Newbridge gets feisty

Vows battles against pure IP as well as Cisco and Ascend

By Tim Greene
Network World, 09/23/98

Newbridge Networks is finally acknowledging something industry experts have known for years: It has good products but a lousy reputation.

"Our marketing over the past five years has been absolutely damnedly dreadful," Newbridge Chairman Terry Matthews said today.

That is all over, he said during a roundtable discussion before Newbridge's annual stockholders' meeting. He outlined steps to boost the company:

Newbridge will dole out more contracts to analysts in a bid for better evaluations of Newbridge gear.
Newbridge has lined up a new P.R. firm for corporate strategic marketing.
Matthews will announce major customers that Newbridge wins in an effort to show that people are buying Newbridge's MainStreet ATM gear.

New President Alan Lutz said the company has targeted Cisco and Ascend as its main enemies. "This is to galvanize our workforce," he said. "There's nothing better than having an enemy you care about."

Newbridge also will focus on its ability to support IP virtual private networks (VPN) over its ATM gear, Matthews said.

Today, IP networks that offer quality of service (QoS) rely on ATM in the backbone. IP is just a customer interface. Matthews and Lutz contend that QoS on pure IP networks cannot be accomplished yet and that trying to do so is a waste of time. ATM can already do it and do it efficiently, Matthews said.

Lutz wants to get that message out and have it debated to take the wind out of Cisco's IP sails. "We haven't crystalized that debate in the marketplace," he said. "I'm tired of responding to questions prompted by something (Cisco CEO) John Chambers said about us at a conference."

Newbridge will also cozy up to Microsoft through an affiliated company called FastLane Technologies. FastLane is focused on integrating Microsoft's Active Directory with Newbridge ATM gear to support provisioning IP networks using Active Directory.

Matthews is stepping back from day-to-day management, Lutz said. "I would send Terry out if I had to counter some visionary statement from Cisco," he said.

Meanwhile, Matthews said he still considers the possibility of selling the company outright. Two things stand in the way. Matthews has dominant control of the stock - that he does not want to sell - and the stock price is too low right now to make selling a smart option.