This is from the WSJ interview with Kilroy from Bluestone, the same pertains to EXLN
TWST: What other changes do you expect in your markets over the next several years?
Mr. Kilroy: One of the big changes that I expect is that the market will
not behave like any other market that anyone has ever seen from an
historical perspective. What I really mean by that is you will not have
this continued consolidation trend that we have seen in technology over
the last decade simply because people that are in this business today,
the new companies that have come into the public sector in the last two
years, really need to look at the Internet requirements much differently
from anything we had in the past. The way that we had done it in the
past was we looked at consolidating basis because we had proprietary
solutions, and also because there was a need for us to protect our turf.
In the new world order that we are dealing with, what we really need to
be focused on is meeting our client requirements first and foremost. The
client requirements now, if you were to pare it down into a sentence
would be, 'I want it all and I want it now.' So they are not willing to
wait. The expectations are much higher than they have ever been before.
What that really means for companies like Bluestone or other companies
out there is that as you look at this market space that is in front of
us we are going to have to be fairly understanding of the fact that
consolidation will not occur. What will occur will be partnerships and
alliances with newly emerging companies because they will have new
technologies. When acquisitions do occur, they do not occur because of
consolidation. They occur because they fill a void in a company's
product line or take them to new markets. Principally, it is going to be
driven by technology issues as opposed to client retention, or for that
matter, the need to reach critical mass. That is what is going to be
different relative to the acquisitions we are seeing today. It is a
pretty big difference. |
