You seem to switch positions rather quickly, Kachina.
I understand your skepticism, but I think it is pretty far fetched to state that SR is (or probably is) a scam. I would think that if the demonstration last November was fake that someone would figure it out by now. Remember the Dataquest report stated that Level 3 had scientists working with SR's people and felt that technology had quite a bit of promise. For this to be a scam it means that either SR is lying about the Level 3 people working with them (which would probably come to the attention of Level 3), or that Level 3 people are fairly easy to fool (which I don't think is the case). Also keep in mind that these guys would be building pretty powerful enemies if the intent was to dupe a major telecom into endorsing or buying their product even though it doesn't work as advertised.
I think a more realistic possibility (than a scam) is that it is fairly hard to sell a brand new idea and technology into an industry that has spent quite a bit of time and money on the current technology. On November 2, 1998 almost nobody had heard of SilkRoad. A little over 5 months later they don't have any major contracts to announce, but nobody (that is not speculating) has shot them down, either. Keep in mind that they have met with lots of the major telecoms, and judging from their upcoming speaking engagements are not afraid to tell the world what they have.
As far as no beta version being a red flag, what type of beta unit would you suggest? They do have the equipment used for the demo in NY. If I was a potential customer I would want to see if that really worked. Then (assuming it did work) I would want to see if it could work within my company's system, which would probably mean building a new prototype unit. It's a little unrealistic to think they would have some type of beta unit that could be tested across lots of different companies systems, particularly since the principals are not from within the telecom industry. Wouldn't an MCI or a Level 3 or a cable company have different requirements for a beta unit?
To summarize, I would be quite surprised (and disappointed) if they are "salting" away their investor's money as part of a scam, and not trying to solve these types of logistical problems to get their technology incorporated into this very competitive industry. |
