Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: hlpinout who wrote (89503)	2/5/2001 6:21:15 PM
From: hlpinout	Respond to of 97611

Asia-Pacific PC Market Grows 38 Percent in 2000 Story Filed: Monday, February 05, 2001 1:42 PM EST LOS ANGELES (Feb. 5) XINHUA - Sales of PCs into the Asia- Pacific excluding the Japan market grew 38.5 percent in 2000 to reach 19.9 million units, according to figures released Monday by U.S. market analyst International Data Corp. (IDC). Despite a relatively weak fourth quarter, the Asia-Pacific region will continue to post strong growth in PC sales for 2001, given the current low penetration rates and the continuing role of the PC as the main Internet access device, IDC said in a statement. China is easily the region's biggest market, with sales in 2000 of 7.17 million units, 45.1 percent higher than in 1999. China now accounts for 36 percent of all PC sales in the Asia-Pacific market outside of Japan. The second-biggest market, South Korea, was also one of the fastest growing, as the country rebounded strongly from economic problems. PC sales to South Korea grew 75.3 percent to reach 3.84 million units. South Korea now represents 19.3 percent of the Asia- Pacific market. In Australia, PC sales grew 5.2 percent to 2.2 million units during the year, maintaining the country's status as the Asia- Pacific region's third-largest PC market with 11 percent market share. But vendors there suffered a disastrous fourth quarter, with sales down 12 percent compared to the third quarter, according to IDC. These leading three countries now account for two-thirds of all PCs sold into the Asia-Pacific market. India is now a major PC market, with sales growing 48.5 percent during the year to reach a total of 1.63 million units. PC sales into India in 2001 will exceed those into Australia if current growth rates are maintained. China's Legend Group Holdings Co. is the region's largest- selling PC maker due to its dominance of its large home market. Legend's sales grew 96 percent in the year to reach 2.1 million units, ahead of IBM Corp.'s 1.53 million, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.'s 1.48 million and Compaq Computer Corp.'s 1.29 million. No other vendor sold more than 1 million PCs during the year in the region. Copyright XINHUA NEWS AGENCY Copyright © 2001, Xinhua News Agency, all rights reserved.

To: hlpinout who wrote (89503)	2/5/2001 6:23:55 PM
From: hlpinout	Respond to of 97611

February 5, 2001 2:21pm 2HRS2GO: Little value in being top PC dog By Sergio G. Non 22GO ZDII COMMENTARY -- We're Number One! We're Number One! Now please lift this burden from us. That should be the mantra of the PC industry, where being the largest vendor rarely leads to anything good. Apple Computer (Nasdaq: AAPL) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) used to vie regularly for the desktop computer crown, and what did it get them? Big Blue crashed and burned in the early '90s, while Apple embarked on a gradually accelerating decline that culminated in an IBM-style hemorrhage in the latter portion of the decade. Compaq Computer (NYSE: CPQ) seized the top spot in 1994, after an aggressive push by then-CEO Eckhard Pfeiffer. "If we are No. 2 today or No. 1 tomorrow in terms of volume leadership, there is no reason why we shouldn't have the lowest material costs, which are an 85 percent to 90 percent factor of total cost," Pfeiffer told Computerworld in March 1993. "We have significant leverage there. If you [then] control labor, overhead and global logistics, you have the formula for total cost leadership." Compaq grew consistently for awhile, but less than three years after Pfeiffer's interview, it was obvious that the company had anything but "total cost leadership." Direct-sales rivals owned that department. Compaq's management saw that being top dog wasn't helping the bottom line as much as expected, so the company expanded through acquisitions of Digital Equipment and Tandem. Less than a year after those deals closed, Pfeiffer was out as Compaq reported quarterly losses. Given the dismal record of past PC Kings, I hope Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) doesn't make the mistake of associating market share with worth. Dell is set to seize the top spot this year, according to market observers. Compaq yielded its leading position because it wanted to make money, instead of engaging in a Dell-initiated price war. Meanwhile, Dell hopes to make its margin losses with sales of more profitable items like enterprise hardware. Dell manages its operations well. The company really is the most efficient in the Wintel box industry and enjoys a good reputation for PC reliability, service and support, at least compared with its main competitors. But we're still talking about boxes. PC vendors have long been enamored with the idea that they can use strong market share to sell other items. If you can sell a desktop computer to corporate buyers, you have an edge when it comes to selling servers, storage arrays and other nifty items, right? Plausible theory, but not necessarily a correct one. Market share could be a sales lever in any industry -- if your share is commanding, on the scale of Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT). When you monopolize desktop operating systems, it's pretty easy to build huge businesses in office applications and Web browsers. But no one in PCs has ever had that kind of dominance, not even IBM in its heyday during the 1980s. There have always been plenty of alternatives. Hardware is more or less interoperable. You don't need to use Dell servers with Dell PCs. Everything is based on widespread standards, whether you're talking IP networking or proprietary operating systems. Achieving market leadership in PCs means little. It never meant much, and it means even less in today's world of wireless devices, Web appliances and other network-centric hardware. Look no further than Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: SUNW) to find an enterprise company that has become a giant without PCs of any kind. If anything, Sun's vehement stance against desktop PCs has helped the company push its products. Sitting atop the PC hill guarantees nothing other than a huge, maturing business with shrinking margins. It's hardly worth defending these days, which explains why Compaq is abdicating the throne. Dell seems happy to take it. Employees can enjoy the title, put out a news release, hang a plaque on the wall. Just don't take the title too seriously. It's not worth the trouble. 22GO

