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

To: Tech Bull who wrote (1577)	10/21/1998 5:09:00 PM
From: w2j2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1629

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Ascend Communications Inc. Wednesday said it received a contract to supply switching equipment for a new Bell Atlantic Inc. long-distance network that is under construction but can't be used until the company receives permission to enter the long-distance market. Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, regional Bells must prove their local markets are open to competition before they can offer long-distance services. The FCC said the Baby Bells must improve support services that enable customers to switch to a rival phone company and provide competitors better access to parts of its network. Although the network isn't yet up and running, the Bell Atlantic deal signals a victory for Ascend (ASND), which is a leader in the sizzling market for remote-access servers that 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. Just about all of the major telecom companies - ranging from the traditional leaders such as AT&T Corp. and the Baby Bells to emerging independent carriers - are spending heavily to add bandwidth and upgrade their networks to handle data traffic and integrate voice and data. A glimpse of the future came earlier this year when Sprint Corp. (FON) announced plans to move to a single network that will provide integrated voice and data services, and far more communications power than currently available. Sprint plans to accomplish that with a single network that employs new ATM switches, Internet packet transmission gear and data routers to move traffic from local subscribers to its high-powered fiber-optic networks. Ascend rival Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) was selected to act as the primary supplier and supervising vendor of the Sprint network, replacing Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU) and Northern Telecom. (NT). San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco's equipment - routers, hubs, switches and the software that controls them - are the most popular tools that companies and Internet-service providers use to manage electronic traffic in computer networks. About 85% of the routers used to decipher and direct data traffic on the Internet are made by Cisco. Copyright (c) 1998 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.