Carter passed this post from AOL to me for posting there.
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> Burton's post:
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> Subj: Re:Ann.Mtg.(Mult.pgs.)
> Date: 96-12-07 11:40:48 EST
> From: BurtonR504
>
> Pg.1
> I have to credit Betty Smallfelt and Jim Claspill, shareholders who posted on the net (techstocks.com) about the annual meeting, with an excellent description of the meeting's contents. In some areas I've expanded the information to include other technical data and commentary from Q&A session occurring after the formal meeting adjourned. This is a best efforts attempt at accuracy so please bear with me and other acknowledged contributors.
Because of its length this posting will follow on subsequent pages so be prepared to review all.
The meeting began with B.R. reading a summary of the announcement about a letter of intent to form a strategic alliance with Voice It and a very clear statement about both co's. working toward a merger over the next 4-5 months.
After this CEO Bob Root went over some of the past year's events. He explained that a year ago, the company was almost "dead" and in 1995, the company could have declared bankruptcy for at least 6 various reasons. The co. had no business plan, no marketing strategy, no organized sales force. It was a company that sold a "gadget" and the gadget didn't really work. In the past year, the company has become a "new technology" company that is positioning itself into an OEM company. (That will be accomplished with the merger with Voice-It.) These are the companies that are now in negotiations
> with NCI regarding licensing the NCI operating system: Polaroid, Olympus, Kodak, Lanier, Philips, Grundig, and Psion (USR). The strategic partners in the OEM business so far (other talks are being held) are: Centennial, Microsoft CE, Intel, SanDisk, Thinstor and MSystems.
Computer City and CompUSA will sell the MOP but the product is not in stores yet since NCI had to go through a distributor to sell in these stores. This has held things up and a large distributor, Data Tech, will probably become that distributor.
NCI is also working with Iomega on a new ZIP disk and conference microphone which would allow recording directly onto a Zip Drive. NCI is developing a device called FIREWIRE (conference microphone) which holds an Iomega ZIP cartridge and allows you to record right onto the ZIP. This would give 100 MB of storage and allow for 33 HOURS of recording time. The ZIP disk, of course, is portable. They are also working with Iomega on a 2" square cartridge that would store 20 MB, the N-hand. The "next generation" product (after Flashback) was shown. It's a little larger, but has much more functionality. Called the PBP2000, it may use any manufacturer's flash memory. A separate base unit for the PBP2000 (Called Desk Mate) allows for recording (through the PBP2000) directly onto the hard drive of a PC. The PBP2000 has an LCD screen, and its file system allows for a much better folder system for storage on the device and or download. There will also be a connection on it for a microphone (remote or wired), foot pedal attachment, and other essential features (to accommodate the dictation industry). Mr. Root stressed that there is a whole new relationship
developing with Intel over the past few months. Later on during Q&A I
learned from another key employee that Intel has now more fully appreciated how our OS is much more advanced than any other.
A guest speaker was introduced, Gib Springer, CEO of ThinStor in San Jose He explained their thin spin product, the "World's Thinnest Disk Drive". It's a 95MB disk drive which is slightly larger than a postage stamp and about 1/8" thick. (Cost - approx. $150) This disk drive will fit into the PBP2000. It has the same resistance to magnetic fields and shock to gravity as flashmemory. When compared to other disk drives it will be the fastest of any now on consumer market with following specs., a 5 msc. access time, transfer rate of 10 MPS, and 10,000 rpm. ( Most current EIDE hard disks are at 11 msc.,
3-4 MPS and 4 to 5,000 rpm, with SCSI's to 8 msc., 5-6 MPS, and 7 to 7500 rpm). This 95 mb storage product will give a 33+hour recording time.
Subj:
> Re:Ann.Mtg.(Mult.pgs.)
> Date: 96-12-07 11:44:53 EST
> From: BurtonR504
>
> Page 2
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> ThinStor is looking at various markets for this technology: Auto GPS systems, flight recorders, digital cameras. (His presence at the meeting suggested a strong relationship with he and B.R. and their plans to use the NCI OS in a multitude of ongoing products). Mr. Springer alluded to his co's. working with some very large entities in this new technology.
The conduct of business for appointment of officers, directors, and auditors then took place and the meeting was adjourned. Q&A followed in the lobby where all officers could be queried in small groups. In smaller groups Mr. Root was very open, candid, and responsive to any and all questions. He indicated he would be staying with NCI and any evolution of it as a merged entity. Because attorneys for both companies had much to go over he couldn't be specific on terms of merger but felt most likely it would result in formation of new co.. He did say NCI was very close to being in black and might be in current qtr. or at latest in next qtr.. He stressed that both
Voice-It and NCI complement each other perfectly in what each brings to the table, Voice It bringing excellent contract manufacturing from Malaysia and a large retail distribution network which will sell our products under their label. He believed it saves NCI the time and cost of duplicating the dist. network and can reduce manufacturing costs by as much as 40%. I asked him about the Ricoh product with voice and he laid out the co's. approach to dealing with others who may be infringing. He did not specifically apply that policy to the Ricoh product and didn't know for certain that it was infringing without further investigation. He further said Simate, does want to settle with us and become a licensee. Iacocca Cap. now Klein Investment, officers were there. Overall they felt this could be a very significant and + development for NCI and were enthusiastic about how each co. could benefit from this alliance.
As a shareholder I view the strategic alliance with Voice-It as greatly benefitting NCI. After 4 or 5 months of this activity or sooner both parties may view merger as even more mutually beneficial.I haven't reviewed Voice-It for about 6 mos. but back then I saw their co. and management as not too visionary and being unable to bring any new products or technology to the right market. The recent entry of Olympus and Sony into their markets also posed a major threat to them. NCI's leadership in developing peripherals for the computer market and miniaturizing their products with an efficient OS along with an experienced CEO could make a merger the right move at the right
time for both co's.. I personally believe NCI's future potential to markedly increase profits for a merged co. is much greater than what Voice-It's future can bring. How will this impact shareholders of both co's. in any merger is currently an unknown. Interestingly the releases on PRnewswire and BusinessWire made no comment about a potential merger of the 2 companies. To say the least, that is puzzling.
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> (I thought this review would be longer than 2 pages but it wasn't.)
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> Best to all: |
