Telecommunications equipment suppliers have been forced to expand their product lines.

Desperate to beef up their Internet technology, European telecoms are waving dollars in front of US equipment makers. In the latest deal, France_s Alcatel said Thursday that it had agreed to buy California-based Internet firm Assured Access Technology for $350 million. That news comes hard on the heels of the company_s announcement earlier this week that it plans to buy Internet equipment maker Xylan Corp. for $2 billion. Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that Siemens was about to expand into the data networking business by creating a new American unit, buying two private US firms, investing in another, and hiring a senior executive from IBM. Analysts said that should the report prove true, Siemens was making a vital strategic move into the Internet technology to compete with rivals that have already bought into the business. Telecommunications equipment suppliers have been forced to expand their product lines amid the explosion of the Internet and as the appetite for data grows. In January, Lucent Technologies agreed to acquire Ascend Communications to boost its Internet position, and Northern Telecom bought Bay Networks last year. Now the Europeans are getting into the act. Assured Access, founded in September 1996, will keep its name when the Alcatel deal is complete. Assured Access provides "public data networking solutions for carriers and service providers, including scalable, highly reliable multi-service access products for data and voice over IP," the Alcatel statement said. As for Siemens, The Times said it is expected to announce agreements to buy data networking firms Castle Networks and Argon Networks, and take a $30 million interest in Accelerated Networks Inc.