Motorola Inc’s Information Systems Group still seems undecided how to reposition its 6950 SoftCell Asynchronous Transfer Mode Networking Node. The product was launched in October 1993 (CI No 2,296) as an all-singing-all-dancing Asynchronous Mode system for integrating voice, video and data over wide area carrier services. Eight months later, however, the company said it was discontinuing the product in that form (CI No 2,432) because it felt that the market wanted branch and campus systems instead – and that product announcements would follow at the end of last year. But these products were never launched and, according to the company, are not planned for the immediate future. The official reason for the delays is that Motorola has been concentrating on its retail products, but it seems as though plans for the 6950 have been shelved altogether. It has also emerged that the engineers who were working on the 6950 within the Enterprise Networking Group have now been split up and moved into the Networking Systems Division, and Transmission Products Division.
