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Technology Stocks : All About Sun Microsystems -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alok Sinha who wrote (18469)	8/4/1999 8:01:00 PM
From: JC Jaros	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 64865

I don't understand the big bear picture here to do with the overall market. I'm sure it's just my naivete but it seems to me that if you have x liquidity, and the economic/financial scene is about the same as it has been (plus Asia coming online), are people just arbitrarily going to start stuffing cash in the mattress? -JCJ

To: Alok Sinha who wrote (18469)	8/4/1999 9:58:00 PM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Respond to of 64865

Alok, you never win them all <GG> I am quite bearish on the market and I hope for a bounce to enter short positions. The game is over IMHO and the return will return to the mean of 8% to 10% a year for all those years which will imply a prolonged bear market of several years or a sharp drop. Having money in money market or in LU since end of January would give you same financial results but without the risk for example. Forget puts SELL into any rally and buy treasury strips some yield now 6.5%. BWDIK Haim

To: Alok Sinha who wrote (18469)	8/4/1999 10:21:00 PM
From: E_K_S	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 64865

Good News for SUNW - Sun's Ultra-Secret PC-Killer Forbes: August 03, 1999 (http://www.forbes.com/tool/html/99/Aug/0803/mu11.htm) NEW YORK. 06:37 PM EDT—For the past 24 months, Sun Microsystems' (nasdaq: SUNW) chief executive Scott McNealy has talked about his vision of distributed computing, only to watch rival Microsoft and the PC grow even more dominant on the desktop. Now scientists at Sun Labs have come-up with a device that could bring McNealy's vision to life. Code-named the "Corona," the new machine is a much-improved version of the Java Station that received a lukewarm reception two years ago. It could reach the market as early as September. And if it succeeds, it could become the PC-killer that McNealy has long sought. Here are some of the details: For starters, Corona is not just an Internet access device--as had been reported earlier--but is targeted more at internal corporate networks. It will list at about $499, though deep discounts could bring down the price to below $400--thus positioning it as a "network-business appliance" that can challenge the sub-$500 windows terminal and low-end PC market. Besides its low cost, Corona offers the promise of lower administrative costs. In fact, it's being pitched to corporate customers as a "zero-admin cost computer." Sun was actually supposed to launch the device in July, but had to scale back due to lack of top-tier customers. Now, however, the government of Singapore is reportedly on board, and the device is being eyed by several U.S. airline, package transportation and retail companies. Corona's software includes an embedded Java operating system and a new variant of the old X-Windows software, which allowed for the creation of hardware-independent graphical user interfaces much like those of Windows or the Macintosh operating system. Plugged into an Ethernet network, Corona--which has a built-in Ethernet board--can pull all the applications and data it needs directly off a corporate server, without the need for local storage. Moreover, since it is a stateless device, you can unplug it from one Ethernet port, plug it back in somewhere else, and continue working. The corporate server recognizes your identity thanks to a card you insert in the Corona's smart-card slot, and serves up your applications and data accordingly. A new IP address is assigned on the fly by Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) software. The device can also handle streaming audio and video, a huge improvement over the old dumb terminals and critical for the high-bandwidth future. Again, if you unplug the computer during a video playback, the image pauses until you plug the computer in elsewhere in the network. The Corona, created under the guidance of Gene Bauman, VP and General Manager of SMCC's Desktop Systems and Workstations Product Group, represents Sun's attempt to make good on many of the promises that it failed to deliver a couple of years ago. In 1997, "network computers" were the hot new trend and Sun came out with the Java Station. These inexpensive machines were seen as potential PC killers, but were mostly dead in the market by 1998, thanks to the rise of sub-$500 PCs. Today, however, network computers are making a comeback as "thin clients," and are currying favor with corporate customers worried about the escalating cost of maintaining large PC pools. Smart software from companies like Citrix has helped make it cheaper to maintain a thin client network. And IBM, to take one example, has seen 40% year-to-year growth in sales of its thin client, called the Network Station. Sun's new device, which its makers call the "ultimate thin client," could pose a threat to IBM's business and add more zip to Sun's revenues. Sun hopes to sell over a million Coronas in 2000. Even at $400 each, that's $400 million in sales. Add in Sun's conventional line of $100,00-plus servers on the back end, and this project could bring a billion dollars into the company's already bulging coffers. It could also mean significant profits for key suppliers like LSI Logic (nyse: LSI), which may manufacture microJava chips for the Corona. No wonder, McNealy and his cohorts want to keep Corona a secret. ==================================================================== I like this part "...Sun hopes to sell over a million Coronas in 2000. Even at $400 each, that's $400 million in sales. Add in Sun's conventional line of $100,00-plus servers on the back end, and this project could bring a billion dollars into the company's already bulging coffers...". Bring me a Corona.... EKS