ANS & Northern Telecom Partnership: a COOK Report Newsbrief

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

From: cook () path net (Gordon Cook)
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 1993 03:54:07 GMT


Earlier today ANS announced a strategic alliance with Northern Telecom.  We
know this because ANS emailed the COOK Report on Internet -> NREN its press
release.  We were not entirely surprised for in our November Newsletter
(published on October 29) we had predicted as much.


There we wrote: "We have heard that while the mid-levels have generally
reached some form of accommodation with ANS, their dislike of ANS is still
generally strong.  Having lost in its bid to inherit the NREN, ANS is now in
search of a mission to justify its continued existence.  We are hearing that
ANS and Northern Telecom are talking about a strategic alliance that
reportedly includes a seat on the ANS Board for Northern Telecom.  Also that
ANS Network Operations in Ann Arbor is expected to move into new headquarters
provided by Northern Telecom in November. (Joel Maloff, shortly before we went
to press, told us: "I did not say that we had no plans to move into a Northern
Telecom building.")' .  .  .  .


"Joel Maloff also said that ANS had developed two thrusts.  One was a function
as a commercial services TCP/IP network provider.  The **other** was R&D where
ANS sold development services.  He stated that Northern Telecom is discussing
the development of IP over ATM and desk top multi media tools over IP with
ANS." [End COOK Report excerpt.]


According to the press release:  "Northern Telecom becomes a strategic partner
with ANS, originally formed by MCI, IBM, and MERIT (an organization of nine
universities in the State of Michigan), in the development of a new broadband
fiber network infrastructure and applications for voice, data, image, video,
and multimedia communications.


"We and ANS believe that we can greatly enhance this country's information
infrastructure - the 'information superhighway,' as it's sometimes called - by
working hand-in-hand to develop and test advanced broadband multimedia
technologies," said Gerry Butters, president, Northern Telecom Inc., and the
newest director on the ANS board.


"As a provider of high-speed communications and switching equipment, and a
participant in many of the emerging broadband ATM networks, Northern Telecom
is welcome as the newest ANS member," said Allan Weis, president and chief
executive officer, ANS.


"Our relationships with Northern Telecom and our other allied information
technology companies, including industry and academic representatives, will
yield tremendous benefits for the global Internet and its end users," Weis
said.  [END excerpt from Press Release.]


While we are still looking for the benefits delivered to the internet by the
first phase of ANS's existence, we admire Al Weis' continued optimism.  Yes it
delivered a backbone. And according to the new fifth generation upgrade of the
backbone announced by Ittai Hirschman the other night, that backbone may
function at full T-3 speeds by the end of the Merit CA more than three years
after NSF started paying for a T-3 network.  And yes it delivered more than
$175,000 into an infrastructure pool.  It thought at first, it was destined to
take over and run the NREN.  But, with a lack of knowledge of the Internet
culture and heavy handed approached, it alienated many people and ensured that
this would not happen.  It also thought it could put the Fortune 1000 on the
Internet.  From what the COOK Report has written about ANS CO+RE's troubles,
we can predict that that won't happen either.


So why would Northern Telecom buy into ANS?  We believe that Northern Telecom
is too savvy a company to buy in with the primary desire to support a very
weak commercial TCP/IP services provider.


However with Northern Telecom's emphasis on making hardware for broadband ATM
networks, IBM's continued interest in high speed multimedia hardware, software
and networks and MCI to provide the transport, we have the makings of yet
another information super highway strategic alliance of the kind reported in
the July 14, 1993 Wall Street Journal with the graphic that showed what looked
rather like a complex molecule identifying companies with names like General
Magic and Taligent.  It looks as though ANS will join this group - where as a
means of inter corporate investments - profits will be secondary to R&D work
that spins off to the advantage of the investing partners.


For IBM the move looks like its latest attempt to pursue multi-media broadband
networking.  The effort mounted a year ago by Lucie Feljdstadt failed.  Little
if anything since the end of last year has been heard of IBM's PARIS/PLAnet,
Orbit, Comet trials over Rogers Cable 500 mile long fiber network in Canada.
Having been created as a shell to inherit NREN, perhaps ANS can now move on to
life as a shell for it's parent companies ambitions for being players in NII.


We hope it will do this under its own steam *WITHOUT* federally funded **cost
sharing** agreements whereby the US Government gives it an advantage in the
marketplace.  If this *is* the course ANS takes on the next stage of its
evolution, we shall wish it well.


_______________________________________________________________
Gordon Cook, Editor Publisher:  COOK Report on Internet -> NREN
431 Greenway Ave, Ewing, NJ 08618
cook () path net                                   (609) 882-2572
_______________________________________________________________


**Note - this article may be cross posted to other lists, so long as it is not
edited and used in its complete form - including this note.**