VRTL Thoughts
I was taking a bit of a virtual walk with esteemed member in absentia TinkerShaw over at TMF after my initial VRTL post today.
I had posted a question, proposing that middleware for translating between different broadband formats, such as VRTL's e*ORB, might be a great place to build a value chain because one grows up "on both sides" ... but wondered
if VRTL' s e*ORB software works due to interoperability, would a value
chain every grow up? That is, if you dont have to change your
software/hardware to make it work with VRTL, how could VRTL ever emerge in
a commanding, gorilla-like position?
His point:
Gary, very good point and was actually pondering that a bit as I was
strolling the beagle today. The GG manual states that middleware is not a
good place to find Gorillas. And it seems almost definitional in that
middleware is made to be invisible and work with anything. Thus one
middleware is as good as another as long as it works as well. Therefore
no Gorillahood.
I'm not sure that middleware works that well however. I'm sure there are
little tweaks that go on, and that once in the system I'm confident that
customers won't want to go through the hassle of switching. First mover
advantage can be big this way with software.
However, should they decide to change, you are correct, by definition
middleware should be practically interchangeable. I think what can be
said is Vertel is first, will grab the most land, and its a large market.
Possibly a very good Royalty play LT and excellent trading and speculative
stock for those so inclined. But maybe not Gorillahood.
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So that was it. My thoughts on VRTL is that so called "middleware" may be very lucrative, and that although it is meant to be as invisible as possible, it is very possible that a standard might form. I wonder if VRTL stands at the center of the about to explode optical market like BEAS is the standard middle-ware of E-Commerce, and look at BEAS' chart....
GaryX |