To: hlpinout who wrote (89503)	2/5/2001 6:28:24 PM
From: hlpinout	Respond to of 97611

From The Register. -- Capellas puts the fun back into Compaq By: Drew Cullen Posted: 05/02/2001 at 19:20 GMT Compaq CEO Michael Capellas breezed into London last week and made a special effort to speak to... Sunday Business. We'd link to the interview if the newspaper had a website, but it doesn't appear to, so we won't. Here then is The Vulture's Digest version. Capellas wants George Dubya to cut income tax: "It's got to be precise and targeted enough to invigorate consumer demand." In other words, so that Americans feel comfortable again about consuming PCs. Compaq is targeting 6-8 per cent growth this year, compared with analyst forecasts of 6 per cent. But Capellas reckons the company is being modest. "Just to keep the lights on requires continued investment in infrastructure. People will continue buying computers and we think we're well placed to sell to them." Why? It all comes down to Compaq being a truly global company. The US may be faltering right now (although Capellas reckons there'll be a soft landing), but sales are doing just fine elsewhere. And our final tidbit from Michael. "I've done my best to make Compaq a fun place to work. It's not particularly a sexy or sophisticated thing to do, but it has helped with morale to putting fun back into the way we operate." Capellas is a former accountant.

To: hlpinout who wrote (89503)	2/5/2001 6:31:24 PM
From: hlpinout	Respond to of 97611

HP and Compaq Clean Up Server-Room Clutter The latest rack-mounted Web servers go a long way to save space By Chris Bucholtz, VARBusiness 10:26 AM EST Mon., Feb. 05, 2001 Nowadays, when a technology company says it's embarking on a space program, it could mean something more terrestrial than you'd otherwise assume. With real estate an ever-increasing cost for service providers, space is an issue,as in, how can I cram the most computing power into the smallest amount of space for my clients? One result of this is a new crop of Web servers built to meet the 1U form factor. The boxes are 1.75 inches high, 16.75 inches wide and 21.5 inches deep, enabling them to fit into a standard equipment rack. Each rack can hold 42 1U devices. This level of device density is what led Compaq and Hewlett-Packard to roll out new 1U servers in early January. Compaq added the Proliant DL320 to its roster, giving it an entry-level companion to the DL360 server announced in June. With one processor, one expansion slot and a maximum of 2 GB of SDRAM memory, "it's half a DL360, with all the management capabilities still included," according to Paul Miller, Compaq's director of mainstream server marketing. HP's latest entries are the LP 1000r and LP 2000r. The LP 1000r is a 1U unit with 4 GB of SDRAM, two processors and a pair of expansion slots; the LP 2000r is a 2U unit that features greater expandability, additional high-availability features and higher performance. Both companies' products feature "tool-less installation" and quick configuration of software, enabling service providers to install huge numbers of devices quickly. The market for rack-mounted servers is so hectic that HP is offering a "buy five, get one free" offer for the LP 1000r through April.

To: hlpinout who wrote (89503)	2/5/2001 6:33:07 PM
From: hlpinout	Respond to of 97611

Compaq Eyes Services Push In 2001 By Rich Cirillo, VARBusiness 11:12 AM EST Mon., Feb. 05, 2001 Compaq is looking to ramp up its services business in 2001, both through internal expansion as well as through partnerships with outside solution providers, say executives from Compaq Global Services. The company's $7 billion services business is broken down into seven business units, including five product-oriented operations and two services outfits,global services and customer services. Currently, those two businesses account for roughly 17 percent of Compaq's $40 billion revenue and nearly half of the company's entire employee base. But chairman and CEO Michael Capellas wants more. "Our strategy is to make sure we play in all of the technology platforms out there," says Jeffrey Lynn, vice president and general manager of Compaq Global Services, which helps large enterprises design, implement and manage high-end systems. "We find clients are coming to the table asking us to offer the full hardware, software and services solution. They are less and less inclined to want to play general contractor."