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 : Son of SAN - Storage Networking Technologies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: trendmastr who wrote (3074)	4/11/2001 8:07:22 PM
From: J Fieb	Respond to of 4808

TOKYO -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Wednesday that it will enter a joint venture with system integrators TIS Inc. and PFU Ltd. to provide Internet services in Japan. The new entity, to be called Hi-Ho Broadband Systems Inc., will start operations on May 15, Matsushita, Japan's largest consumer-electronics maker, said. Matsushita will take a 51% stake in the joint venture, while TIS, formerly known as Toyo Information Systems Co., and Matsushita affiliate PFU will each hold a 24.5% stake. The company said the move is part of the Internet strategy of its three-year "Value Creation 21" business plan, which Matsushita announced in November. The plan covers the period of April 2001 through March 2004. Focusing on the development of video-transmission systems, Hi-Ho Broadband will back up ePF Network Corp., another joint venture led by Matsushita. The ePF venture, whose partners include Toshiba Corp. and Hitachi Ltd., plans to begin interactive broadcasting and storage-type datacasting through digital television sets. Matsushita said Wednesday that it aims to beef up its e-commerce operations through wide-ranging media, including personal computers, mobile devices and television sets. Matsushita announced a plan in March to slash its total group assets by about one trillion yen ($8.04 billion) over three years in a move to improve its return on investment. Under the plan, Matsushita said it would create four segments: audio-visual and communications networks, home appliances, industrial equipment, and components and devices. At the time, it said those segments would replace the three businesses of consumer products, industrial products and components. In December, in an effort to expand its Internet-related operations, Matsushita formed two wholly owned subsidiaries -- Internet marketing research unit Hi-Ho Marketing Services Inc. and Web-based advertising unit Hi-Ho C&A Inc.

To: trendmastr who wrote (3074)	4/11/2001 8:10:19 PM
From: J Fieb	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4808

Tmaster, It sounds like NTAP did worse than EMC. Here is the DN post that would be worth reading again.... Picking up the Pieces Yesterday, March 7th, Robert Montague of Morgan Keegan adjusted earnings across the board for the SAN sector as a result of doing some homework. Today SSB's H. Clinton Vaughn followed suit, echoing much of Montague's research. Others will likely line up with their "adjustments." SSB report - Message 15467458 TSC article - rd.yahoo.com*http:/... To paraphrase the gist of both reports - the inventory issues that began to surface early in calendar 2001 are more extensive than we previously estimated. SSB says "In our opinion, many of our companies have been executing flawlessly and have great management teams with a huge secular trend ahead. We continue to believe that the trend to network storage is forthcoming and only just beginning to unfold. We note that many of our companies' current pauses are related to macroeconomic conditions, not poor execution. We See These Companies Exiting The Pullback Even Stronger." MOKE says "Longer-term we continue to believe the storage networking theme will be a compelling growth investment, and we will continue to opportunistically focus on names such as QLogic that have strong management teams, strong balance sheets and critical market share. While I agree that the macro conditions certainly have affected inventory levels in the SAN/NAS sector, I hesitate to foist the entire blame for the glut on macro economic shoulders. Even though management may be executing their plans flawlessly, some plans may be fraught with perils and pitfalls of their own making. Both Brocade and NetApp screamed to the top of the charts and cornered market share primarily on their First-Mover advantage and momentum. When you think about it, these are the two horses the early NAS/SAN industry rode in on to garner Wall Street prominance and adulation. Brocade swept the entry-level and midrange workgroup SAN market as NetApp did the same with the NAS market. It seems that the Market presumed that they could extend their dominance further as they moved up into the high-end glass houses. Wait a minute, isn't the high-end already occupied with incumbent and entrenched power? Aye, and therein lies the rub. Both Brocade and NetApp entries into the high-end stalled on longer product sales cycles and data center extensive qualification periods. Also, their current product lines do not adequately service the more stringent high-end market: High Availability and Failover for NTAP, and Interoperability for Brocade. NTAP's product line is being reengineered and repackaged for this market and given that NAS itself is beginning to become more prevalent in glass houses, they should be able to garner market share down the road. In the near term they face stiff competition from incumbents EMC, IBM, HWP and HDS, and a host of startups. They may experience erosion of market share at the entry level and midrange markets while facing a squeeze-out at the high-end. How they will fare in this highly competitive NAS/SAN environment should not be a matter of faith, whether in their success or failure. Brocade's plan is more problematic and requires flawless execution at every step of a multi-phase strategy (TBA in a future post after some more pieces come into my hands). From the outset, Brocade's plan has been to gain SAN market dominance and control of the pace of technological change. Well, they certainly have gained the lion's share of the nascent switch market, but their efforts to dominate and control have led, in part, to their own undoing. Brocade's CEO Greg Reyes often repeats the mantra that at the end-user level, switch Interoperability is a non-issue. That may be true for the entry-level and midrange markets that they sell to, but that is most definitely not the case for the high-end SAN market. Brocade knows this, of course, and is actively promoting their own FC switch as the de facto standard to the standards body. Their problem is that, not wanting other switch vendors to be able to sell into their installed base, they must prolong the standards process until they can bring their next "carrier class" products into the market to compete with McData and InRange who have already paved significant inroads into the markets Brocade covets. Greg Reyes can say to his buddy James Cramer that InRange is a "cockroach" (he also once called Ancor an "ankle-biter") but I think he really means InRange is an "encroacher." In the meantime, Brocade's respun ASIC, upon which their next generation 2-Gig product rests, just came back from fab in late January for pre-production qualification. They are expecting it to be in customer hands sometime in the Fall. The OEM testing and qualification may take up to another six months after that. They will try to push it to market sooner via reseller partners (resellers generally move product faster with less stringent qualification regimens). Meanwhile, 2-Gig product from QLGC is in customer hands undergoing qualification. One could make the argument that the 2-Gig platform has not arrived yet, but you can't have a 2-Gig platform without product to build on. Brocade has had many go-arounds with its OEM customers regarding switch Interoperability. But their interest in preserving their standards based but proprietary switch technology has now extended to one of its partners, Cisco. Brocade was to deliver and standards-based FC E_Port for Cisco's Catalyst blade. But what they have done is given Cisco their own standards based but proprietary E_Port with the rationale that their E_Port is the "predominant standard" based upon over 750,000 FC ports they have already sold. Cisco questions the value proposition of a Catalyst that can connect only to other Brocade SAN islands. Enter iSCSI. The real question on Brocade is whether they can stall standards adoption long enough to extend their first mover advantage into the next phase of SAN deployment. Greg Reyes is fond of portraying Brocade as the "Pioneer" of SAN development, but right now they're looking more like a "Homesteader" clearing land and hunkering down to breed, while Indigenies are gathering in the woods. The SNIA and FCIA industry groups have combined interoperability intitiatives with a resulting HBA standard and are now working towards inter-switch ratification. Brocade is an important and integral participant in the process. Whether their end-users understand that they need it or not, it is clear that their OEM customers are demanding it and pushing towards that Interoperability regardless of whose standard it ends up becoming. If it is not a Brocade-based standard, they stand to lose their first-mover advantage by being saddled with a large installed base that will require upgrading. If it is to be a Brocade-based standard, it needs to be delivered and ratified ASAP before Major SAN Implementations can occur. Anyone who has followed this thread is familiar with the two primary forces that will drive the SAN Industry going forward: Software and Interoperability. Whether Brocade can remain in the driver's seat or becomes another passenger in the car pool remains to be seen. There are other far-reaching developments that are coming into play in the SAN/NAS industry that suggest that some of the companies in the SNAX may become much different companies 3-4 years from now. More on that in due course. Aside from macro conditions, the diligent investor needs to investigate the intrinsic value propositions of these companies going forward. I have my opinions, but think it best, given the radar visibility of this thread, to ask readers to weight the future heavily since past performance is no guarantee of future success. The whole sector is being punished undeservedly IMO as the result of BRCD and NTAP having butted up against the high-end. That SAN/NAS market is just beginning, and it's not clear yet whether BRCD or NTAP can extend their market dominance into that realm. Douglas

