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

To: Terry Audette who wrote (48541)	6/11/1998 1:56:00 PM
From: bucky89	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 61433

bucky89 Thanks for your really great posts. My gut here is that ASND is getting too big to swallow comfortably. What in your opinion does ASND need to acquire to give it the critical mass needed to survive as a stand alone company? Lucent can easily swallow Ascend after Oct 1. They have a market cap of $95B, and very expensive stock to use as currency. Lucent can buy someone twice as big as Ascend. It can happen easily, very easily. I think price is not an issue for Lucent. In my opinion, long term I think Ascend needs Lucent as well. Ascend can survive alone, but I don't think their GRF would ever succeed against Cisco without the marketing power of Lucent. Same thing for their VoIP products. Ascend's RAC/RAS products were a success because they were a first-mover in a new market. Same with Cascade. But they aren't going to catch anyone by surprise in VoIP. The field is very crowded, and I think the players with the most marketing muscle--not necessarily the best product--will win. Ascend's marketing capabilities are pitiful. bucky89