Temp, yikes, it really surprised me to see that my stab at HTML highlighting turned out to be all BOLD.
OKAY, OKAY now that I know how to turn on the Bold button, how the hell do you shut it off. I added a second but somehow missed the switch or something. Also I wanted to highlight the fonts in a different color and that didn't show up at all.
Oh well, I tried.
As for the competition, it comes down to who has the best performance/cost relationship. In channel banks, I think price, ease of use, and availability are probably even more important issue then the first two. Like you, as I looked around for the competition, it didn't look as though anyone had a lead, kind of an even playing field.
Distribution alliances and bundling with other mfg's products are what seems to be key in the channel bank niche.
Up till now, I think Franklin hasn't really been an established leader in any of this. But I truly believe that is going to change rapidly, especially with the itroduction of the Cyclone. The reason is that it should blow the doors off the cost per port ratio, and will also be benchmarked, thereby a price/performance relationship can be a big factor in garnering the industries attention.
If they had a distribution partner like Rockwell, Motorola, Lucent, etc. that would surely establish a rapid pace to dominance with this unique product combination. With the high speed modems built right on board and encased in a channel bank box as an integrated unit, then I think you got yourself the perfect blend of product, made to order for the Rockwell 56k chip.
It's kind of like saying that there are thousands of window air conditioners that are sold everyday, but if your building a new house I think your going to opt for the whole house air conditioning unit built in. That in itself doesn't make the old window units obsolete, but it sure didn't do much for sales growth. gggggg
Let's face it, the business of technology isn't about yesterday or today, but rather tomorrow. The same applies for investing in these small cap hi-tech companies. The old boys that reign as King today can be dethroned on one miscue, and replaced by a no-name tomorrow. That's what it's all about, and arming yourself with the knowledge of an industry is going to be more important then just focusing in on one company, or one technology. Look at communications, you got ISDN, ADSL, XDSL, Fiber Optic, Cable, wireless, Cellular, GSM, and and entire alpahbet of other BS that most haven't even heard of. Of these, some will be vapor and never get off the ground, others will have some shelf life, while others will set precedence. But what about the ones you haven't even heard of, maybe that will be the magic dust to sprinkle in your investment account. Who knows? But one thing is for sure, communications is changing daily, and Franklin has entrenched itself in not one, but several of the better bets for tomorrow. I don't expect everyone of them to be the Holy Grail, but I sure do like the odds of hitting big on one. FTEL's Cyclone, IP's Satellite Services, and FNET's Internet Telephony all have the smell of success written on them.
That doesn't mean they are all winners, or even guarantee that one will be, but with all the new stuff coming on line and being written about, it is nice to see that Frank & Company are on track and bustin hump, and they represent the lead dog in the dogsled team. It beats being in the back and staring at a dogs behind all day. To read that Rockwell is moving in the same direction again doesn't add guarantee's but sure adds confidence in the fact that we share the same direction in this technological race.
Hughes, Boeing, and Ceridian aren't exactly chopped liver either.
Then you got Billy-Boy Gates chompin on WebTV, hey that can't hurt either.
So, the way I see it, it is beginning to look a lot like a game of showdown poker. Those that are playing with scared money are going to fold. And all I can say is thanks for contributing to the pot, I'll spend your money with no remorse. I like my hand, and am willing to see it thru, especially after I have invested this much time and money into the pot.
As they say in my neck of the woods, the raise is to you, sh*t or get off the pot, and deal em up, face down please.
RB |
