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

To: John Koligman who wrote (87486)	12/6/2000 11:45:50 AM
From: Night Writer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

John Koligam, If is a little word with a big meaning. Let me ask you an "if" question. If you were an IT manager, would you question Dell's high end experience with 32 way systems. Seems like an IT manager would want to buy from an experienced outfit with lots of support. Not the new guy on the block. NW

To: John Koligman who wrote (87486)	12/6/2000 11:53:12 AM
From: Elwood P. Dowd	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 97611

John... I'm certain that Capellas is hanging his hat on increased high-end server sales. As to the DELL article, could be so much more smoke from Michael and shouldn't impact this Q that greatly even if there were any truth to it. One gets the feeling that if CPQ meets or beats the estimate this Q but doesn't sell as many pcs as expected that the stock will get punished anyway. CRAZY! Has anyone seen today's report on the downgrade. Wonder if it is supported by facts or based entirely on speculation. El

To: John Koligman who wrote (87486)	12/6/2000 12:03:40 PM
From: Tomcat	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 97611

Dell is OEMing the CMP architecture from Unisys. Compaq is doing the same thing. Who would you buy a 32P system from, the guys who designed it, Unisys, or some OEM that put their name on it, CPQ or Dell. I don't think any of these guys are going to sell many of these machines. But, last year Capellas said that they were working on their own 32-way system and that the Unisys OEM was just a way to fill the gap until their own machine was ready. I doubt Dell is designing their own version. They will have to keep OEMing from someone else. Since the Unisys and CPQ deal is a one-shot, Dell will probably take whatever the next generation comes out of Unisys. Can Dell unseat CPQ with this strategy? I don't think so. Businesses are used to paying through the nose for big servers. Look at Sun's sales. I am not sure you can win with price alone in the large server market.

To: John Koligman who wrote (87486)	12/6/2000 12:21:06 PM
From: rudedog	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 97611

John - I predicted at the time of CPQ's announcement that DELL would offer the Unisys system at some point. DELL's server initiative has been stalled in the high end by their lack of enterprise level service, by the lack of a sales force that can sell at that level, and by their weaker management suite. They need to change their business model to move in that direction, and we are beginning to see some movement which would eventually support high end sales. But even with their recent moves, DELL is not credible in that space yet. IBM, CPQ, and HP all have extensive experience in design, deployment and management of large systems, and the long term partnerships with consulting houses and enterprise suppliers which are a requirement for success in that space. They also have the account teams at the major companies who track where those companies are planning their IT spending, and influencing the architectural choices to favor their product lines. DELL has none of that. I believe their 32 way offering is a "placeholder" and I think it is also a requirement for them to be a "datacenter" vendor with Microsoft. I don't think CPQ will be very concerned about this move, but it is a step in the right direction for DELL. DELL will need to continue to invest in technology, partnerships and sales for years before they will see much benefit in their high end sales, but that is better than the alternative, which is the slow decay of their base PC business.