<<< Wade, the database TAVA has developed has gained a lot of attention here. Having worked in a copyright
intensive field for a long time, where any hint of good profits creates thieves and imitators, I'm sure that this
advantage has long since been copied or the concept imitated by others. Lets face it, if the special prosector's
office can't keep a secret under armed guard and threat of felony, how can a simple database of "00" conflict
chips be one company's exclusive property? >>>
cordes, who else is doing this then? TAVA's data base has grown from 4500 items (Nov CC) to 10,000 items and growing (SHM). How are they able to do this? By going into these plants, doing pilots, etc. Look at the list of clients. I ask again: who is being given access to all of these plant-floor settings for y2k purposes? (Recall that TAVA is the only company, as far as we know, that is trying to consolidate the fragmented mom-and-pop factory-floor systems integration business into a nationwide organization that can take advantage of centralization of data while allowing for case-by-case analyses at the local level.)
Also, the usual business models are no good here, owing to the deadline. MSFT copied Apple, but if Gates had had only two years, he wouldn't have made it--not by a long shot. (This example shows that you are correct in a normal business environment: Even a poor copy may eventually drive the original out of business.)
By the time y2k profits in the factory-floor arena become clear to everyone, it won't be so easy for thieves and imitators to enter the field. TAVA has an immense advantage owing to the time limitation.
I do not regard TAVA as any fount of high-tech innovation. Rather, they seem to have an interesting business model, and the foresight to seize the day on y2k. Some on the board seem to feel that the TAVA CD/methodology is magical and earth-shattering. It isn't (although the product seems to be good). It's simply the right approach at the right time, with an inevitably diminishing time horizon.
Wade |
