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Strategies & Market Trends : Options -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: edamo who wrote (5231)	3/18/2000 9:24:00 PM
From: steve mamus	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 8096

GLW is expanding into photonics, filters. Also don't you think that GLW could be on the prowl? What do you think there acquisitions and strategic alliance strategy is?? It is certainly not in the purely fiber optic cable. How will the market react if one morning the ETEK deal does not go thru and another competitor to JDSU comes onto the scene. Whether it is old economy or the new economy I will take the earnings. Where are JDSU's earnings?? By the way this is merely meant as friendly banter and I have the greatest respect for you. I love this board because it is FRIENDLY. Again , I own both but I am rethinking my holding in JDSU. I know that everyone loves it and I have made a ton of money on it. However my long term puts are all in GLW at this point. DoK

To: edamo who wrote (5231)	3/18/2000 10:15:00 PM
From: Jill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 8096

Ed: I'm stealing this post from mindmeld at csco thread. You've probably already read it, but for everyone else: WARNING: Long Post, but I hope well worth everyone's time No doubt, Gary. I was talking with a friend of mine at Goldman Sachs yesterday about the battle between Cisco, Lucent, & Nortel, and he asked me which of them I held. I told him, I own Cisco of course, and then sheepishly I added that I own Nortel as well. My reasoning is sound, as I told him, because Nortel is the leader in optics and because of this the year 2000 will go down in the history books as Nortel's year. So I'll make a tidy sum. So he asked, I thought you were a Cisco die-hard. Well, indeed I am, I shot back. I haven't sold any Cisco shares. And the reason is the following. Nortel has the right products at the right time. So did Lucent, but McGinn is clearly not an executer. However, having the right products is not a sustainable competitive advantage. So what comprises that advantage that Cisco has over the other two? People, vision, marketing savvy, process, execution, and cash flows. So how is Cisco better in these areas? People: Cisco acquires, recruits and retains the top talent, bar none. I have a friend at Nortel who is management level and doesn't have options. Unbelievable. Vision: John Chambers and his M&A staff have an almost flawless track record not because they are uniquely brilliant, but because they have learned how to perfect being fast followers. For those of you who don't know what that means, it's like letting others make the mistakes about where the market is going, then once it is clear, following fast and fierce, but being better than the ground breaker. Marketing Savvy: Telecomic, Mighty Mizzou and a host of others have backhandedly labeled Cisco as JUST a marketing machine. Well, sales make the world go round my friends and no one parallels Cisco's sales staff, PR & marketing teams. Sometimes it is all about positioning products until the management team can fill the gaps thru acquisitions or R&D. Process: Cisco's internal processes run like a well-oiled machine. Everything that is low margin is outsourced including much of manufacturing. Most systems are integrated and use the full power of the web. Cisco doesn't just talk the talk, they walk the walk when it comes to the Internet. Then there is their prowess at closing the books. It is unheard of to close accounting books in just a few hours. Imagine what a competitive weopon this is against say a Lucent which takes a couple of weeks to close. Execution: Cisco is tight with the analysts out there because they make promises, then deliver on them. Cisco has never missed earnings in the 10 years they have been public. This is no accident. The only folks that I've seen who manage analyst expectations as good as Cisco is you guessed it, Microsoft. Cash flows: Last but not least is Cisco's ability to consistently generate cash flows. Lucent and Nortels cash flows look like a dying patients heart chart: sky-high one quarter and losing money the next. That's no way to run a business. At the end of our conversation, my friend looked at me, and said, hey you don't have to sell me. Everyone on Wall Street knows the same thing. It's just a matter of time before Nortel and Lucent fall to Cisco like all the other networking companies did. Good luck everyone!