Tony - NTAP also has some very good snapshot technology and some other cool stuff that really does set them apart in the NAS space, but I agree Warmenhoven's comments were ill-advised.
I was very perturbed by MSD's comments about CPQ's acquisition of DEC - what's the point? As the Economist article pointed out, CPQ has already recovered more than they paid for DEC, so whatever problems they got into, it was still the only "big Iron" company available, and CPQ got them essentially for free. Between Tandem and DEC, CPQ now has solid and in many cases dominant offerings in the very highest end, in the upper end of the enterprise market, and in services. The 40% growth they showed in servers last quarter was an example of the kind of "pull-through" they are getting from that complete offering. While the transition was poorly executed, strategically it was a solid move, and financially the acquisition of DEC was a no-brainer. So what exactly was MSD talking about?
His comments about CPQ not being #1 in any of the "5 major markets" was also shaky. That is only true if we consider ONLY commercial PCs - in overall PCs, CPQ is #1 in 4 of those 5 markets. In servers, CPQ is #1 in EVERY market (by no small margin - they sell more than the next 2 combined)and last quarter, appears to be growing revenue faster than DELL. It makes MSD's statements all the more unusual. I think he would have done a lot better to talk about his vision for the future, and how DELL will grow, rather than that schoolyard bully stuff. |
