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Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: D.J.Smyth who wrote (168869)	2/19/2002 7:09:25 PM
From: kaka	Respond to of 176387

Moooooooooooo Gateway CEO says sales exceed usual seasonal trend By Deena Beasley LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif., Feb 19 (Reuters) - Recent sales at personal computer maker Gateway Inc. <GTW.N> are outperforming normal seasonal trends so far this year, Chief Executive Ted Waitt said on Tuesday. Speaking at an investor conference here, Waitt said computer sales usually fall 10 percent in the first quarter from the fourth quarter, which is buoyed by holiday shopping. "On a weekly and daily basis we are now outperforming the typical seasonality trend," Waitt said. He cited Gateway's recent move to become the "value leader" in the PC market as well as its sponsorship of the Olympics and attendant advertising campaign for the uptick. "We are seeing an increase in store traffic, an increase in phone calls, more Web traffic and more conversions (sales)," Waitt said. He declined to comment on specific sales figures or rates, but said the increase is seen across a broad distribution of Gateway products. The Poway, California-based company saw its share price slump 22 percent after it warned early last month that fourth-quarter sales lagged behind expectations. "We made a decision to be profitable in the fourth quarter. To do that we increased margins and the top line shrunk," Waitt said. Gateway, the No. 2 U.S. direct PC seller, has since decided to increase market share even at the expense of a few quarters of losses. "We are focused on growth. We weren't last year," Waitt said, noting that he does not expect further cuts in the company's current headcount of 12,000. The CEO said Gateway is looking to expand its product offerings to include more digital solutions, which means services and digital devices such as music players and cameras. "Typically these are sold as add-ons to a PC. We are looking at expanding the line-up and selling them separately," Waitt said. The CEO said he expects the U.S. economy to "continuously get better" through the year, but does not anticipate significant growth. "We want to exceed that growth. If the market comes back, we will come back faster," he said. Waitt said he is "not afraid" of competitors such as Dell Computer Corp. <DELL.O>. "It's not like it's a price war between us and Dell. We are beating them at every price point now for consumer PCs," he said. He was also unfazed by the implications of Hewlett-Packard Co.'s <HWP.N> plans to acquire Compaq Computer Corp. <CPQ.N>, which have yet to be endorsed by shareholders. "Either way a lot of market share is up for grabs," the Gateway CEO said. As to the likelihood of Gateway being acquired, Waitt said that with its share price now trading near the company's book value "we are not really interested, it wouldn't be in the best interest of shareholders." Gateway's shares fell 12 cents to close at $4.98 on the New York Stock Exchange.

To: D.J.Smyth who wrote (168869)	2/19/2002 7:13:36 PM
From: kaka	Respond to of 176387

Dell pumps up low-end Intel servers By Stephen Shankland Staff Writer, CNET News.com February 19, 2002, 2:40 PM PT Dell Computer introduced two new servers Tuesday that bring higher-end features to the lower-end segment of the market. The company's new two-processor systems are far less powerful than servers containing anywhere from four to 72 processors, but the new computers share some similar capabilities. One of the new systems, for instance, comes with Intel chips that feature hyper-threading, a new technology that uses the chip's internal computing elements more efficiently. Hyper-threading can boost performance on certain applications by 20 percent or more. Intel will officially launch its chip, the "Prestonia" version of the Xeon processor, at the Intel Developer Forum next week. Higher-end Intel servers such as IBM's Summit have been improving gradually, with better thermal engineering and drives that can be switched without shutting the system down, but many features have been reserved for expensive multiprocessor systems. Lower-end machines didn't stray as far from their roots as ordinary desktop computers. The more expensive of Dell's new models is the PowerEdge 4600, an early arrival in a wave of servers that will employ the Prestonia. The 4600 also uses Grand Champion HE from Broadcom subsidiary ServerWorks. The chip will bring to the mainstream market the long-awaited PCI-X system for plugging in high-speed network cards and other devices. Intel will highlight the 4600 at its developer show next week, said Russ Ray, product marketing manager for Dell's server line. "In our estimation, it'll be the only product shipping at that time" with the Prestonia processor, he added. "We expect a good two- to three-month competitive advantage." The Prestonia version of Xeon is the first arrival of the Pentium 4 processor technology into the server chip line. Until now, Xeons for servers have been based around the design for the Pentium III. Intel also is preparing a more expensive version, code-named Foster MP, that can be used in four-processor servers. The second of Dell's new system, the thin, rack-mountable PowerEdge 1650, just uses Pentium III chips, but it squeezes them into an enclosure about the size of a pizza box. It improves over its predecessor, the 1550, by adding faster processors, a faster memory subsystem, power supplies and fans that can be replaced without having to shut down the system. It will also offer a management card option--an important feature for rack-mounted servers that often are administered from a central console. These "hot-plug" fans and power supplies are aimed at demanding customers that want better assurances that computing services won't be interrupted by hardware failures or other problems. The 1650 has a starting price of $1,699, a typical price of $5,964, and a high-end price $13,958. The 4600 starts at $3,499, with a mid-range model costing $8,716 and a high-end machine costing $23,168. Dell is locked in a struggle with No. 1 Compaq Computer to gain top placement in the Intel server market. IBM is concentrating on bringing higher-end features to Intel servers, while Hewlett-Packard is struggling with its Intel server business. These competitors, however, also have higher-end Unix server lines that can meet customer needs left unmet by today's Intel servers.