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Technology Stocks : Son of SAN - Storage Networking Technologies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neil S who wrote (403)	2/28/1998 11:25:00 AM
From: J Fieb	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4808

Is Tektronics shopping for FC storage co? Tektronix Eyes Return to Signal Processing Market ------------------------------------------------------------------------ December 1, 1997 Tektronix [TEK] Video and Networking Division is thinking about getting back into the signal processing market now that it is firmly established as a storage and manipulation company. And watch out for Tek to purchase a company tied to the disk storage market as well. Timothy Thorsteinson, newly installed president of the Video and Networking division, said he is "seriously considering" a line of modular encoders, decoders and other signal conversion equipment, which the company can probably make available late next year. "That was traditionally a bedrock business for us, but we gave it away in the early _90s," he said. "I think customers would like to buy these types of products from us, rather than go to another manufacturer." Tektronix could pose serious competition for signal processing providers like Leitch, DPS and Snell & Wilcox, all of which have made fortunes on the conversion of analog video systems to digital. Tektronix clearly has the knowledge base to pursue advanced signal processing gear and will be able to package the devices with its Profile disk recorder, Grass Valley switching products and desktop systems like Lightworks. Thorsteinson also said he intends to make Tektronix the "dominant force" in disk storage. "We plan to make an acquisition in that space," he said, without identifying who he has targeted. Although detailed financial statements for the Video and Networking division are not available, Thorsteinson said the unit has $200 million in cash and no debt. It's no secret that the Video and Network Division has been a weak performer at Tektronix over the past year. The company took a $55 million charge this quarter and cut 250 jobs after posting a 10 percent drop in sales for the first quarter ending Aug. 30. Video and Networking sales in the first quarter were $97.9 million, compared to $109.3 million for the year ago period. Analysts say the company needs to shore up the bottom line before launching new ventures. "The key is getting Grass Valley in shape," said Daniel Kuntsler, an analyst at J.P. Morgan. "They've got to get the number of products down. (Grass Valley) has 1,500 products. They need to get it down to 500." Kuntsler said that once the company is ready to expand, signal processing makes a lot of sense. "The whole switch to digital is where the market will go," he said. A-to-D Woes Thorsteinson admitted that "one of the places we got into trouble" was when Grass Valley made the conversion from analog to digital products. However, he said he will put more resources into Grass's engineering and manufacturing capabilities. The aim is to use Tektronix' Wilsonville, Ore., facility for a limited number of higher-volume products, like the Profile, while Grass Valley will cater to a wider mix of lower-volume systems. Higher profit margins will also be a primary goal. "Expect us to see at least five points of margin gain through the end of this fiscal year," he said, declining to revealwhat the company's margin is now. "In this business, I don't think you can operate on anything less than 50 percent gross margin." Like other pro video manufacturers, Tektronix has been shying away from the "one company fits all" strategy when it comes to designing integrated video facilities. Even though the acquisitions of Grass Valley, Lightworks, NewStar and others has brought a full range of systems under the company's wing, Tek has begun to open up by working on DV-based products with Panasonic. "If you look at the size of the various markets, the chances are small that any one company will have the resources and budget required to have leading products in all areas," he said. "Unless you can figure out how to have a dominant position in core pieces of the market, like videotape, partnering will be a key factor." Product development at Tektronix for the coming year is likely to follow two main themes: HDTV and disk storage. Thorsteinson said a new Profile architecture should be ready by NAB, along with a whole new series of HD gear. The line will include a small router, a production switcher and a master control switcher. (Tektronix, 503/627-7111) Tektronix Eyes Return to Signal Processing Market

To: Neil S who wrote (403)	3/2/1998 12:32:00 AM
From: Douglas Nordgren	Respond to of 4808

Now, if NT Server Scalability weren't an oxymoron, then HP might indeed be straddling a perfect world. (hee-hee). Watch out for that Tree! Douglas

To: Neil S who wrote (403)	3/2/1998 7:53:00 AM
From: Neil S	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4808

NEWS:Network Appliance Readies Fibre Channel Support For Data Server Storage Subsystems SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 2, 1998--Network Appliance, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) announced it will begin shipping its mid-range and high-end data servers with native Fibre Channel storage subsystems. Fibre Channel support will improve storage scalability, reliability and flexibility for customers using NetApp's high-speed data servers. Support for Fiber Channel also will make the NetApp data servers simpler to use because customers in large data centers will no longer have to deal with cabling complexities, or install SCSI host adapters for storage expansion associated with large data server configurations. Fiber Channel support will be offered on NetApp's mid-range F520 and high-end F630 data servers using the open FC-AL (Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop) standard. NetApp is taking orders now for data servers with Fiber Channel support and will ship products beginning on March 23, 1998. List pricing for 9 gigabyte FC-AL drives in carriers is U.S.$2,650. This equates to about 61 cents per megabyte on a complete NetApp F630 data server system with Fibre Channel storage. About Network Appliance Network Appliance develops and markets dedicated network storage servers for UNIX, Windows and the World Wide Web. These appliances deliver fast, simple, reliable and cost-effective access to data stored in the network or across the Internet. The company pioneered the concept of the "network appliance," an extension of the industry trend toward dedicated, specialized products that perform a single function. Network Appliance data servers and NetCache Appliances are based on the company's innovative data access software known as Data ONTAP and standards-compliant hardware. More information is available on the Internet at netapp.com. -0- NetApp, DataONTAP and NetCache are trademarks of Network Appliance, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. CONTACT: Buerger Media & Marketing, Inc. Shannon M. Henderson, (770) 449-1666 shannonh@buerger.com