RE: "unfamiliar with Courtney Smith"
Me either :), but see: orbitexusa.com
Here's a small bio on the almighty Courtney Smith:
"Courtney Smith is Chief Economic Strategist to the Orbitex Group of Funds.
In this capacity, he lends his global investment experience to the portfolio
managers. Mr. Smith joined Orbitex Management, Inc. in 1996. Formerly, he
was President and Chief Executive Officer of Quantum Financial Services, Inc."
They also have $12B in assets:
"Orbitex, which established its U.S. operations in 1997, plans to continue to build its business
nationally through a combination of acquisitions and internal growth. With this combination, the
Orbitex Financial Services Group will have $12 billion in assets under management and
administration. The Orbitex Group of Companies was founded in 1986 and has ten offices
globally."
So, they aren't a Fidelity (or Bill Gates!) but $12B
isn't chicken-feed. Don't know how much pull Courtney
has or his track record, I suspect he makes the Cisco
analogy because of NetApp's own PR about how a filer
is analogous to a router and NetApp to Cisco.
Of course, there's the real connection too - Don Valentine,
NetApp's chairman of the board is on Cisco's board also
and an early stage investor in both companies through
Sequoia Capital.
Hey whatever, good PR is good PR, it's better than having
Courtney come out with some baseless negative article. |
