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To: JakeStraw who wrote (9885)	2/5/2002 10:27:32 AM
From: riposte	Respond to of 10934

Valuation JS - totally agreed. I don't know why they're valued so highly. Back when it was in the $6 range, I said I'd think about it in the $5's, which seemed more in line with the "growth" (in quotes, because I don't know if it'll be growing revenues anytime soon...) rate. Every day, I think about when it was $152; I seem to recall noticing that the P/E was around 1005 or so, and I remember thinking - You've held since $11...time to bail...and I didn't. I got out last February, still making a profit, but nothing like what it could have been. Darn. Catch you later, Steve

To: JakeStraw who wrote (9885)	2/6/2002 12:27:16 PM
From: riposte	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10934

Sun CEO sees profit, storage push Sun CEO sees profit, storage push By Reuters February 6, 2002, 4:20 AM PT Network computer maker Sun Microsystems Chief Executive Scott McNealy on Tuesday stood by a commitment to return to profit by midyear and said Sun was about to announce new storage systems. "We are not changing our guidance. We are targeting to go profitable again in the June quarter," he told an investment conference hosted by Goldman Sachs in La Quinta, Calif. Sun gave the same outlook on Jan. 18, when it reported a loss in its fiscal second quarter, ended in December. Its fiscal year ends in June "The good thing about Sun is we took advantage of the bubble," McNealy said, adding that Sun had built up its brand name and a $6 billion cash stockpile over the last few years. A large part of Sun's customer base evaporated with the dot-com downturn. But McNealy said he could not predict Sun's gross profit margin, which is revenue minus cost of goods, as a percentage of sales. "Don't bother asking. I wish I knew. It's really hard," McNealy added. Sun shares ended Tuesday trading down 25 cents, or 2.4 percent, at $10.15 on the Nasdaq. Sun, which opens an analyst conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, will introduce a gamut of new data storage products, McNealy said. The company, known for computers that run corporate networks and the Internet, has been developing a storage strategy for the last couple of years. Last year it struck an alliance with Hitachi Data Systems. "Tomorrow is the next big broadside to those out there in the storage business who think they can provide better storage for the Sun environment than us," McNealy said. He said Sun systems based on Hitachi hardware had been winning business usually taken by storage heavyweight EMC. EMC spokesman Greg Eden said Sun had shifted storage strategies several times. "Sun has opted for the 'promise rather than deliver' approach to storage before," he commented by e-mail. URL: news.com.com

To: JakeStraw who wrote (9885)	2/7/2002 7:41:37 AM
From: riposte	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10934

Sun Rolls Out Products To Fill Storage Gap Story from InformationWeek on Sun's new storage products. Sun Rolls Out Products To Fill Storage Gap Sun Microsystems, under pressure to diversify as competitors challenge its dominance in the Unix server market, Wednesday unveiled hardware, software, and services meant to jump-start storage sales. Sun claims its new products offer a lower total cost of ownership than products from rivals such as EMC, IBM, and Compaq, all of which are ahead of Sun in the $7 billion-a- year global server-storage market, according to the Yankee Group. Driving total cost of ownership is Sun's strategy of offering all the components of a storage system in one package. "It's complete," Sun president and chief operating officer Ed Zander said at a news conference in San Francisco, where the company is meeting with financial analysts this week. "The big message today is complete storage solution." The new hardware includes the Sun StorEdge 3900 and 6900 series for the low- and midrange markets, respectively, and an update of the high-end 9900 series, which Sun guarantees can deliver "100% data availability." Sun execs say the company has already sold 200 of the 9900 servers and will sell 300 more by June. The company also unveiled its next-generation file systems, the Sun StorEdge QFS and SAM-FS software. New features include concurrent server access to the same file, the ability to scale a single file system to 252 terabytes, and enhancements for rapid disaster recovery. Sun also introduced services to help customers install and implement storage systems. In addition, the company disclosed the opening of new Sun storage centers in Singapore, Scotland, and Colorado. Product diversification has become more important to Sun as Wall Street becomes increasingly concerned with the competitive pressure the company is feeling in its core server business. Many analysts believe Sun is being squeezed by IBM in the high-end market, while servers running Linux, an open- source operating system, and Microsoft's Windows are making inroads into the midrange market. In the near term, Sun sees EMC as its biggest competitor in the storage market, but believes it will compete more and more with IBM in providing full storage systems. Said Zander, "Long term, I look at the system vendors." - Antone Gonsalves For more on Sun: Storage Enhancements May Brighten Sun's Prospects update.informationweek.com Sun Reports $431 Million Net Loss update.informationweek.com