News In Brief

By Robert Kilborn, Judy Nichols and Stephanie Cook

February 24, 2000

In another foray into the lucrative North American market, French telecommunications giant Alcatel said it will buy struggling Newbridge Networks Corp. of Ottawa for $7.1 billion in stock. The move gives Alcatel a broader base from which to compete with US rivals Cisco Systems and Lucent Technologies and with Nortel Networks of Canada - which analysts said Newbridge was too small to do. Newbridge becomes Alcatel's sixth acquisition in the US or Canada since March 1998.

The No. 5 US long-distance telephone company, Global Crossing Ltd., agreed to buy IXnet Inc. and its parent, IPC Communications, in a deal valued between $3.4 billion and $3.8 billion. New York-based IXnet provides high-speed phone and data connections for 600 financial-services firms. Its acquisition is expected to help Global Crossing, which is based in Hamilton, Bermuda, reach directly such companies as Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs.