To: sea_biscuit who wrote (24157 ) 9/21/2001 3:54:14 PM From: Andy M. Read Replies (1) | Respond to It's hard to think about LSI's fundamentals at a time like this. The downdraft in the market right now is extremely powerful and that will last and maybe even intensify. Finally, though, you have to start thinking about what the changes in the world will do to LSI. There seem to be two major consequences: fear (of public spaces, travel, taking economic risks) and a desire to be informed, to be connected. These trends mainly play into LSI's strengths because they promote the use of the internet and home entertainment systems. You're afraid to take your family to disney world, so you splurge on a set-top box, a dvd player, another playstation (and still save a ton of dough). You want *everyone* in your family to have a cell phone, so that people can be in instant touch with one another when something happens. You don't want to go to a mall or a bank and so you figure out how to shop or bank over the internet. You don't want to commute to your downtown office tower, you work from home over the net, etc. Any security arrangements are going to involve relying on computers and servers more: databases filled with info about bad guys; a greater need for quick and reliable wireless communications; more info zinging back and forth; more storage to record it. Broadband development might accelerate as people demand better entertainment escapes in their homes. (It's my impression that the entertainment industry had a sort of hey-day during the great depression.) Fear of economic risks might, of course, swamp all these benefits, if companies are too cheap to invest in more computing power, or consumers get too tight-fisted. But, again, entertainment and communication may become even more essential in these times, may be the thing that people want to keep spending on, or will spend more on.
