Greetings Jpbp and all. Take a look a paragraph L. Could it be possible that FNTN might just be one of those US Companies who will be part of the upcoming IP trials?
SIEMENS READIES A NEW NORTH AMERICAN PLAN
Inter@ctive Week, September 7, 1998
By Carol Wilson
A. Siemens Telecom Networks is trying to raise its profile in North America, building largely on two relatively new initiatives: an Internet Solutions business unit, with a voice-over-Internet-Protocol specialty, and a year-old Transport Networks unit that's getting into Dense Wave Division Multiplexing.
B. The changes coincide with a transformation at parent company Siemens AG (www.siemens.com), a German conglomerate globally known as a communications, computing and medical equipment supplier. Under Siemens' global restructuring, the company's computer, information and telecommunications businesses will merge into a new information and communications company with three business units: IC Products, IC Networks and IC Services.
C. Siemens had exited the personal computing business earlier, when it sold its line of computers to Acer Peripherals Inc.
D. As Siemens Telecom Networks (www.stn.siemens.com) becomes part of IC Networks, the parent company will convert its accounting system to the American process; the company is preparing to get listed on a U.S. stock exchange.
E. "We want to do mergers and acquisitions, and we felt that getting a listing on the U.S. stock market was the best way to build value in our stock and enable us to do that," says Mike Doss, the newly hired vice president of marketing and business strategy at Siemens Telecom Networks.
F. In today's global marketplace, Siemens ranks close to Lucent Technologies Inc. as a provider of telecommunications equipment, just ahead of French giant Alcatel, Doss says. Ericsson Inc. and Northern Telecom Inc. also are in that megasupplier category.
G. In North America, however, Siemens is known primarily for its central office switches and for computing and business communications systems. That's what Doss and his crew are hoping to change.
H. The Siemens Internet Solutions unit, based in Boca Raton, Fla., is pushing into the Internet market with products like ISP Turnkey, which unit Vice President Chuck Harris calls a point of presence bundled in one box for Internet service providers (ISPs).
I. "We've created a carrier-grade product -- not just in terms of scalability, but also redundancy and reliability -- that an ISP can use to get into the business quickly," Harris says. "It has been very popular internationally."
J. In the U.S., the company's best play may be its voice-over-Internet-Protocol (IP) approach. Even there, however, Siemens faces tough competitors. Cisco Systems Inc., Ericsson, Lucent and Nortel all have announced voice-over-IP strategies, following a number of smaller suppliers that launched the voice-over-IP movement out of the computer-telephony integration world.
K. "What we want to offer is a lot more than a voice-over-IP gateway or gatekeeper product," according to Harris. "We come in and architect the entire solution."
L. TO DATE, THE SIEMENS INTERNET SOLUTIONS UNIT HAS TESTED ITS VOICE-OVER-IP APPROACH WITH TELSTRA LTD. IN AUSTRALIA AND HAS U.S. TRIALS SCHEDULED WITH COMPANIES IT CANNOT YET ANNOUNCE. "WE HOPE TO EXPAND SOME OF THE TRIAL ACTIVITIES VERY SHORTLY," HARRIS SAYS.
M. The Siemens Transport Networks unit announced one product, a multiservice access platform, at Supercomm '98 in June. It is set to add another product next week, when it is scheduled to launch a Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) system at the National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference in Orlando, Fla. (See "Conference Shines Light On Optical Networking," page I-6).
N. Siemens missed the Synchronous Optical Network wave in the U.S., but the company says it's determined not to miss out on the multibillion-dollar DWDM market, according to Mike McLaughlin, vice president of the Transport Networks unit.
O. "This technology is changing so rapidly. There are so many discontinuities that provide many opportunities to get into this market, even though there are already many other players," he says.
P. Globally, Siemens sells roughly $1.4 billion per year in transport products, including cross-connects, fiber-optic transport and microwave radio systems. The U.S. products will draw on that expertise but will be designed and built in the U.S., McLaughlin says.
Regards
Bill Fortune III
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