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Technology Stocks : Newbridge Networks -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pat mudge who wrote (8691)	12/22/1998 10:40:00 PM
From: Ian@SI	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 18016

Some interesting speculation on what NN might wish to do with its $1B Cdn horde... biz.yahoo.com Tuesday December 22, 5:16 pm Eastern Time Canada's Newbridge builds war chest, eyes purchase By Lydia Zajc TORONTO, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Canadian telecommunications firm Newbridge Networks Corp. (Toronto:NNC.TO - news) has socked away nearly C$1 billion in cash to boost client confidence and fund possible acquisitions, analysts said on Tuesday. The war chest has been built by selling off stakes in affiliate companies. Last week Newbridge sold its 30-percent holding in Vienna Systems, an Internet telephony firm, to telecom equipment maker Nokia for $90 million. ...

To: pat mudge who wrote (8691)	12/22/1998 11:43:00 PM
From: gbh	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 18016

Pat, here's some negative news regarding NN's MCI account. MCI WorldCom reshapes ATM and int'l voice nets By David Rohde and Denise Pappalardo Network World, 12/21/98 Washington, D.C. - MCI WorldCom is moving rapidly to kill off overlapping parts of its combined networks. Company officials last week confirmed they have decided to drop MCI's network for direct ATM service in favor of WorldCom's pre-merger ATM network, even though analysts say MCI has far more domestic customers. Chart of MCI's market share At the same time, MCI WorldCom plans to shut down three international voice switching gateways and migrate all of its voice traffic onto MCI's six international voice switching gateways. MCIWorldCom officials would not comment on those reports. The moves could mean migration challenges for many users, but they are designed to help the company build a more seamless global data and voice network. Although MCI WorldCom officials wouldn't discuss specific ATM switches, sources say the move will mean that numerous Newbridge Networks ATM edge switches on the MCI side will be decommissioned some time in 1999. Cisco switches on the WorldCom side will begin taking over the lion's share of the company's ATM traffic. Making the decision to move the ATM service largely hinged on the old MCI's shifting merger plans. After British Telecommunications announced its intent to buy MCI in late 1996, MCI installed Newbridge switches to match ATM gear in BT's network, says Frank Dzubeck, president of Communications Network Architects, a consulting firm here. But after WorldCom outbid BT for MCI in fall 1997, the switching strategy shifted to WorldCom's preferences. MCI WorldCom senior vice presidents Vinton Cerf and Jack Walters told Network World that WorldCom's Cisco-based ATM platform is more extensively installed internationally. And Brian Brewer, MCIWorldCom's senior vice president for business-services marketing, added that MCI WorldCom is emphasizing global seamlessness on all services. "There is no exception on ATM," Brewer says. Going with WorldCom's Cisco switches makes sense from the standpoint of integrating IP applications and offering ATM WAN services for users, says Rick Malone, president of consultancy Vertical Systems Group. That's because Cisco supports Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS), a technique for inserting IP traffic-management information into ATM and frame relay headers. Ascend, which is expected to provide MCI's future frame relay switches, also supports MPLS. The result: MCI WorldCom will be able to better support frame relay-to-ATM interworking, Malone says. Still, MCI customers will have to make a choice of whether to switch to the WorldCom platform. Carrier officials say the MCI hardware will be supported for a while but not indefinitely. Migration decisions will be made on a customer-by-customer basis. And the company's move to take the MCI ATM network out of commission comes with another consequence: the apparent flight of former MCI ATM specialists to equipment companies, such as Newbridge and FORE Systems, as well as to carriers and service-support organizations. One such former employee complains that WorldCom's ATM backbone "lacks sufficient capacity" to handle the combined companies' traffic. He says he left because the decision shows "the company's sacrificing quality for the sake of cost, and I didn't want my name associated with it." Brewer dismisses the complaint. "Don't assume that any network is going to be static," he says. "We expect to continue to dramatically grow" the ATM network. Analysts say they doubt the merged company would dare let needed capacity slip, but they add that more personnel defections are likely. Published reports last week said EDS Corp. is looking to take over much of MCI WorldCom's data-processing and billing operations, perhaps as part of a deal to absorb MCI WorldCom's Systemhouse outsourcing subsidiary. CEO Bernard Ebbers is said to favor such a deal. "This goes back many years with Bernie," Dzubeck says. "WorldCom outsources all their back-office functions to EDS." And Ebbers is said to be balking at keeping all of MCI's old systems staff aboard. "MCI has thousands of people doing programming," Dzubeck says. A deal with EDS would likely absorb some, but not all, of MCI's current systems staff, Dzubeck adds. An MCI WorldCom spokesman declined comment on a possible EDS deal. On the voice side, sources say the reason the merged company is leaning toward MCI's international voice gateways rather than WorldCom's is because MCI has newer switches and more direct connections to overseas service providers.