Hatteras Will Probably Need a Partner to Penetrate the Rest of AT&T

Implications: 1.      AT&T is taking virtually no risk in the local access area with any small companies. 2.      It is only going to buy from a large company or a big supplier that has a clear bead on acquiring a smaller firm.   3.      Hatteras will probably not be able to have a shot at getting a full contract at AT&T without a partner.

Analysis:  At present, Hatteras has had no indication that it needs to partner to get the rest of AT&T’s business.  Although it concedes that may change in the future, the mere fact that the RBOC has not sent any kind of signal along these lines may not be good news for the supplier.  

Hatteras likes to point to the situation of former startup, Catena Networks.  It sold direct to the ex-BellSouth, SBC, Verizon and Qwest.  Apparently, BellSouth liked buying from Catena so much that it wanted the vendor to OEM Adtran’s TA 1100.   Although Adtran won the RFP, BellSouth did not want to buy the equipment directly from the supplier.  So, that was an example in which an established vendor with a great track record had to sell to a newcomer to get into the RBOC.  

Of course, the story did not end there.  Ciena picked up Catena.  More importantly, AT&T’s staunch attitude on access vendors now is much different than in the past.