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Technology Stocks : The New QLogic (ANCR) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: w2j2 who wrote (23943)	9/2/1999 9:59:00 AM
From: J Fieb	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 29386

WJ- Some tidbits on the farms...... Even more radical is Barrett's third leg, his plan to get Intel into e-commerce by providing services, not just churning out hardware. In mid-April Intel announced a deal with Internet portal Excite to build a Web-based shopping service. In addition, Intel brass is debating how to become the manager of huge server "farms," handling networking traffic for clients, most likely overseas. He also is spending some of Intel's nearly $11 billion in cash for stakes in startups. Since 1996 Intel has sunk $2.5 billion into 200 companies, one of the largest venture programs in the U.S. Notable winners: Etoys, the toy retailer slated to go public in late April, and Inktomi, the developer of Web-searching technology. ..........Barrett's eagerness for a piece of the electronic commerce pie is a tougher stretch for Intel. "It will raise a lot of eyebrows," says Drew Peck, a technology analyst with SG Cowen in Boston. Plans are still in flux, but as they come together, Barrett promises, "You'll see us move relatively aggressively just like we are in the networking space." That means spending money to buy and build Intel's way into the game, he says. Intel made more than 100 small investments last year; 80 went to new beneficiaries, about one-third of the deals were overseas, and 75% of them involve the Internet. "Our investments in the network have been a forerunner of Intel's evolving strategy," says Leslie Vadasz, a longtime insider and board member who oversees Intel's investment arm. He dabbles in a broad range of Internet content and service businesses. Intel began by buying stakes in on-line security companies, such as Verisign. More recently, Intel has become intrigued by what it takes to carry out transactions on the Web. In November it acquired Icat Corp., which helps small and midsize firms set up shop on the Web and is now a key part of Intel's recent Excite deal. "I didn't expect three or four years ago that we'd invest in service companies, but now it's not happening fast enough," Vadasz says. Intel's strength in combing the kinks out of complex processes could be parlayed into other markets, Barrett reasons. Businesses and consumers now want their data networks to be as reliable as their telephones. Perhaps Intel could leverage its ability to manage complexity by hosting other companies' data for them?and then offer additional services and applications, too, Barrett says. Intel's prospects for this may be best overseas, where markets are less developed.