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Non-Tech : Any info about Iomega (IOM)? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (34850)	11/8/1997 8:32:00 AM
From: Francis Muir	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 58324

* OT ETRADE * The CEO of ETRADE has sent this message to his customers: November 3, 1997 A Letter from Christos to Our Customers Dear ETRADE Customer, Because you were on the front lines last week, you witnessed first hand an extraordinary market event. For both investors and the securities industry alike, last Monday and Tuesday presented enormous challenges and gave new meaning to the terms market volatility and market volume. Although many things worked well, some didn't. It was a real-time learning experience for everyone. For ETRADE, the week drove home important insights and critical lessons we'd like to share directly with you. An Extraordinary Event On Wall Street, where market predictions are its daily lifeblood, not even the most seasoned analyst could have predicted what happened. In one 48 hour period, both the biggest one-day price drop and the biggest one-day gain happened on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. And, for the first time ever, the NYSE used its circuit breakers, not once, but twice in the same day, to slow trading, and then to shut down the market altogether. This had an enormous, and unexpected, impact on how customers reacted to the market. Whereas on Monday we experienced a steady, but incredible, volume throughout the day, on Tuesday the experience was altogether different. At market open on Tuesday, we, like others, experienced a simultaneous avalanche of pent-up trades, confirmations, requests for information and record new trading volumes and demand. Equally as important, online investors acted far differently under these market conditions -- logging on more frequently and staying on far longer than previous usage patterns would suggest. The Impact Although record numbers of you were able to execute record numbers of trades both days through ETRADE's all-electronic system, some of you were not able to conduct your business because of the unprecedented demand for access. At ETRADE we were as frustrated as our customers, particularly since our entire team had worked around the clock working for you, in preparation for what we knew would be a very active market. Regardless of the cause of your frustration (including those beyond our control), we offer no excuses. We accept our responsibility and apologize for any difficulties you may have encountered. Lessons Learned This extraordinary experience validated that online investing, although not perfect, is an important and efficient new channel for investors under any market condition. However, new challenges became apparent due to the unprecedented market volatility which appears to be becoming more commonplace. As a result, we are aggressively multiplying our efforts to enhance our overall systems. As a technological leader in online investing, we currently spend about $50-plus million annually to enhance and refine our systems. After reviewing last week's activity, we are substantially increasing our financial commitment to more rapidly expand our system access, capacity and performance. We are also immediately revising our customer behavior models to incorporate the new patterns of activity that we witnessed last week. Without minimizing the issues you faced, we hope you will not lose sight of how well online investing actually functioned as an emerging industry in the face of last week's record volume and demand. We know as the brand leader that we are more visible and therefore held to a higher standard. We heard your frustrations. We are committed to providing you with the best possible online investing experience. All of us at ETRADE thank you for your understanding and patience in the face of this unprecedented challenge. Sincerely, Christos M. Cotsakos, President, CEO and Shareholder on behalf of all ETRADE associates FIDO