I'm adding to my position. It's been hard after all the drops, but I visited the new office in Amsterdam and had a discussion with Brooke Pietsch about Raptor and the competition and I think the future is still strong for this company.
In fact, it seems strange that someone would lump Raptor into a "internet stock" catagory, when security is really a basic MIS situation. Seeing stocks slammed by weak association isn't unusual, and can be a great investment opportunity.
Brooke was saying he is getting appointments with the first call. We are talking about Europe's greatest Banks, Auto Manufacturers, Insurance, etc. In the Netherlands, ING Bank is already a customer. Interest in firewalls is extremely high.
With Siemans, DEC, HP, Compaq on the team, these guys really have a job to keep up with demand. It's really an amazing opportunity when you look at it.
Beyond this, we talked about product and competition. Of course, these guy all know each other and in Brooke's case, he has worked with several of them, which gives an interesting insight into their sales, product and internal politics. He's a good salesmn, and I left feeling Raptor would do well, here in Europe.
My other fears were: Microsoft and router based security from compnies like Ascend and Cisco. Microsoft has anounced a product called Catapult, which I don't fully understand, but brings security into a more plug and play environment. (Maybe someone could clarify this) Brooke said Microsoft is making coanouncements with companies like Raptor and that they wouldn't be selling a firewall in the near future, but don't rule out their buying a company.
Second issue was router based security as I have noticed announcements in this area have affected the stock price negatively. He says that router security is to rudimentary to be compared to a firewall. They don't have the control capability to go deep enough. Again, perhaps some one would like to comment.
Again, Firewall is so many things. It is a managemet tool keeping people in as well as out. The control capabilities are very far reaching. You could talk for hours about the future of integrating computing into business, but it can be summed up to say that firewall can be a backbone to system control. At this point, Raptor has the leading edge technology.
Final comment from Brooke was, "we'll have no problem beating our numbers this year".
So, I think Raptor is still a good investment. I bought more. I think it may also be wise to buy some Checkpoint, as they seem to be the most technically capable competition. I don't have any price points where I would buy. Any opinions?
Regards,
Mark |
