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To: Bill Harmond who wrote (96443)	3/14/2000 9:41:00 PM
From: KeepItSimple	Respond to of 164684

>http://www.fool.com/news/2000/biotech000314.htm >Today's Real News: Government Supports Gene Patents >How investors are misunderstanding biotech Or more precisely: "Todays News: The Fools are leveraged up to their eyeballs in mo-mo biotech stocks, and we're begging our readership to bail us out tomorrow by flooding their brokerages with "market buy" orders."

To: Bill Harmond who wrote (96443)	3/14/2000 10:59:00 PM
From: Olu Emuleomo	Respond to of 164684

>From Fortune Investor: Broadband Believers: Have Investors Been Taken In by Terayon? Can you trust a company to tell the whole truth? Bethany McLean Broadband. It's an obsession on Wall Street, in Web chat rooms, for Valley gurus, and no doubt for your retired Uncle Leo in Phoenix. The one thing everyone agrees on, it seems, is that the revolution is coming. But which switch, router, chip, or widget is going to take us there? That's the trillion-dollar question. The companies that bet correctly on the new broadband standards are going to be the true tech kings of the coming decade. So, no surprise, this royal court is crammed with would-be dauphins. Take the case of sizzling-hot Terayon Communications, founded by two Israeli brothers in 1993. The company hasn't been shy about calling its technology for cable modems, S-CDMA, a key piece of the broadband puzzle now being assembled. And several analysts have paid homage. None other than technology guru George Gilder recently issued a report likening Terayon to Qualcomm. That rave helped boost the stock by roughly $100 in a matter of days. At the end of February, Terayon's shares were at $260, up from $40 in August, valuing the company at 80 times 1999's revenues. Yes, in a realm of constantly changing technology, bizarre fundamentals, and stock prices that daily catapult off overhyped "news flashes," it's easy to see how investors could get caught up in Terayon's ever confident vibe. But the company may also be instructive on another count. And that, folks, is how little Net investors have to go on--other than a company's breathless self-promotion--in determining whether a firm's latest digital widget has much future at all. Consider the firm's S-CDMA technology, which is a proprietary method for transmitting voice and data over cable. The current industry standard for modems, known as DOCSIS, uses something called TDMA, short for time division multiple access. Last year CableLabs--the industry's specification-setting body--asked both Broadcom (the biggest supplier of TDMA chips) and Terayon to design specifications for the next generation of modems, ones that can handle the brave new world of online data. The assumption on Wall Street--encouraged by Terayon, naturally, and repeated faithfully by some analysts--was that S-CDMA would be a core component of that next standard. A Terayon banner ad on an industry Website refers to its technology plainly as "Industry-Standard s-cdma." A slide that CEO Zaki Rakib showed at a December analyst presentation over the Internet describes it matter-of-factly as "Terayon's proven S-CDMA technology, chosen by CableLabs for inclusion in DOCSIS standards." With such assurances, you might assume there's nary a doubt as to who's won the new cable war. You'd be wrong. S-CDMA's future, in fact, remains woefully unclear. While many believe that it does have some benefits over older, "noisy" cable technology, some experts question the value it adds to newer, cleaner systems. "S-CDMA is not necessarily the direction we could all agree on," says John Pietri of Charter Communications, one of Terayon's potential customers. There's also plenty of competition in the modem business. In addition to Broadcom, Terayon has to face down monster manufacturers like 3Com, Motorola, Nortel, and even Cisco. Indeed, CableLabs says it is "very likely" that the next modem specification will be based on a technology called "advanced TDMA"--the system that Broadcom is rushing to develop. CableLabs adds that Terayon is welcome to submit an S-CDMA prototype. If it is compatible with advanced TDMA, it could be included in a future version of the modem standards. But that's well short of a guarantee. Some argue that Terayon is walking a fine line in terms of disclosure. "They've made comments that are not strictly inaccurate, but if you're not speaking to an educated audience, they could be misinterpreted," says Dave Bukovinsky of CableLabs. Two additional cable industry executives expressed irritation with what they called Terayon's overstated claims. Terayon CEO Rakib says his company has made no misleading statements. He insists that the banner ad in question is old (though we found it up at press time in March). Rakib also says his "intention was to include the word 'potential' " on the marketing slide. One investor says that he has heard portions of a letter sent from CableLabs to Terayon in early February demanding that Terayon "cease and desist" its claims about S-CDMA. CableLabs confirms that it has sent a letter but says that the contents are confidential. Rakib insists that there has been no misunderstanding between Terayon and CableLabs, and contends "the crux of the letter deals with terminology." Taking the point further, Rakib says that Terayon isn't just a modem company anymore--it has announced five acquisitions since last summer--and claims that Terayon's broadband strategy isn't reliant on the inclusion of S-CDMA in the new cable standards. So if the company doesn't live up to its broadband hype, who stands to lose? Well, since spring 1999, Terayon's venture capital backers, Sequoia Capital and Weiss Peck & Greer, have disposed of or distributed almost all their shares, and the Rakib brothers have either sold or filed to sell over $25 million worth of stock. Hmm

