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

To: PCSS who wrote (94977)	1/29/2002 12:26:52 PM
From: Elwood P. Dowd	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 97611

Merrill Goes Lukewarm on Hardware By Diane Hess Staff Reporter 01/29/2002 12:19 PM EST A bearish note on enterprise hardware stocks has the group under pressure at midday. After the closing bell Monday, Merrill Lynch assumed coverage of enterprise hardware stocks EMC (EMC:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis), Hewlett-Packard (HWP:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis), IBM (IBM:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis), NCR (NCR:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis), Sun Microsystems (SUNW:Nasdaq - news - commentary - research - analysis) and Unisys (UIS:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis), with intermediate-term neutral ratings on each of them, except for H-P, to which it gave a buy. Long-term, Merrill allotted buys to all of the stocks, except for Sun Microsystems. In a lukewarm research report, Merrill's tech strategist, Steve Milunovich, suggested the group's woes weren't over, saying "current demand for enterprise hardware still appears weak." The sector's troubles have been well documented. Following Y2K and the Internet boom, users had a huge excess of server capacity. As a result, most businesses didn't invest much in equipment in 2001. "Even storage sales fell 15% last year," Milunovich said in his note. But he added: "The Internet build-out should eventually resume, and we hope to get more positive later in the year." In the meantime, Milunovich indicates the group could see further erosion in gross margins. "Enterprise hardware is one of the most cyclical and mature segments of technology," he said. "The sector's growth and margins are in gradual decline as hardware becomes commoditized." Nevertheless, Milunovich touted EMC for "pursuing another wave of growth with storage management software." In 2002, he said, "consolidation will be an important theme, with H-P planning to merge with Compaq (CPQ:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis) and NCR and Unisys potential acquisition or breakup candidates." He noted that "IBM has reasserted its leadership," but he said, "Sun Microsystems faces significant challenges. Lately, EMC was down 4.2% to $16.38, H-P was off 2.5% to $21.51, IBM was lower 2.8% to $105.19, NCR was behind 1.6% to $41.37, Sun was losing 3.2% to $10.77, and Unisys was falling 1.3% to $12.41.

To: PCSS who wrote (94977)	1/29/2002 12:29:41 PM
From: Elwood P. Dowd	Respond to of 97611

IBM Names Palmisano as New CEO NEW YORK (Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM - news) on Tuesday named Samuel Palmisano chief executive officer effective March 1 to replace to Louis Gerstner. Gerstner, whose contract expires on March 1 when he turns 60, will remain chairman through 2002. He is widely credited with turning the computer maker around in the 1990s. Palmisano has been expected to follow in Gerstner's footsteps since Palmisano was named president and chief operating officer in mid 2002. He retains his president title, IBM said. IBM shares were off 4 percent, or $4.36 at $103.79 in midday New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites) trading.

To: PCSS who wrote (94977)	1/29/2002 12:42:20 PM
From: Elwood P. Dowd	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

Compaq takes on EMC by: skeptically 01/29/02 12:38 pm Msg: 271180 of 271180 213.219.40.69 Compaq takes on EMC Leakware By Mike Magee, 29/01/2002 10:55:08 BST A DOCUMENT SEEN by the INQUIRER shows how Compaq positions its Data Replication Manager (DRM) against EMC's Symmetric Remote Data Facility (SRDF). The products let IT managers remotely copy data in case of catastrophes or for other reasons. These sort of documents are used internally within Compaq to sell against competitors. µ * IN OTHER NEWS, Compaq finally launched its "Blades" technology which uses ultra low power Pentium III chips to provide pizza-style boxes for telecoms and large corporations. Data Replication Manager Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths SAN-based architecture; data replication is preformed at the storage system level, and in the background to any host activity New support for three FCIP vendors, CNT, SANcastle and SAN Valley Supports copying over Fibre Channel, Wave Division Multiplexing (WDM), ATM with line speeds of T1/E1 through OC3. Supports Fibre Channel distances up to 100 km with Very Long Distance GBIC Unlimited distances over ATM and IP Supports both synchronous and asynchronous data transfer Supports Windows 2000/NT, Solaris, AIX, Tru64 UNIX, OpenVMS, HP-UX and Netware platforms. Microsoft cluster and stretched cluster support, up to 100 km (fibre or ATM) between clusters Heterogeneous SAN support for multiple operating systems across shared controllers Batch script examples and best practices for failover/failback procedures Multi-path support with SANworks Secure Path provides no single point of failure and load balancing Qualified by Oracle Storage Compatibility Program in the area of remote mirroring in both synchronous and asynchronous modes Support for cloning at initiator and target sites, and snapshot at target site Recovery from link failures with Write History Logging and MiniMerge which guarantees "write order operation" Easy to configure: customer can configure it, or Compaq Services can do it. Lower cost solution compared to EMC SRDF Weaknesses Manual failover procedures Bi-directional DRM requires separate controllers Limited number of LUNs can used as copy sets, twelve RCS per controller pair Command line interface, no GUI SRDF Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths ...con't at link................... Ignore this User \| Report Abuse

To: PCSS who wrote (94977)	1/29/2002 11:46:40 PM
From: Elwood P. Dowd	Respond to of 97611

Merged HP, Compaq would aim for PC profit in 2003 SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 29 (Reuters) - The personal computer business of a merged Hewlett-Packard Co.(NYSE:HWP - news) and Compaq Computer Corp.(NYSE:CPQ - news) would be profitable next year, Compaq's chief executive, Michael Capellas told key analysts on Tuesday. Capellas made the forecast in a meeting with Institutional Shareholder Services, a company which advises fund managers how to vote in proxy battles and whose support would sharply raise the chances for the $22.4 billion deal to be approved. Compaq filed a copy of Capellas's slide presentation with regulators. Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Carly Fiorina met with the firm, known as ISS, on Jan. 24. The potential merger partners say that combining their personal computer operations -- making the largest global PC producer -- would give them scale to cut costs and improve profitability. Both companies are losing money in their respective units at present. HP has not set a target date for profit, while Compaq expects to make money by the third quarter of this year. One slide in Capellas's presentation said their merger would ``enable the combined PC business to achieve positive operating margins in 2003''.