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Technology Stocks : Crystal Systems (CRYSF) - AD 2000 Solution IPO -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: joshi who wrote (227)	3/9/1998 6:02:00 PM
From: Jeffery E. Forrest	Respond to of 572

From GLOBES globes.co.il I participated this week in a conference of Israeli software companies, organized by Oppenheimer Investments. The "hot" topic, at this conference as well was the year 2000 conversion problem. "There's plenty of time until '99," said an IBM software engineer forty years ago, but time has run out now, and global experts estimate that at least $600 billion will be required in order to provide a suitable solution to this frightening problem. Without any advance planning, three executives from three different companies opened their remarks at the conference with the following awesome suggestion: On 31.12.99 remain at home. Don't dare take a flight. Don't enter an elevator (the elevator computer will read "00" as "1900" and will cease all activity, since it will regard it as not having been serviced since 1900). Sapiens finance manager said at the conference that civil aviation authorities around the world considered grounding all aircraft on the night of December 31, 1999, but changed their minds when it became evident that there are parking spaces for only a quarter of the planet's existing airplanes. Aryeh Finegold, founder of Mercury, Daisy, and other software companies, took the panic around the world one step further when he proposed that the participants at the conference remain at home "throughout January 2000". Mercury, which has found an excellent niche in automated testing tools for systems recently converted to the year 2000, has recently become a veritable dollar mint, and is constantly closing deals. The company's shares have soared accordingly to an all time record of $36-$38. In a previous lecture by Aryeh Finegold, which I heard in November 1996, the share was trading at $10, and Finegold complained justifiably that Mercury's business endeavours were not understood. Today, everyone understands, and Crystal, Sapiens and ForSoft are also flourishing - each in its own niche in the provision the year 2000 solutions. Crystal Systems' shares have been under uncertain pressure for several weeks already. I believe that once the company exhibits some of its new products in New York next week, we will witness a change of direction. Last Friday, there was particularly large trading on Crystal, which included "bloc" purchases towards the end of trading. This can be regarded as a clue to expected rises in the share this week, with clear reservations as Compaq's announcement is liable to ruin everything. As the clock ticks towards December 31, 1999, panic in the western world is rising, and the size of the problem of the year 2000 conversion is becoming more evident. Crystal is currently in an excellent position to benefit from others' woes. Crystal's software packages will be in huge demand when giant companies find themselves acutely lacking in time and skilled programmers. All this brings me to the decision to increase my investment in Crystal.