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

To: gbh who wrote (54443)	9/18/1998 2:11:00 PM
From: KM	Respond to of 61433

Re LU/ASND from Street.com: SAN FRANCISCO -- Immediately after Ascend Communications' (ASND:Nasdaq) breakout session at the NationsBanc Montgomery Investment Conference, the stock sold off hard, dropping as much as $2 per share in little over an hour. So what gives? The big question about Ascend these days isn't so much how it's doing, but how long it can stave off a merger. The Alameda, Calif.-based data communications equipment maker has been voted by the Street as "Most Likely to Be Bought by Lucent (LU:NYSE)". After Oct. 1, Lucent will be cleared to make stock-swap acquisitions, which allows it to go after big fish like Ascend. Instead of top executives who could tackle the Lucent talk head-on, Ascend's representative at the conference was its top PR man, Bernie Schneider, who rehashed details of the company's proposed $948 million acquisition of Stratus Computer (SRA:NYSE). But in the breakout session, Schneider was asked why CEO Mory Ejabat wasn't there to present. "He's traveling," said Schneider. "Traveling to Lucent headquarters?" asked a fund manager, only half joking. But Schneider said Ejabat was not visiting Lucent, and that's when the stock started selling. Yesterday, during the Dow's 216-point drop, Ascend gained 2 5/8 on buying frenzy over a Lucent deal. This gained some credence -- especially after Lucent made some comments about its need for ATM switches that had some investors believing that Ascend was a probable acquisition target. But today, after Schneider's comments, the deal may now seem less likely. "In a way, I'd rather not see it taken out, since they have such great prospects," said Paul Siegel, president of San Francisco-based Hollis Capital Management, which has held Ascend stock for several years. "But it's hard to see how either Ascend or Newbridge Networks (NN:NYSE) can stay independent. Lucent has to get into the data area and October 1 is fast approaching."

To: gbh who wrote (54443)	9/18/1998 2:18:00 PM
From: The Phoenix	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 61433

I'm not sure a lead at this point in the game for cable and xDSL means very much since both of these delivery mechanisms are still in the embryonic stage. gary, I think the world is about to change dramatically...soon. Cable: cisco.com cisco.com cisco.com cisco.com As for DSL, other than Covad (IDSL), RelTEC, and USWest I don't see any other deployed solutions. However, Cisco's DSL product line appers ready for prime time. I suspect they will announce some wins soon. What's interesting to note is that Cisco has the entire solution - from Premise device, through to the network, including provisioning, SCP, UCP, and Directory. They have built quite a complete package which will be difficult to match in either of these environments. Furthermore I suspect that these environments will pick up siginficant steam through 99. As for Judy's comments, remember, Cisco still does about $1B a year in ATM equipment sales. For her to say that ATM is going away would be a huge mistake. She has to sit on the fence and to be honest Cisco does this pretty well. SO, I wouldn't take her public comments to be an indicator of what Cisco as an organization is working to make happen. (Not too well said, but I hope you understand my pigeon english.) OG