Robert, please stay. We definitely need someone here to moderate our bullishness on this company.
Anyway, your high regards for HSAC certainly piqued my interest in this company. So, I read the 10-K in its entirety last night and I found out some interesting information. For example, HSAC says that most of its cable partners currently have one way system and these partners are certainly not obligated to upgrade their plants. Therefore, if your sources are correct (as they should be), that Com21 has a competitve advantage in one-way system, HSAC will continue to deploy Com21 equipment (at least as long as the cable plants remain one way). Even IF these plants are upgraded to two-way, do you think the increased performance (if any) justify the switch of modem suppliers from Com21 to, say, Terayon? Not only does it cost companies like HSAC money to repurchase equipment but it also hampers their operational activities in the short-term.
In addition, since Terayon's "superior" technology will be developed into DOCSIS 1.2, every competitor will at least have a chance to catch up. I know, you already stated that Terayon is still allowed to retain its trade or implementation secrets, but Paul Baran (founder of Com21) definitely has a reputation for being a high-tech wiz. So, this issue can definitely be overcome.
Thanks in advance. |
