Gary, only reason I posted that one was someone said CSCO is kicking ASND and has better WAN products, see for yourself who is the king of WAN. CSCO is the king of LAN, Routers and enterprise markets, that is the fact.
I am long both but ASND has more upside since it is in high growth areas and year over year growth will be higher since they had a bad second half of 1997. I am genuinely concerned about CSCO 's major revnue producer Routers which may become extinct in 12-24 months with high speed switches. Thats all, I don't mean to put down CSCO.
Good luck with Networkers, they will in general outperform the markets as long as they are in high margin high growth business segments.
Tuesday July 28, 8:07 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Ascend's Multiservice Switches Maintain
Market Leadership in Frame Relay and Advance
ATM Position in 1997
Dataquest Figures Show Ascend on Top in Frame Relay
Market Two Years Running; Gains Ground in Burgeoning ATM
Market
ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 28, 1998-- Ascend Communications,
Inc. (NASDAQ:ASND - news), a leader in wide area networking (WAN)
solutions for providers and users of the New Public Network, today
announced 1997 WAN research findings from Dataquest that show Ascend as
the revenue leader in Frame Relay sales, and advancing in the ATM market.
Ascend continued to lead the competition, with 38.3 percent revenue market
share in Frame Relay in North America, and has increased their revenue in
ATM by 247 percent.
According to Dataquest market share figures, Ascend sold nearly two times
more Frame Relay equipment than the nearest competitor in North America.
According to the report, ''the Ascend STDX/B-STDX is the most widely
deployed frame relay switch.'' The report also noted a move to multiservice
platforms: ''service providers are beginning to evolve from standalone frame
relay switches to ATM-based multiservice platforms that can handle
large-scale frame relay (and other services) in addition to ATM. Dataquest
expects widespread use of multiservice platforms by the end of the decade.''
Ascend is the only vendor that provides a true Multiservice switch today.
Dataquest forecasts that the backbone Frame Relay equipment market will
continue its growth from $846 million in 1997 to $1.1 billion in 2002.
Dataquest figures also show that Ascend had the highest year-over-year
growth than any other vendor with 247 percent increase in ATM sales. The
research firm projects growth in the ATM market from $855 million in 1997 to
2.6 billion in 2002.
Ascend recently announced four new modules for its market leading
B-STDX(tm) Frame Relay WAN switches that continue to build on the
company's reputation for delivering world-class, multiservice core
networking solutions. The new 12-port T1/E1 module delivers cost effective
ATM for multimedia support, providing concentration of voice, video, and
data over an ATM connection. The 2-port Ethernet module supports IP
connectivity requirements, enabling service providers to easily offer both
Internet hosting services and value-added IP routing services that are
inherent in Ascend's IP Navigator. Ascend provides Frame Relay Switched
Virtual Circuit (SVC) services, allowing its carrier and enterprise customers
to offer new, on-demand Frame Relay services that support multimedia
applications including voice and video. Ascend also introduced today
MultiLink Frame Relay, which allows service providers to cost effectively
scale their backbone capacity.
''Ascend's market leadership validates a commitment to both our customers
networking and business needs,'' said Bob Sullebarger, director, Product
Marketing, Core Systems Division at Ascend. ''Our high-speed, carrier-class
Frame Relay and WAN switches, with support for ATM and IP as well as
end-to-end QoS, provide value added, cost efficient solutions that enable our
service provider and enterprise customers to advance their business goals
and increase revenue.''
About Ascend Communications
Ascend Communications, Inc. develops, manufactures, sells and services
wide area networking solutions for telecommunications carriers, Internet
service providers and corporate customers worldwide.
Press and in
dustry analysts, please contact: Stephanie Prentice, Alexander
esday July 28, 8:07 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Ascend Extends Worldwide Leadership in Frame
Relay with Multiservice Enhancements
Market-Leading Frame Relay Switches Extend Multiservice
Solutions with ATM and IP Modules, Enabling Revenue
Generating Services
ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 28, 1998-- Ascend Communications,
Inc. (NASDAQ:ASND - news), a leader in wide area networking (WAN)
solutions for providers and users of the New Public Network, today
announced new features for the company's market leading B-STDX(tm) 8000
and 9000 Multiservice Frame Relay WAN switches. Supplying increased
capabilities for revenue-generating services and cost saving solutions, the
B-STDX Multiservice switch enhancements include a 12-port T1/E1
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) Module, a 2-port 10/100 Fast Ethernet
Module for IP, support for carrier-class Frame Relay Switched Virtual Circuits
(SVCs), Frame Relay accounting and MultiLink Frame Relay (MLFR).
According to Dataquest's 1997 year-end statistics for the WAN networking
market, Ascend maintained the number one position in Frame Relay sales
worldwide. In the recently released report, Ascend continued to lead the
competition, with 38.3 percent revenue market share in Frame Relay, and
increased its revenue in ATM by 247 percent.
