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To: pater tenebrarum who wrote (81161)	3/15/2001 8:03:25 PM
From: Box-By-The-Riviera™	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 436258

LOS ANGELES, March 15 (Reuters) - Siebel Systems Inc. <SEBL.O> Chairman and Chief Executive Thomas Siebel said Thursday the technology sector has yet to hit bottom, but when it does surviving companies will offer strong growth and investment opportunities. "We will get through this. Have we seen the bottom of the technology market? We are not near it. When we have abject panic (we will be there)," said Siebel, who heads the No. 1 provider of software for helping businesses manage relationships with their customers. "When everyone swears they will never own technology stocks again, then you will know (we've hit the bottom). This day is coming and then we will be looking at an opportunity of a lifetime," he said at a keynote speech at Spring Internet World in Los Angeles. Siebel was the latest in a line of executives at the trade show, one of the largest Internet events of the year, to explain what companies did wrong in approaching the Internet and to reassure players that when the market shakeout ends the sector will still offer opportunity for companies like theirs. However, like most executives, Siebel also cautioned that the shake-out that has bloodied Wall Street amid worries about Japan's troubled banking sector, a slowing U.S. economy and earnings warnings from technology giants, could last a while. "It's pretty ugly and it's going to get worse. We had an excess that was unprecedented. It was insane," he added. While some market pundits are predicting a U.S. recession, Siebel said he believes that the recession will spread beyond U.S. borders and last for a while. On Wednesday, the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average slipped below the key 10,000 mark to levels not seen since last October. The index recovered moderately on Thursday. Investors are still unclear about whether the broad market has finally reached bottom now that the Standard & Poor's index of 500 stocks is mired in bear market territory -- down more than 20 percent from its highs. In the last couple years, many traditional companies were swept up in the "e-business phenomenon" as they abandoned their traditional distribution channels and rushed to embrace the Internet, he said. This approach "was a bunch of buck," Siebel said. "The Internet is less important as a stand-alone channel rather than as part of a larger marketing mix." Nevertheless, he said the use of information technology is still growing at a larger rate. Siebel, unlike many other companies in the industry, has not issued an earnings warning so far, and is maintaining its focus, as well as working to hire and retain employees, he said. Oracle Corp. <ORCL.O>, which also offers software to help businesses better managed customer relationships, issued an earnings warning earlier this year and rival Kana Communications <KANA.O> recently laid off employees in February. Siebel's stock fell $2-3/16 to $26-9/16 on Nasdaq at mid-afternoon.