To: Bill Harmond who wrote (96443)	3/15/2000 12:06:00 AM
From: Libbyt	Respond to of 164684

PHCM... These two articles are about PHCM, and are from today's issue of the Bull Market Wireless Report. Just FYI....I thought you might like some of the positive things said about PHCM! Libbyt PHONE.COM - THE WIRELESS INTERNET COMPANY By Michael Barrett I do not pretend to know everything, and many times I am just plain clueless. For example, last June, some hip company named Phone.com went public. I was fed up with useless dot com offerings and I paid them no attention. "Phone.com", I thought to myself, "what could they do? Offer Internet phone services? I don't need them!" Soon thereafter, Phone.com was trading at over $300 per share, and I finally decided to see what all the commotion was about. Needless to say, after some investigation, I felt just a tad silly. Phone.com is not a phone company. What they are is a software company, and their software allows you to access the Internet through your mobile phone or handheld Palm computer. They make both the browser, which is installed on your phone, and the server software that your cellular provider uses to get you to the Internet. The development platform used is called WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) and was developed to be a standard by a wireless conglomerate consisting of Phone.com, Motorola, Nokia, and Ericcson. After realizing what I had missed, I still had questions. Seriously, what good is a 2-inch, minimum resolution screen for cruising the net? What exactly will users be able to do? How will they make money? What is the purpose? I was very skeptical and somewhat closed minded. Just then it struck me that my concerns were irrelevant. What is important is that wireless Internet access is a reality, and Phone.com is a leader in that revolution. The technology was only going to improve, and the uses -- as I found out -- are increasing in number every day. I further recognized that I found a business in its infancy, and it would be wise to learn as much about it as possible. What's to like: -- Solid Business Plan. Phone.com is a key player in the WAP forum, and they give their browser away. By giving it away for free, it encourages providers and developers to use it. That technique is what allowed Microsoft to win the browser war. Phone.com then licenses the server software to the wireless provider (Bell Atlantic, Airtouch, GTE, etc.), and they even collect fees from $10 to $15 from every user who decides to use the service. -- Standardized Platform. Getting a grip on wireless standards is tough, but it doesn't matter what system a provider uses because Phone.com's software will run on all of them. CDMA, TDMA, GSM -- any of them. It also will work on any data-capable handset, including Palm devices and certain pagers. -- Market Penetration. Wireless access is so new that many providers (like mine) do not even offer it yet. Still, Phone.com has access to nearly half of the world's wireless users. They are not only the beasts of their sector with a great first-mover advantage, but their lead over the competition seems to be increasing daily. Their most recent victory was a deal with British Telecom. Amazingly, the US is behind the curve a bit with regards to wireless access. Phone.com has deals with AT&T, Nextel, Sprint, Bell Atlantic, and US West, but there are dozens more providers that do not yet offer these services. The US has several large contracts up for grabs and given Phone.com's success so far, it would not be a stretch to assume they will win a good portion of them. -- Strategic Investments. Phone.com has made a few strategic purchases to strengthen their position. First, they bought @Motion, a voice recognition company. Integrating voice features into a mail client or web browser is a natural progression, and this move brings that intricate development effort completely in house. Then they went after Paragon, a company that specialized in synchronization technology that allowed mobile users to link up to Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, and other sources. They could then download e-mail, contact lists, or other items using FoneSync, Paragon's main software product. Finally, they gobbled up privately held Onebox.com, a leading communications application service provider with 2.5 million registered users worldwide utilizing unified email, voicemail, fax, and wireless-enabled communication applications. -- Growth. In the past quarter, subscriber growth quadrupled to over 700,000 around the world. Last week, it was announced that they had over 1 million subscribers in Japan alone! With new deals being made constantly, analysts are having a difficult time creating revenue models since they are always increasing. Banc of America Securities claims that in 2002 there will be three times as many wireless Internet users than were Internet users in 1999 alone. This sector is just getting started, and Phone.com is right in the middle of it. What's not to like: -- Limited Use. Sure, you can link into e-mail, but you cannot handle attachments or reply in detail. Getting the weather is good if you need it, but that won't keep them coming back. Online trading is available, but you won't have access to charts or other advanced features. Speed is also an issue, as most Sprint users will attest to. The networks are not yet up to snuff there. Services are expanding and speed is expected to increase, but overall, wireless access is still the equivalent of the 9600 bps AOL Internet experience. -- Competition. The boys in Redmond will not go down without a fight, will they? Microsoft continues to make noise about the wireless game, and they even have a joint venture with Qualcomm that is aimed at taking some market share from Phone.com. Handset makers like Nokia and Ericsson could be a threat, as are wireless network operators. Phone.com may have a huge lead but, in order to maintain it, they must continue to execute and innovate in a fast paced, ever-changing industry. All in all, Phone.com will have obstacles, but the market penetration that they have already achieved should continue to pay dividends. Their numbers speak for themselves as to the growth potential of wireless Internet access, and I doubt they are done making deals at this point. Institutional interest has been picking up and the company has emerged from a 38 million share lockup expiration totally unscathed. Phone.com is part of The Bull Market Wireless Portfolio. Phone.com (PHCM, $170, down 9) Shares Outstanding/Float: 69/45 million Market Cap: $11.7 billion Mike Barrett Mfbarrett@mail.com Mike Barrett owns a technical consulting firm specializing in financial applications development, and he trades his own account. At the time of this writing, he was long PHCM. This article is not to be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any of the companies mentioned. And....also this article: UNISYS USES PHONE.COM TO DELIVER MOBILE INTERNET SOLUTIONS Unisys Corporation and Phone.com, Inc. (PHCM, $170, down 9), the leading provider of WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) mobile Internet software applications and services, announced that Unisys will use Phone.com's UP.Link Server Suite as part of its global wireless solutions portfolio. The alliance means Unisys will be able to market full WAP compliant wireless solutions to the world's wireless operators, enabling delivery of Internet communications and advanced telephony services on digital mobile phones, pagers, personal digital assistants and other wireless devices. Through mobile Internet services, wireless operators will be able to offer subscribers access to Internet and corporate intranet-based services including e-mail and voice mail, and to information such as news, stocks, weather, travel and sports through their WAP-enabled mobile devices. Consumer and business users will therefore have virtually anytime, anywhere access to up-to-the-minute information. COMMENT: There is probably no wireless play we are more excited about currently than Phone.com. They are perfectly positioned to become a true wireless gorilla. They are doing the smart thing: Getting as many products using their applications as possible, worry about making hard profits later. Have no fear, the profits will come, and in a big way. But volatile? Wow. If you look up "volatility" in the dictionary, you see the symbol, PHCM! The Bull Market Wireless Investor - bull-market.com

