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Technology Stocks : TAVA Research - No Discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: C.K. Houston who wrote (64)	8/30/1997 5:47:00 PM
From: C.K. Houston	Respond to of 810

TPRO COMPETITION PlantY2K One(TM) is a full service offering that includes impact assessment, analysis, code conversion, implementation and testing. According to Jenkins, ``Most plant floor systems are complex combinations of hardware and software from a variety of vendors. We have found that many of these components have some sort of compliance issue." ... He added, ``We believe this to be a very large opportunity for our organization; as far as we can tell, we are the only organization that has developed a solution specifically designed for the plant floor.'' _________________________________________________________________________ *Fluor Daniels has NO software; may* actually team up with Topro in offering solutions. Same with Raytheon. Scott Lyolis (Pacific Consulting Group: TPRO's Investor/Public Relations firm) via Steve Child's 8/26 phone conversation. techstocks.com ....................................................................... From: Karl Drobnic (Publisher "Venture Returns") Jul 15 Reply #30 For the factory floor Y2K problem, TPRO has no significant competition. Allen Bradley, for example, will fix the problem for their regular clients, but not for those who have cobbled together systems from various hardware and software vendors. TPRO's advantage is the data base map of the factory floor software and hardware they've assembled over the years. That's why TPRO thinks they can license their proprietary solution to companies like Rockwell and Square D. Nobody else has a factory floor database as wide and deep as TPRO. If you're not wide and deep, you'll miss the mission critical problems that are lurking in the little nooks and crannies. TPRO's in first place, nobody's in 2nd place on this one (according to the CEO). ....................................................................... GENERAL COMPETITIVE INFORMATION "Unisys is evidently doing some of the same factory floor remediation as TOPRO, but as a corrolary to the information systems remediation work it's doing, and is having the worked perfomed by small engineering firms that it subcontracts with for particular contracts. I view this information as confirmation of the validity, value and need for the services that TOPRO is offering in the Y2K arena, not as undercutting them in any way." exchange2000.com ....................................................................... The most notable new entrants (of larger companies) into the (generel, not Y2K) system integration market include Honeywell Industrial Automation and Control and USDATA. Mergers have also accounted for some of the increased revenue figures. Since August of 1995, TOPRO Systems Integration has acquired Advanced Control Technology, Vision Engineering, and MDCS to form one of the largest automation engineering firms in the country. manufacturing.net Control Engineering Magazine ....................................................................... INTEGRATORS: A GROWING INDUSTRY The total market for independent control system integrators in the US is estimated at $1.3 to $1.6 billion dollars per year and is growing rapidly. The driving forces behind this growth are: continued down-sizing of corporate engineering staffs, rapidly changing and increasingly sophisticated technology; and user desire for independent expertise and turnkey responsibility. Control System Integrators Association (Trade Association)** controlsys.org./ CSIA has 120+ member companies with yearly sales from $500,000 to $50 million. TPRO is a member. I think it's safe to assume that all of the larger system integrators are members, so you can see by the numbers that competition is very limited. ....................................................................... FYI - While there are approx 800 systems integration companies in the US, most are "mom & pop" operations. A very small percentage has annual sales >$10mm. Cheryl

To: C.K. Houston who wrote (64)	5/17/1998 11:56:00 AM
From: CYBERKEN	Respond to of 810

CK: From your link: <<"People in plants are driven by operational metrics -- it's very hard to break out of that mindset," Owen claims. "Mandates are fine, but unless the company says, 'this situation will be fixed, here are the metrics you must meet, and here's how you will be monitored,' it's difficult to get the attention of plant management." He maintains that it's also difficult for companies to cross the bridge from mandates to metrics; meanwhile, the emphasis on "here and now" production requirements explains why it is so hard for plant management to focus on a software problem many view as over two years away.>> This explains the need to be very patient waiting for any TAVA earnings surprises. Going through this thread since December, I still can't help but get the feeling that there is a major PANIC coming among manufacturers world-wide, and that this coming phenomenon is much more crucial to an investment decision in TAVA than any traditional analysis of the quarterly numbers.