The InternetWeek Interview -- Mory Ejabat, CEO, Ascend Communications
Mory Ejabat is a low-key CEO with lofty goals. He chooses to do battle without fanfare, yet with a series of impressive acquisitions, he has transformed Ascend Communications Inc. into a formidable networking vendor. With acquisitions such as Cascade Communications Corp, Whitetree Inc. and recently Stratus Computer Inc., Ascend has moved from being a maker of remote access equipment to a leading provider of major core and access products for service providers.
Ejabat shed light on his company's strategies and products in an interview with Saroja Girishankar, InternetWeek's executive industry editor. On Ascend's agenda are new multiservice access switches, new DSL products, and upgrades to its Navis management software, router and MAX TNT multiplexer. The goal: To convince service providers that Ascend can be a one-stop shop for meganetwork builders. This time, there may be some fanfare along the way.
InternetWeek: What value do you get from your acquisition of Stratus Computer?
Ejabat: We use a gateway now to send data or Internet traffic into the data network, [away] from the public voice network. Going forward, as we help customers to migrate from circuit switch networks to data networks, Stratus will give us the ability to provide data networks with the intelligence and availability that voice networks have.
InternetWeek: When will you deliver those capabilities, and how is the integration with Stratus moving on other fronts?
Ejabat: Stratus has such a product. We have worked on making the protocols in Stratus' products work with Ascend's products, and once we close the merger on Oct. 20, we will announce those [upgraded] products early next month. We are on the right track for a great integration, but there are lots of roadblocks that have to be overcome as with any merger.
InternetWeek: Ascend has emerged as a leading supplier of core switching and access products to service providers. What is driving that growth?
Ejabat: The growth of the Internet and demand for voice, fax and data over IP networks is clearly driving the industry's growth, with carriers building data networks with products such as ours. As a company, we expect 25 to 30 percent growth.
InternetWeek: What are the hot buttons in the public networking industry?
Ejabat: The next-generation networks of service providers will be high-bandwidth, data-based networks that will be highly reliable and available while operating at reduced costs. They also will need to offer high-grade voice quality over data networks.
InternetWeek: Will you be offering these capabilities in your products?
Ejabat: Definitely. We have to make our products as reliable as the voice-grade products. In addition, we have to provide provisioning and easy management capabilities to reduce the operating costs for service providers and high-bandwidth enterprise users.
InternetWeek: What is your strategy for voice over IP?
Ejabat: By far, we have the largest installed base of voice over IP in the industry. Several companies have installed and introduced voice over IP service to their customers using our MultiVoice product line.
Within a few quarters, we will ensure that these products have toll-quality voice. Actually, all of our access switches are capable of providing voice over IP at this point. We also are actively participating in creating voice over IP standards through forums like the Internet Engineering Task Force.
InternetWeek: Most vendors are looking to offer similar capabilities in their products for public networks. How do you differentiate your strategy and products?
Ejabat: It is very simple. We have products such as our ATM WAN and SS7 signaling switches and remote access right now, and we are bringing out the next generation soon, whereas others only have plans for such products. We are about a year or year and a half ahead of competitors.
Our IP Navigator is one of our major differentiators in the market, and we are the only company at this point that can provide quality of service across our product line.
InternetWeek: Everyone is talking about voice and data convergence. What do vendors need to do so that service providers can get that convergence?
Ejabat: For service providers to move their voice traffic over data networks, they would need the reliability, availability and high voice quality of circuit switches combined with quality-of-service capabilities and easier and cheaper operational tools.
InternetWeek: In particular, what technologies do you need to meet service providers' demands?
Ejabat: We are fine-tuning our products to add improved voice quality over IP, and we will deliver it over the next several quarters. We also will introduce our next-generation multiservice access switch in the next few quarters.
InternetWeek: Many of your competitors are looking to terabit routers to handle high-bandwidth IP traffic. What is your strategy for your GRF router?
Ejabat: We are working on the next-generation router that will be announced in 1999 and will compete in the terabit space.
InternetWeek: You talked about reducing operational costs for service providers. How would you do that?
Ejabat: In two ways. We will consolidate our products to reduce the amount of equipment in [service providers'] networks. The other is to provide management tools that simplify provisioning services to their users and configure their networks so they can provision a circuit with the stroke of one button and provide all the billing and related information automatically. Other tools will help them automatically generate billing and other statistical information, including troubleshooting.
InternetWeek: Do you have plans for business and consumer products?
Ejabat: Yes. We plan to provide products that will give high-speed access to the consumer and corporations.
InternetWeek: Many service providers say they want to be able to provide automatic directory-enabled services to their business customers. Will they get that ability in your products?
Ejabat: Yes. That is a type of quality of service for operational support service that we were talking about.
InternetWeek: Will you add technologies to your products through acquisitions or through internal developments?
Ejabat: We will do both. Unlike Cisco, we intend to go after larger companies that have mature products in their portfolio, as was the case with Cascade.
InternetWeek: At this point, do you need a partner like Nortel or Lucent to offer the kind of service and support needed by service providers, or do you need to merge with such a company?
Ejabat: I am not going to speculate on any merger, but I can tell you we have relationships with Lucent and Alcatel. They both provide service and support for our products.
InternetWeek: Ascend has rolled out products for remote access, the core of the public network and some for the enterprise. But, there is a perception that there has not been a cohesive strategy that combines all the different elements to make for a total solution. Do you have plans to bring them together?
Ejabat: I don't believe that perception is correct. We haven't publicized our strategies like some other competitors. All of our products do interoperate. When you go through a network service provider, you will see our access product tied into our ATM or frame relay switch and [backbone] router, and all of them managed by our Navis software.
We are bringing them closer, and as I said, we will be offering many tools in Navis that will offer capabilities from provisioning to performance and billing functions, and managing the entire network. Our professional services groups-which are being brought together with our new Global Integration Services group-will provide a full network solution on a customized basis. Also, at the NetWorld+Interop show [this week], we will talk about how our different access products are coming together.
InternetWeek: What challenges does the industry face in building these mega-backbone and edge public networks that support multimedia traffic?
Ejabat: There are a couple of challenges. The carriers have to understand that these [new] networks, unlike the older networks that you would upgrade every two years, need greater and more frequent functionality upgrades to compete with the services provided by new carriers that are building brand new IP networks.
InternetWeek: What kind of a company will Ascend be in the year 2000?
Ejabat: A very strong company that will continue to be the primary provider of equipment to the carriers and service providers.
InternetWeek: What worries you the most?
Ejabat: The economies of other countries. If the economy continues to decline, there will be a slowdown.
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