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

To: pat mudge who wrote (10391)	3/19/1999 7:01:00 AM
From: Glenn McDougall	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18016

Newbridge eyes major expansion: analysts Acquisitions, new product focus expected soon Friday, March 19, 1999 SIMON TUCK Technology Reporter Ottawa -- Newbridge Networks Corp. is set to unveil the launch of a major push into a new product line that will include an expansion into the Boston area and acquiring up to five companies, analysts say. The Kanata, Ont.-based company is moving quickly to try to catch up in the lucrative Internet protocol (IP) market, a rival technology to Newbridge's flagship asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) that marks a major change of direction for the company. Some analysts now believe the company has expanded its shopping list and will buy up to five companies and open a new Boston-area-based operation headed by Jim Arsenault, the company's executive vice-president for its Internet products. An announcement to outline the first phase of that expansion could be made as soon as Tuesday, said one analyst, who asked to remain anonymous. "Newbridge has a very strong ATM product line," said David Beck, a technology analyst at TD Securities Inc., "but the future is in IP and the company is increasingly recognizing it needs to pull out both." Alan Lutz, Newbridge's president and chief operating officer, told analysts and reporters recently that the communications equipment company plans to invest more in IP and is looking at expanding into the Boston area. Boston is considered one of two leading research areas for IP technology. The other major IP area is California's Silicon Valley, but that's also the home of Newbridge's much larger arch-rival, Cisco Systems Inc., a leader in the IP market. Mr. Lutz, who's engineered a major overhaul at Newbridge since taking the helm less than a year ago, has also said the company is close to making two acquisitions as its top brass mull what to do with the $1-billion (U.S.) or so the company has in its war chest. But Robert MacLellan, a technology analyst at Canada Trust Securities Inc. in Toronto, said he expects Newbridge to add two or three companies to its roster of affiliates and integrate another two or three into the parent organization over the next couple of months. The acquisitions probably won't be announced all at once, he said. Analysts say the first two additions will be an equity stake in Telehub Technologies Corp., a subsidiary of Telehub Communications Corp. of Gurnee, Ill., and the outright purchase of Ironbridge Networks Inc. of Lexington, Mass., which specializes in IP technology. They say Telehub would likely be added to Newbridge's affiliate program, and Ironbridge, which has been an unofficial Newbridge affiliate for more than a year, would become part of the parent company. The Ironbridge purchase would clarify a murky picture. Newbridge doesn't deny it owns a stake in it but doesn't list it as an affiliate. When asked about the status of the relationship yesterday, a Newbridge spokesman wouldn't comment. Duncan Stewart, a portfolio manager at Tera Capital Corp. in Toronto, warned that it's not easy to integrate a variety of organizations and employees into one parent company all at once. "It's just not that easy." Newbridge's plan looks remarkably similar to that of its primary partner, Siemens AG. The Munich-based telecommunications powerhouse has also been making a major IP push -- as has Brampton, Ont.-based Northern Telecom Ltd. -- and has also decided to set up its IP headquarters in the Boston area. IP is considered a stronger, cheaper method for sending some types of information -- such as E-mail -- that don't need to be delivered immediately. Newbridge's specialty is asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), a rival method of delivering voice, data and video services over high-speed networks, but it has also talked about the potential of combining the two technologies. Newbridge shares inched down 35 cents yesterday to $46.65 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

To: pat mudge who wrote (10391)	3/19/1999 7:07:00 AM
From: zbyslaw owczarczyk	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 18016

BT, AT&T eye Tokyo deal? Report: Telecom giants in talks to buy 30 percent stake in Japan Telecom March 19, 1999: 6:38 a.m. ET TOKYO (Reuters) - British Telecommunications and AT&T Corp. have begun negotiations with Japan Telecom Co. to buy a combined 30 percent stake in the Japanese company, according to a Japanese newspaper report Friday. Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that BT is expected to take a 20 percent stake and AT&T will acquire 10 percent, adding that the two firms were set to pay an estimated total of 150 billion yen ($1.3 billion). Japan Telecom is the third-largest long-distance call carrier in Japan, after Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. and DDI Corp. A spokeswoman for a Japanese unit of AT&T said the company could not comment on the report. The report quoted unnamed industry sources as saying the size of their respective stakes may change as Japan Telecom hopes BT and AT&T will take equal stakes. East Japan Railway (JR East), which currently owns the biggest stake of 19 percent in Japan Telecom, would likely purchase some of the new Japan Telecom shares to retain its status as biggest shareholder, it said. "We have not made any decision on the matter," said a spokesman for JR East, without giving any further details. Japan Telecom in February forecast a group net profit of one billion yen on sales of 428 billion yen for the year ending on March 31. Its market capitalization totaled $4.62 billion against NTT's $150.86 billion. home \| w