedigree includes participation in the early construction of the Internet. It is now chiefly known as the manufacturer of the Tigris multiprotocol switch, and according to its ceo, Bert White, is Ericsson's lead partner in the development of technology to integrate IP with the Swedish companies AXE public exchange. One company Ericsson seems unlikely to be getting closer to is Cisco, the leading data communications manufacturer by some margin, and probably the only one with the clout to envisage a peer relationship with the public switch giant, Lucent. Last week, in an interview with CNET News, Chambers revealed that Cisco had "aggressively" pursued alliance talks with Lucent, but he now believed the opportunity had passed after Lucent had filled many gaps in its data comms portfolio through an acquisition strategy of its own. Cisco already has a European telecoms equipment vendor partner in the shape of Alcatel, and might yet seek another North American partner, such as Nortel. However, Cisco's spiralling stock price has meant it has rarely shown the patience for the protracted negotiations that would be required for an alliance of such stature. Instead, Chambers confirmed, the company will continue to pick off smaller companies with suitable skills sets as the opportunities presented themselves. TechNews is a product of Total Telecom - the global network resource. c1997 Total Telecom. All rights reserved. hdesign : Construction Webmedia : Hosting