One reason analysts like Agile is Seifert's track record. Today, network users have installed faster desktop computers, but LANs haven't kept pace. But most of their switching gear was designed for voice traffic, where each call needs a separate connection. Computer users don't need such dedicated circuits. So carriers are shifting to new approaches, such as ATM and frame relay, which chop messages into packets and move them in bursts.
Simplification is the order of the day.
Keeping up with the flood of data pouring into a corporate network used to require a tangle of terminal adapters and a closet full of lines. Stocks of newly listed access providers, such as Netcom Online Communication Services, have skyrocketed. And investors are abuzz over a possible initial public offering this year from Netscape. Launched by Silicon Graphics Inc. founder James H. Clark, it makes software to cruise the World Wide Web. One could be the next Cisco.