This is the list that I used to select questions to ask during the meeting. This entire file (minus my italicized comments) was handed to Ron Bishop for them to answer. Note that I considered several questions to be argumentative and didn't ask them during the session. After all, I'm a gentleman and didn't want to disrupt the meeting with negativity.
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Non-posted questions from SI's TED:
1) What languages are supported, and when will additional ones be added? Please include COBOL version numbers. (VS COBOL, COBOL II, COBOL 370?)
They handed out a pamphlet that contains all the supported environments and languages. They support COBOL 74 & 85, but omit 68. PL/I support is due 1Q/98. They support the following files formats: DB2, IDMS, IMS. They support the CICS environment. Note that the IDMS environment isn't supported, so I'm not sure what good the support of IDMS files is. Three more environments are scheduled for 1Q/98 support: Datacomm/Ideal, Focus, and Telon. Easytrieve support is scheduled for 4Q/97 (like, now). Note there are 3 'components' (phases) to their support ... 'estimate', 'catalog', and 'change'. Most languages and environments are supported in all 3 components. They also support various Bull, Hewlet-Packard, Unisys, and Digital stuff. But, I'm an IBM MVS bigot, so don't know what any of that stuff means. (Personal comment: Who cares about those other systems? The real money is in IBM systems.)
2) How do you treat embedded library management commands (Panvalet and Librarian)
This question was answered by the 'techie' person at the front table. I gather he was in charge of the technology. He said their tool handles it all. I asked about Panvalet 'supersets' and 'subsets'. He thought I said 'supertech', which immediately tells me that he's not familiar with the feature. After I asked him specifically if they support 'supersets', he said "yes". That sounded like too pat of an answer to me. Will find out more at the demo.
3) What does CSGI management think of Bemer and Vertex 2000? Also 19T0 technique?
This question brought a chuckle from the front table, and from a couple of people in the audience. Jeff Richards very diplomatically stated that they didn't think it would have much success in the market.
4) What platform does the remediation tool run on? It seems that a LOT of disk space will be needed to perform these multi-million LOC conversions. How much capacity do you have?
Not asked in the meeting. Info that was available on a table prior to the meeting mentioned a Sun workstation. (Personal comment: I'm a staunch supporter of finding, fixing, and testing code where it executes ... on the mainframe. That's the best place to avoid environmental gotcha's that can't be handled on a PC based machine ... like the IDMS data dictionary, preprocessors, etc.)
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SI questions from "Jeffrey S. Mitchell":
1) Does CSGI really consider ALYD to be a competitor, or are certain rogue individuals on SI just using the ALYD thread to hype CSGI for the purpose of monetary and/or ego gratification?
Not asked
2) Does CSGI condone such behavior?
Not asked
3) If CSGI does not condone such behavior, are they doing anything to stop it?
Not asked
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SI questions from "angel":
1) Do they or have they ever paid anyone to hype there stock on the internet. What about Shawn Murphy, Steve Sprunger, etc
Not asked
2) Do they read the SI and do they know all the strange things that people are saying about them.
I didn't ask this specific question, but spoke with Ron Bishop after the meeting. He absolutely reads the thread. He asked who I was, so I told him. He said that he had read my posts. He said he didn't like some of them, but said everybody has their own opinions.
3) How do they compare theire toolset to ZITL
Not asked
4) Who do they see as their main competitor
This question was answered very politically by ducking the question. They're finding out that their primary competitor for funds is the client trying to do the job themselves.
5) Did they ever really apply for a NASDAQ listing
Yes. A letter responding to NASDAQ's questions will go to NASDAQ next week. Then, it's up to NASDAQ. Not much CSGI can do from here.
6) How can a company with no revenues afford to have Investor Realtions, Public Relations and ad agency people working for them
This was actually an interesting subject. They say that nobody knows who CSGI is, so they're beefing up their press and ad campaign. The private $5.1 million 'private placement' they just finished is funding the company's current expenses.
7) Why is the stock price going straight down when they have supposed contracts
The entire market is down. Also, many of the Y2K stocks have retreated 40 or 50 percent or more. Perhaps the investment community is disenchanted with the performance of the sector. Until there are contracts galore, this will likely be the case.
