Mid-August musings

Reports of its death are greatly exaggerated. Some time back, actor Sean Connery appeared as a guest on David Letterman's late night talk show. Connery, who's rarely seen on the talk show circuit, said his intention was to put to rest rumors of his death, which were apparently circulating in the Japanese press.

Last week, Northern Telecom executives were making their own press circuit, partly motivated by an effort to counter notions, driven primarily by comments in The Red Herring magazine by Andreas Bechtolsheim, CEO of Granite Systems, that ATM was dead.

Bechtolsheim most likely was being intentionally provocative and a bit bombastic. Unfortunately, Bechtolsheim spent much of the interview attacking ATM, as if his goal were to boost his own company's technology by ripping on someone else's.

Nortel, which has built much of its broadband strategy around ATM enterprise networks, wasn't shy in replying. Mark Tharby, director of North American Enterprise Networking, noted that, in spite of Bechtolsheim's exhortation that gigabit Ethernet is the next logical step for Ethernet networks, current flavors of the protocol are far different from the legacy Ethernets corporations have come to love.

Tharby touted ATM's robustness for multimedia and its diverse applications in the enterprise, from leased line replacement to frame relay interworking to voice over virtual private networks.

Tharby also cited Nortel research that found 31% of users are undecided about what their network technology will be come 1998. Given the approximate 2000 Nortel Passport switches in enterprise networks-any of which have been or can be upgraded to ATM with the addition of a single card-Tharby believes ATM will maintain a significant place in the network for some time. There's no reason to think otherwise, even if it works along gigabit Ethernet.

Look who's talking. One of the industry's more quiet companies is making some noise.

Tadiran Telecommunications Ltd. is emerging from the shadow-and culture-of its Israeli parent, Tadiran Ltd. Spurred by an initial public offering earlier this summer, Tadiran Telecommunications is talking more about its U.S. business activities and plans. In its offering prospectus, the company confirmed its OEM relationship with DSC Communications Corp., which resells Tadiran's 3/1 T::DAX wideband cross-connect switches. Until now, neither company would speak on the record about the deal, which reportedly was consummated last October during Telecom 95.

Tadiran also has long-standing agreements with Newbridge, Siemens, Alcatel, Pulsecom and Premisys. Most of its sales have been through these companies. "What we lose in margin we make up in volume," says Tom O'Boyle, director of marketing for network systems at Tadiran. But O'Boyle says to watch out for more direct marketing efforts.

Indeed, in recent weeks it has disclosed a major contract with Concert for its T::DAX switches (Telephony, Aug. 12, page 14). Last week, at long last, the company provided more details about its MultiGain Wireless in the loop system, which has been on the worldwide market since earlier this year.

Picket signs. The trend toward increased activism by organized labor has hit the telecom industry. The Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers are fighting the merger between Bell Atlantic and Nynex. Their opposition, prompted by fears of job losses, won the backing of the AFL-CIO Executive Council.

Whether the CWA/IBEW action will hold up the merger remains to be seen. Nonetheless, it signals some tough times ahead for industry labor relations. The telecom industry encapsulated the problems unions have been having on a national scale. What has particularly alarmed the CWA and IBEW is that as union jobs disappear at the telcos, new jobs at wireless and competitive access providers aren't unionized. This has led to questionable tactics such as CWA's reported attempt to unionize Bell Atlantic's new mobile division without an employee election.

But like corporate management, unions need to realize that roles will change in the competitive world. The nature of the business will require craft workers to be more flexible, more autonomous and more willing to learn techniques and methods that save time and money. The key to job preservation-and union credibility-is to contribute to overall job security. But too often, the CWA and IBEW rhetoric and action is geared not toward keeping workers in jobs but keeping their organizations in power.