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

To: thebeach who wrote (55513)	10/8/1998 8:04:00 AM
From: Lee Ring	Respond to of 61433

MAKATI CITY, PHILIPPINES, 1998 OCT 7 (NB) -- By Jennifer B Malapitan, Metropolitan Computer Times. Telecommunications networks will have entirely shifted from circuit switched to the packet switched model in 10 years. This was the assessment made by Joseph Roissier, newly appointed director of marketing for Ascend Communications [NASDAQ:ASND] in Asia Pacific, during a recent press briefing. Roissier noted that the availability of new technologies allows carriers to integrate all types of traffic to packet-based networks, or in what Ascend calls the "new public network." This new public network is seen to be utilizing frame relay and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) at the core, making available "64 kilobits-per-second (Kbps) network speed, no matter what," said Roissier. Roissier argues that these new public networks offer quality of service (QoS) such that networks will be able to make intelligent choices on how to prioritize different types of traffic. This eventual development, according to the executive, will be facilitated by the growing convergence between voice and data, which is now congesting voice-optimized networks. Meanwhile, Roissier announced that Ascend has recently bagged a $1.8 million contract with Digital Telecommunications Inc. (Digitel) of the Gokongwei Group of Companies. The contract calls for Ascend to supply Digitel with its Max 4000 and B-STDX 9000 products. Ascend's Max family of products are classified as remote access concentrators, while the B-STDX is a family of brand band packet switches. The Digitel One Service, which Ascend is helping to build, offers, among other things, frame relay, ATM backbone and high speed Internet access ranging from 64Kbps to E3. The services will initially cover Metro Manila and the whole of Luzon, Newsbytes gathered. With Ascend's B-STDX, carriers can build multi-service offerings featuring a combination of frame relay, ATM, SMDS, ISDN (integrated services digital network) and IP (Internet Protocol) technologies in one platform. Newsbytes also learned that Digitel technical personnel are now undergoing training in Australia and the United States as part of the support extended by Ascend to Digitel. Subsequently, Ascend will also conduct marketing and on-site training in the Philippines. The contract with Ascend indicates Digitel's interest to enter the Internet service provision market even while providing leased lines to its growing base of clients in the local financial community, Newsbytes notes. Digitel is said to be among the few local carriers least hit by the ongoing financial crisis in the Philippines and the Asian region. Reported by Newsbytes News Network, newsbytes.com.