8) Are they 100% US owned or do they really have a financial connection overseas. If so where.
Not asked
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Email questions from "Kevin Watson":
1. Has CSGI management ever knowingly rewarded any party (with cash, stock or other consideration) for promoting the company's stock on the internet, and if so, are they happy with the services rendered?
Not asked
2.Where are the shareholders' yachts?
Not asked
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Email questions from "tech":
1. How much code do you expect to get from AGISS?
This question was handled by Jeff Richards. He said that there are approximately 180 million LOC in the Canadian government. Of that 180 million, some are languages not supported by CSGI. AGISS is one of 3 or 4 approved suppliers (?). If AGISS gets the contracts, then CSGI will get the work. I don't think AGISS is ready to begin work yet, because they are "acquiring a $100,000 Sun workstation". I didn't get any good feel for what that meant to CSGI, so I asked the question again ... how many LOC will CSGI get from the AGISS alliance. The answer was "we don't know".
2. When will Motorola finish testing their code?
This was an interesting story. There are 2 Motorola pilots. One in Scottsdale, AZ and one in Chicago, IL. The one in Scottsdale went like this ....1) delivery of a chunk of code 2) CSGI says 480 files missing 3) MOT supplies the missing files 4) CSGI says 293 files missing 5) MOT supplies the missing files. It took 3 or 4 weeks to get the code to CSGI and ready to convert, then it took 8 days to convert it (approximately 500,000 lines). The code has been turned back to MOT for testing. They weren't prepared to test it because "we surprised them with how fast we converted it". Testing has still not begun. No status was mentioned on the Chicago site. Note that these were free pilots.
3. Why in the Hell is the stock price so low?
Not asked
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SI questions from "tech":
1. When will we see another contract announcement ?
At the close of the meeting, I asked if the comments being made by Ron Bishop about clients not being ready to remediate code, clients not having budgets, and clients doing the work themselves ... does that mean we won't see any more contracts by the end of this year? He said abruptly ... "No".
2. Is CSGI talking to any local or state Gov. re: projects
This question was asked by a guy sitting on the other side of the room. I thought maybe it was 'tech', or maybe Shawn Murphy. The answer was rather vague (Ron: "I have to be careful what I say"), but the implication was that they were in discussions with several organizations.
3. Has CSGI talked with any Banks or other financial institutions
Same as above. Both subjects were handled in the same question.
4. We finished a pilot project with one of our alliance partners for a fortune 50 company in July, when do we expect to see a contract form this.
I'm assuming this was referring to Motorola. CSGI is putting the blame on MOT for moving slowly. No comment on further activity.
5. Are there any other alliances in the works ?
CSGI is talking with other Y2K vendors that provide tools and services to clients who want to do the work themselves. Perhaps some kind of cooperative agreements can be worked out where CSGI can do the conversion piece.
6. How much code does CSGI expect to have in the pipeline in the next 3 months, 6 months, 1 year ?
Not asked
7. Are we working with anyone in the UK they recently reported having to spend in excess of 30 billion on Y2K
Not asked
8. what is you burn rate ? How does that compare to your competition ?
One of Ron Bishop's prepared answers ... about $4 million per year. I didn't ask the 2nd half of the question. He made the comment that it's easy to see how it doesn't take very many contracts for CSGI to become profitable. With the recent private placement, they're "set for a year".
9. How many errors do you expect to have using your automated tool ? How does that compare to the body shops ? how does it compare to your competition ?
Not asked
10. SHOW ME THE MONEY, SHOW ME THE MONEY... WHEN WILL YOU SHOW ME THE MONEY.. i.e. consistent revenues and projects coming in the door ?
Not asked
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More SI questions from "tech":
1. Did Consygen management ever see this quote
"any Year 2000 company which claims automation and has 25 employees obviously has no experience or customers." - Bob Gruder, ALYD CEO link: alydaar.com
Not asked
2. If ConSyGen doesn't consider themselves ALYD's competitor, then does ALYD consider ConSyGen a threat ?
Not asked
3. Why would Bob Gruder make such a remark ?
Not asked
4. What is ConSyGen's reaction to the statement Mr. Gruder made?
Not asked |
