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

To: Mark Duper who wrote (50484)	7/28/1998 11:35:00 AM
From: djane	Respond to of 61433

Cisco Systems to Acquire Summa Four Inc. [See below commentary] [ASND acquisition drought continues. Okay, your main competitor keeps snapping up start-ups. Your stock price has recovered and you are in a position to buy. And, your last acquisition turned out to be a brilliant strategic move. But, you continue to stand pat. Doesn't this continue to be strong evidence that ASND has evaluated the long-term competitive situation and is positioning itself to be attractive to LU as of 10/1/98? djane] Tuesday July 28, 8:32 am Eastern Time Company Press Release Extends Advanced Voice Services to IP Environment SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 28, 1998--Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - news) Inc. today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire publicly-held Summa Four Inc. (NASDAQ:SUMA - news) of Manchester, N.H. Summa Four is a leading provider of programmable switches. Under the terms of the acquisition, between 1.0 and 1.4 million shares of Cisco common stock will be exchanged for all outstanding shares and options of Summa Four. Based upon Cisco's July 27, 1998 closing price of $97.50, the stock exchanged would have a value of approximately $116 million. In connection with the acquisition, Cisco expects a one-time charge against after-tax earnings of between $.04 and $.09 per share for purchased in-process research and development expenses in the first half of fiscal 1999. The acquisition has been approved by the board of directors of each company and is subject to various closing conditions, including approval under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and approval by Summa Four stockholders. Cisco Extends Voice Services to Packet-Based Networks Summa Four's open standards-based programmable switches will enable Cisco to offer value-added telephony applications to new and existing service providers as well as extending these services to a voice-over-IP (Internet Protocol) infrastructure. These switches are used today by service providers for basic call switching as well as delivering value-added services such as voice mail, calling card and voice-activated dialing. This acquisition reaffirms Cisco's strategy to provide an open services environment enabling applications for circuit- and packet-switched networks. Cisco intends to expand Summa Four's existing relationships with application developers and will help them to extend their service platforms to voice-over-IP networks. Carriers will select from more than 50 market-leading application developers who have built a broad array of voice solutions based on Summa Four's switching family. Summa Four was founded in 1976. The 210 employees led by Summa Four president and CEO, Robert Degan, will become part of Cisco's Network-to-User Business Unit headed by vice president and general manager Kevin Kennedy within Cisco's Service Provider line of business. About Cisco Systems Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - news) is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. News and information are available at cisco.com.