Upside handicaps the some of the data players.....
upside.com
SUNW
Sun Microsystems
Market Share: 4
Innovation: 5
Overseas Strength: 4
Alliances : 4
Growth: 3
Although Sun now effectively controls Netscape Communications' enterprise products, it's becoming obvious that the Sun/Netscape alliance was little more than a tax dodge for America Online and a way for Sun to get its hands on Netscape's enterprise assets without buying them outright. While this alliance, along with acquisitions such as Fort‚ Software and NetDynamics, bring Sun a wealth of assets, the problem is that managing this mess has become all but impossible. It's hard to say which move Sun CEO Scott McNealy will regret more next year -- inviting the Department of Justice into the technology tent, or meeting AOL head Steve "The Technology Business Will Ultimately Be Decided in the Political Arena" Case? Maybe they're effectively the same thing. Also, let's not forget that the Linux operating system represents a much bigger threat to Sun's Solaris OS than it does to Windows. While 1999 was a good year, this year might be just a tad tougher.
EMC
Market Share: 5
Innovation: 3
Overseas Strength: 4
Alliances : 2
Growth: 5
With its Data General acquisition, EMC becomes the clear market leader in traditional high-end and midrange storage technology. However, although it's been an exceptionally well-run company, we believe that EMC will have an increasingly hard time maintaining its very high prices and margins as market changes accelerate. In particular, some serious price erosion may begin to take place this year, and the company needs to get into new markets like network-attached storage (NAS) and caching -- and do it quickly.
Novl
Novell
Market Share: 3
Innovation: 3
Overseas Strength: 3
Alliances : 1
Growth: 2
If Eric Schmidt is such a genius, why have all of Novell's marketing people quit? Maybe the CEO figured out he didn't need them -- or perhaps the company's "comeback" may have been called a bit too early. By the way, has anybody bought a copy of NetWare lately? (We didn't think so.) While Novell's new offerings, including NDS and Digitalme, hold promise, customer adoption still lags. We wouldn't be surprised to see these products acquired if the dogs don't start eating the dog food -- and soon
Storage Technology
Market Share: 3
Innovation: 2
Overseas Strength: 3
Alliances : 4
Growth: 3
StorageTek has some solid offerings, including storage-area network capabilities, storage-management services, and "by the drink" outsourced storage. However, the company has been substantially weakened by other missteps and by an overall lack of product vision. Like EMC, StorageTek has almost no presence in new markets such as caching and NAS. The storage market is being dramatically changed by the Internet, but StorageTek has missed most of the revolution. There's still time to awaken, but the clock is ticking.
Caldera Systems
Market Share: 3
Innovation: 3
Overseas Strength: 3
Alliances : 2
Growth: 3
Caldera is the second most prominent vendor in the Linux market. Its Linux distribution competes with those of Red Hat, SuSE, and TurboLinux. Like these other vendors, Caldera faces the risky business model of packaging and selling support services, applications, tools and documentation around a free operating system kernel. Smaller companies may find its "Linux for e-business" pitch appealing, but for larger companies it is just noise. The key factor in determining Caldera's success rests on whether the VAR channel buys into its story. Caldera does not have the presence that Red Hat does among OEMs -- and let's remember that the key word here is not "Linux" but "distribution." That said, Caldera has been very successful in the channel so far, particularly among VARs that cater to small and midsize businesses. |
