Acme Packet (APKT)

[Not_Bill_Oneil]

How much do you pay per month...

for communications?

Think about it, across all infrastructure, for access to networks such as APKT can and/or already has SBC's installed between borders/connection points between these networks.

Well, we have a land phone line (local & long distance carriers), DSL (with AT&T), satelite, internet fax, two cell phone accounts (more phones), Wi-Fi pc account, and various email access accounts (i.e. Earthlink, etc. from previous ISP accounts and web hosting account). For trading I'm looking into options for getting a second backup internet connection (we used to have cable before we moved out to the country). I confess, no Blackberry or VoIP for me, yet.

In the mid-nineties, I paid on average $40-$50 per month for a phone and a second fax line (held off on cable for a long time).

Now we pay approx $300 per month (low end range) for all of the above. And as all of these networks as well as all of the coming new interactive communication networks (think what's coming out in the near future, i.e. w/ AAPL, etc.) migrate and converge to IP based networks, do you think these type of costs will increase for most consumers? I do.

And where does a lot of this money go, ultimately? To upgrade and build new communication infrastructure especially if critical communications start to shift from PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Networks) and wireless services to IP networks. And a lot of this capital will find its way to companies delivering new valuable products for this convergence and shift, like APKT and it's competitors if/when that shift really starts to take effect.

Do you think CSCO (as well as some other big fish) is interested in all this? You should.

That said, even though it's a different business model and environment, look at what newcomer Google did with Yahoo and others in its field.

Anyone interested in any of this should talk to people they know in the industry, to hear what's going on behind the scenes. Or, you can monitor the stocks of everyone involved in this work and different industry groups and sectors to also get a feel for what's going on behind the scenes.

GL & GT.

p.s. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.