To: Bill Harmond who wrote (96443)	3/15/2000 12:16:00 AM
From: Libbyt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Biotech stocks/Commentary... Here is another article from today's issue of the Bull Market Report concerning biotech stocks. Libbyt The Bull Market Report - bull-market.com COMMENTARY One government official mentions that genomic data should be openly available to all and access to it unencumbered by proprietary rights, and blammo, the whole biotech sector comes crashing down. It should be noted that the government official in question is the President of the United States, and the genomic data in question has spurned mammoth gains for the companies creating and researching it. As it turns out, the Federal Government has funded a great deal of that research, which means the taxpayers have funded and thus open to the public. This wasn't that hard to see coming. We knew the government was involved. We have all heard of "The human genome project." What we couldn't predict was a presidential decree to the masses, stating the blatantly obvious, would be so misunderstood. Let us clarify: The government is not going to steal your favorite company's data. None of these companies (at least none that we have added to our portfolio) have been dumb enough to base their business models on selling what the human genome project will provide to the masses. They are basing their business models on the products and services that can be derived from this data. What many investors became excited about was the fact that many of these private companies began to outpace the government's decoding of the genome, which meant that they would be bringing products and services to market sooner. No one ever thought that they were going to have proprietary rights to the code. So, what does this mean to the average investor. "Should I sell my stock and hide in a corner, or is this the mother of all buying opportunities?" It depends on the stock. If your stock is not directly involved in genomics, but dropped with the sector, then you should not be worried, and if you were considering buying more of it, this is the very definition of a buying opportunity. If you own a genomics stock, it gets a little trickier. The number one question to answer: How is my company going to make money? If they are going to use the data to create products and services, then you are all right. If they are simply planning to make their money by licensing human genomic data, then you have a little more investigating to do. Before we go any further, one thing needs to be stated: Celera (CRA, $147, down 42) is going to be OK. They are going to make their money annotating the human genome map, and by mapping other genomes. Their business model is intact, and in some ways is actually enhanced by public release of the human genome. This is a great time to boost your holdings in Celera. We are also still feeling strong about Human Genomic Sciences (HGSI, $124, down 29). Their creation of pharmaceutical and diagnostic products will be very profitable in the future. Biotech was such a big story we almost forgot the rest of the market! To summarize: Both the Nasdaq and the Dow experienced down days, though neither showed any signs of panic (outside of biotech, that is). In fact, if it were not for the selling pressure created by biotech, we could have very well had a positive day, at least in the Nasdaq. The downward thrust is coming at a bad time, at least for the short term, with triple-witching day* approaching Friday and interest rate/inflation worries on the rise again. Keep informed, and do your homework before making any moves in biotechnology.