''In today's networking environment, the ability to support traditional Frame
Relay and ATM services with new IP services is a key advantage for service
providers,'' said Bob Sullebarger, director, Product Marketing, Core Systems
Division at Ascend. ''Supporting Multiservice capabilities with additional
ATM and IP elements will enable our customers to offer high margin services
that directly effect their bottom line. Being a leading provider of carrier-class
Frame Relay WAN switching, Ascend is well positioned to extend that
promise to deliver carrier-class ATM and IP services.''
Delivering the most widely deployed platform for Public Data Services with
millions of ports installed, Ascend's multifunctional switches are installed in
the core of the world's largest service provider's networks. In 1997,
Dataquest, IDC, Vertical Systems Group, and Infonetics Research named
Ascend's B-STDX the market-leading carrier class WAN switch for Frame
Relay. With added functionality for the B-STDX 8000 and 9000 switches,
Ascend continues to be the worldwide leader in Multiservice Platforms for
increased revenue-generating capabilities with a low cost of operations.
Cost effective ATM for Multimedia Support
The 12-port T1/E1 ATM Module delivers excellent support for multimedia
services, providing concentration of voice, video, and data over an ATM
connection, which translates to cost-effective ATM connectivity to Ascend's
installed base of customers worldwide. This module enables service
providers to cost effectively offer T1/E1 ATM services on the large installed
base of B-STDX Multiservice Platforms. Target applications for the 12-port
ATM module include low-speed ATM access and low-speed ATM trunking.
IP Support Extends Internet Services and QoS
The 2-port 10/100 Ethernet module for IP connectivity requirements enables
service providers to easily offer both Internet hosting services and
value-added IP routing and Virtual Private Network (VPN) services that are
inherent in IP Navigator(TM). Ascend's Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS)
via the IP Navigator solution offers additional advantages with its software
implementation for easy upgrade and the unique ability to offer absolute QoS
for IP services. The 2-port Ethernet module applications include local
connections to LAN devices, efficient aggregation of MAX TNT access users
into IP (MPLS) backbones, Web hosting services, and PPP or Frame Relay
access concentration into routed backbone networks.
Frame Relay SVCs Enable Service Providers to Offer On Demand Services
Ascend is the first WAN switch service provider vendor to support
carrier-class Frame Relay Switched Virtual Circuit services, giving its service
provider and enterprise customers the edge in delivering new Frame Relay
services that support dynamic connectivity. Frame Relay SVCs allow service
providers to offer new on-demand Frame Relay services that are optimized
for applications such as voice over Frame Relay, videoconferencing and
other intermittent applications.
Flexible Billing Plans with Frame Relay Accounting
The new NavisXtend(tm) Accounting Server allows service providers to bill
Frame Relay services based on the amount of bandwidth the customer
actually consumed on their SVC or Permanent Virtual Circuits or on the
length of the SVC call. This technology opens up new possibilities for
competitive billing plans that are more precisely tailored to end-user needs.
Network Cost Savings with Multi-Link Frame Relay
MLFR allows service providers to scale their backbone capacity in a
cost-effective manner by bridging the gap between T1/E1 and T3/E3 trunking
by bonding multiple T1/E1 links together. MLFR combines multiple physical
links between two B-STDX switches creating a single greater capacity
logical facility. Ascend's MLFR is a software-based solution, which requires
no hardware upgrade to the B-STDX. MLFR allows service providers to
extend their networks into new markets more easily, thus expanding their
addressable customer base.
Service Providers Herald Scalable, Cost Effective B-STDX Multiservice
Solutions
''This announcement reaffirms that Ascend understands the realities of our
business,'' said Daniel David, general manager of IPF.NET. ''We are getting
tremendous value out of the B-STDX, and Ascend keeps adding features and
functions to the platform that allow us to introduce new services which drive
additional revenue for us.''
''We think that MLFR will play a key role for us. We've been looking for a
cost-effective way to extend our Frame Relay service into new markets that
we don't currently serve, but were held back by the cost of DS3/E3 facilities.
Ascend's new MLFR support allows us to capture this revenue without
incurring a big jump in our recurring costs,'' said Mike Johnson, senior
director, WAN Engineering of Intermedia Communications, Inc. ''MLFR also
allows us to enhance our extensive network to network interface (NNI)
infrastructure already in place. Multiple T1 NNIs can now be enhanced to
operate as a single High-Speed NNI as opposed to individual T1 pipes. This
will prove extremely advantageous to our NNI partnerships and our own DSL
infrastructure.''
Complete Navis Network Management
Ascend Navis service management products, NavisCore(tm) and
NavisXtend(tm), are powerful network management applications that enable
service providers to deliver newer, more competitive networking services to
business and enterprise customers.
Pricing and Availability
MultiLink Frame Relay is available today at no cost as an integral component
of B-STDX software. The 2-port Ethernet Module is $25,000 domestic/$26,250
international and will be available Q3, '98. The NavisXtend Accounting
Server is $10,000 per license and is available today. The 12-port T1/E1 ATM
Module is $30,000 domestic/$31,500 international and will be available Q3,
'98.
About Ascend Communications
Ascend Communications, Inc. develops, manufactures, sells and services
wide area networking solutions for telecommunications carriers, Internet
service providers and corporate customers worldwide. |