To: trendmastr who wrote (3074)	4/12/2001 8:38:11 AM
From: J Fieb	Respond to of 4808

tmaster, HDS will need to make more connection with this... Hitachi Data Systems Aims To Be NAS Player By Joseph F. Kovar, CRN Desert Springs, Calif. 10:14 AM EST Tues., Apr. 10, 2001 Hitachi Data Systems plans to enter the network-attached storage market in the near future. At the Storage Networking World exhibition here this week, Hitachi executives said the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company expects to introduce its first NAS devices in early May. The initial models will not have integrated storage capacity. Instead, they will attach to the company's Thunder 9200 and Lightning 9900 storage arrays in similar fashion to how EMC's Celerra NAS boxes connect to its Symmetrix storage arrays. Later models are expected to include integrated hard drives in the near future, executives said. The NAS boxes will initially come in 1U, 2U, and 6U rack-mount enclosures (1U is 1.75 inches). The 6U model will essentially be the equivalent of four of the 2U models. Hitachi's NAS boxes will be available to the vendor's solution provider channel, company executives said.

To: trendmastr who wrote (3074)	4/13/2001 9:06:22 AM
From: J Fieb	Respond to of 4808

Tmaster, I will track these guys to see where they go... NuTec Sciences Launches European Operation ATLANTA--(BW HealthWire)--March 15, 2001--NuTec Sciences Inc., which recently made international news by announcing its arrangement with IBM to build the world's largest commercial supercomputer at its Life Sciences Division in Atlanta, is now opening an office in Europe -- NuTec Sciences Limited -- to offer its integrated computing services to the life sciences and energy markets. Stephane Labonte was named managing director and charged with the responsibility of growing the business in Europe for NuTec Sciences' two divisions: the Energy Services Division (based in Houston) and Atlanta's Life Sciences Division. ``The expansion of operations into Europe reflects the success of our U.S. business model,'' says Michael Mott, vice president, marketing, NuTec Sciences. ``Our growth is tied to our ability to rapidly commercialize computing solutions from basic research applications secured through partnerships. By leveraging our core competencies in informatics, integrated software and massively parallel supercomputing technology, we are creating highly-specialized products for the marketplace.'' Located in the North of England, near Manchester -- the United Kingdom's second largest business district -- NuTec Sciences Limited looks forward to replicating its parent company's U.S. successes by establishing alliances with government labs and academic institutions in the U.K. ``We are enthusiastic about our first venture outside of the United States. The European market offers an ideal environment to showcase NuTec Sciences' technologies and value-added solutions,'' adds Stephane Labonte. Labonte will now begin building the staff for the European headquarters, and installation of a massively parallel supercomputer is scheduled to begin within the next year. Future plans also include establishment of a London office for NuTec Sciences' Energy Services Division. Labonte's background includes extensive experience in international project management, geophysics and high-performance computing. Most recently, he served as chief geophysicist at Lundin Oil in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Labonte has also held assignments with Shell. He has a bachelor of science degree from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and a master of science degree in geophysics from the University of Calgary, Canada. Founded as a software company in 1995, NuTec Sciences has evolved into a global integrated computing services company that provides innovative solutions -- from desktop software applications to massively parallel supercomputing technology -- to both the energy and the life sciences markets. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact: NuTec Sciences, Houston So the fastest and biggest will move to genomics, they will need storage solutions....Nutec, or companies like them would be good investments? Anybody got any names for us to look at?

To: trendmastr who wrote (3074)	4/15/2001 2:59:31 PM
From: J Fieb	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4808

Re DAFS... Press Releases DAFS Specification Development Effort Moves Into Final Phase—DAFS Collaborative Holds 5th Developer Conference Woodside, CA - April 4, 2001 -- The DAFS Collaborative, an industry group established to specify and promote the Direct Access File System (DAFS) protocol, announced today that it expects to release DAFS Specification Version 1.0 precisely on schedule, in July 2001. The DAFS Collaborative will hold its 5th Developer Conference on April 12, immediately following Storage Networking World 2001. Representatives will be available to discuss the status of this technology initiative at Storage Networking World, April 9-11 in Palm Desert, CA. "Last summer, we set out to create the DAFS protocol Spec, and publish it within a year," said David Dale, co-chair of the DAFS Collaborative and industry evangelist for Network Appliance. "I'm pleased to say we're right on schedule. The Spec is 75% complete. We're closing in on the final feature definitions and folding in requirements from key target applications. We expect to release v1.0 of the Spec in July." The DAFS protocol is a new file access protocol, specifically designed to take advantage of standard memory-to-memory interconnect technologies such as VI (the Virtual Interface Architecture) and InfiniBand in high-performance clustered data center environments. DAFS enables applications to access network interface hardware without operating system intervention, and carry out bulk data transfers directly to or from application buffers with minimal CPU overhead. The result is low-latency, high-performance shared file access between heterogeneous clusters of application servers, database servers and network-attached storage devices, connected via Fibre Channel, Gigabit Ethernet or InfiniBand fabrics. The DAFS Collaborative was formed by Network Appliance, Intel, and other leading systems, storage and networking vendors, with the goal of making the Direct Access File System protocol available to the industry. Today, more than 65 companies are members of the DAFS Collaborative. New members joining in the first quarter of 2001 include Alcita Technologies, Brocade Communications, Congruent Software, Ikadega, Independent Storage, Interphase, inRAID, Mellanox, Oracle, Quest Software, Texas Memory Systems, Voltaire and Xyratex. "Our membership has grown enormously since last summer, and we are enthusiastic about the road ahead. We expect this new file access protocol to deliver significant benefits to developers and users of I/O intensive applications such as e-commerce and database operations," said Werner Glinka, executive director of the DAFS Collaborative. Additional participants are welcome and can join online. For more information visit www.DAFScollaborative.org. A complete list of DAFS Collaborative members follows: Adaptec Agilent Alcita Technologies ATTO Technologies Bakbone Software Inc. Banderacom (ICCS, Inc.) Berg Software Design Broadband Storage, Inc. Brocade Ciprico Cisco CMD Technology Compaq Computer Corp ComVault Systems Congruent Software Earthlink Network, Inc. ECCS Emphora Emulex Eurologic Systems Fujitsu Ltd. Gadzoox Networks Hewlet Packard IBM Ikadega Independent Storage Corp InfoCruiser InRaid Intel Interphase Corp. JNI LSI Log Storage Systems Mellanox MTI Technology NEC Corporation Network Appliance Network Engines Network Storage Solutions Open Source Asia Oracle OTG Software Pirus Networks Procom Technology Qlogic Quest Software Rhapsody Networks San Experts Facility Sangate Systems SanLight Seagate Technology Seek Systems Sendmail SINTESI Solution-Soft Spinnaker Networks Texas Memory Systems Toigo Networks Troika Networks Update Systems VALinux Veltrek Veritas Software Viathan Vieo Inc Voltaire Xyratex Zerowait Corp. Press Contacts: Werner Glinka Executive Director Some big names are not on the list, and some are, but I don't know what that means.