F is showing himself to be a masterful ceo. If what someone said here is correct and ifmx is in fact pushing revenue out to the next q, F would be completely in character, continuing to show steady, predictable growth...like the kind Microsoft has been showing for ages. This would be a far cry from the Phil White days, and I think the street would ultimately pay a good premium for it. F has described himself as a marathon man (he actually runs them). He's looking way down the road. People expecting a quick buck are probably in the wrong stock.
From a business process standpoint, it's much preferable to grow your company steadily than in a bursty fashion. You have more time to build up the infrastructure necessary to support the trailing growth, which positions you for better growth going forward. THis translates into improved service to your recent customers. They come back for more and provide good references for future biz.
I don't think anyone doubts the superiority of their products. Execution had been the major question holding this company back, and in my mind that's been put to rest. THe only remaining uncertainty is the market and how well the products and services are aligned with it relative to their competitors.
Ifmx is focusing on big data - huge oltp, warehousing and rich content management requirements. Warehousing and rich content in particular are very hot growth areas going forward. The web really does change everything. I really think we aint seen nothin yet in terms of new businesses spawned by the web and particulary in new data generated by global web communications. The pipes for transmitting that data are currently laughable. What will happen as these pipes widen? More consumption and demand for data, and certainly, more supply, requiring better management and analysis capabilities.
Oracle and Microsoft don't have competitive products, although I think Oracle has a small chance to catch up, but they're not as focused on this niche and thus might lose a healthy chunk of this new business. IBM has competitive products, but they're less open and also not as focused. Microsoft is not only unfocused, they're saddled with the NT architecture - it's currently grossly inadequate for ifmx target market. But even if it could handle the requirements, NT is again one proprietary platform, and Msft will have trouble doing quality large enterprise support without attracting more anti-trust attention.
Bottom line: ifmx is becoming an excellent long term growth story. |
