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Technology Stocks : Network Appliance -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DownSouth who wrote (1722)	12/6/1999 10:35:00 AM
From: mauser96	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10934

You could say the same thing about EMC. As a general rule I think that other factors are more important than IPR. Mainstream customers want solutions to their problems,not technology per se, so it's the complete package that wins in the long run. Hardware can be reverse engineered, software can be produced that is functionally the same. An exception can be made for patents that control a fundamental hunk of physics like the electrostatic process in old xerox patents, Polaroid instant photo patents, etc. I think some of QCOM's IPR probably are in this category, but I doubt if either NTAP or EMC fit here. If the disruptive influence is faster Ethernet itself, then more than one company can use it, making the assumption that they recognize it in time. This is unlike the situation at QCOM, where one company owns the IPR of the discontinuity (CDMA). As of today I'm a NTAP shareholder as well as an EMC shareholder, so if either wins I'll be happy. I don't think this is a gorilla game. I'll follow my panzer corps approach of adding to whichever seems to be winning . It does seem to me that the need for increased storage over the next few years is as much of a given as anything can be, and thus the visibility for earnings in this sector is very high. I just doubt if one company will get it all. Thanks for your help in making me understand NTAP better. I'm still doing my homework on the whole networking field. regards Luke