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

To: Asymmetric who wrote (1553)	9/17/1998 3:57:00 PM
From: w2j2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1629

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Ascend Communications Inc., a leading maker of networking gear, Thursday said it extended an existing agreement with France's Alcatel SA to develop networking products and Internet-access systems for providing high-speed data services. Executives close to the companies told the New York Times that they expect new products developed by the venture to produce up to $500 million in revenue over the next five years. Ascend is a leader in the sizzling market for remote-access servers, which allow users to dial into company networks and Internet services. Ascend has recovered from last year's dumps, when software problems caused product malfunctions and the merger with Cascade Communications Corp. sapped management resources. Rumors have resurfaced that Lucent Technologies Inc. is again interested in acquiring Ascend, but another has started circulating that Ascend's fierce rival Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) might throw its hat into the ring. Lucent's primary focus is on providing telecommunications equipment to carrier customers like phone companies, but Lucent is expanding its business to sell equipment that can also handle data traffic to these same carrier customers. Many analysts have been expecting Lucent (LU), the AT&T Corp. spinoff, to make a significant acquisition of a data networking company once it is free of tax penalties it would incur for such a purchase. Ascend has been the oft-mentioned target. Alcatel (ALA) earlier this year acquired DSC Communications Corp., a Texas-based phone equipment maker, in a $4.4 billion stock swap that almost doubled Alcatel's presence in the U.S. telecommunications market. The Ascend deal, experts say, gives Alcatel a path into the booming market for Internet communications. Copyright (c) 1998 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.