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Technology Stocks : Santa Cruz Operation (SCOC) Going Up? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lou who wrote (265)	3/12/1998 10:25:00 PM
From: Lou	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 656

Good article about SCOC from Inv. Bus Dyl. sent by reposter. What I was trying to say yesterday, was that if Addi is who I think he is, I hope he stays around with a message now and then. The Addi that I am thinking of has a good insight. Here is a post sent to me. Sco got a pop. I believe that the news in today's ibd is responsible. Great volume.If scoc is now competing with the big boys and have partnerships and products to back it up, how high can this stock go? ************************************************** News is copied from ibd internet site: [Investor's Business Daily] Despite commanding 80% of the market for Unix operating systems that run on Intel chips, Santa Cruz Operation Inc. has remained mostly a little- knowncompany nestled near the ocean in Santa Cruz, Calif. But tiny SCO moved into the spotlight this week when it introduced a new operating system for servers called UnixWare 7, industry observers say. The system is expected to help SCO and its partners take on Microsoft Corp.'s fast-growing NT operating system as well as higher- end rivals. The occasion is momentous enough to prompt key hardware makers that market their own brand of Unix - including giants Compaq Computer Corp. and IBM Corp. - to sell UnixWare 7 with their servers. Servers are large central computers that connect a number of desktop PCs. Conceding that there is a movement toward UnixWare, rivals have agreed to invest in future improvements of the system. The trade-off is that they will share system revenue with SCO. ''The reason why we think it's important to be on UnixWare is because we see SCO as one of the leaders in Unix systems,'' said Bob Madey, product manager of IBM's networked communications server operation. ''We want to be part of that market. If customers like UnixWare, we're going to support it.'' SCO already is making its mark in a niche between the lower-end NT and the higher-end systems of Hewlett-Packard Co. and Sun Microsystems Inc. Sales of a previous UnixWare version, called 2.1, grew 45.7% in '97 from '96, says International Data Corp. in Framingham, Mass. That's faster than any Unix operating system. ''It's the thing that interests me most about the product,'' Madey said. UnixWare 7 enables SCO software to run crucial business programs for some Fortune 500 companies. SCO hopes to compete head-to-head with Sun's Solaris and HP's Unix as it upgrades UnixWare in sync with hardware advances. SCO plans to have UnixWare ready to compete full bore against Sun and HP as an alternative system in high-end servers by the end of '99. That's when Intel is expected to introduce Merced - designed to be a powerful family of next-generation chips. ''We have NT's (easy-to-use) system advantages, with Sun's Unix capabilities,'' said Ray Anderson, SCO's marketing vice president. But one industry watcher begs to differ. IDC analyst Jean Bozman says that while UnixWare packs more punch than NT, the new SCO system runs applications slower than Sun's and HP's newest systems do. SCO does hold a 20%-to-40% advantage over most Unix competitors in price, Bozman says. The revamped UnixWare is capable of running servers for small to medium-sized businesses on Intel chips - the same chips Microsoft NT servers use. That means the cost of an SCO-run system is similar to an NT system, although it is considered to be more robust. Systems running Intel chips are generally less expensive than ones from large Unix hardware vendors that use their own chips, Bozman says. ''It's a Unix for commodity systems,'' Bozman said. SCO's latest system borrows some features from its popular OpenServer software, says the company's Anderson. OpenServer is geared toward small businesses and departments that need easy-to-use equipment, he says. UnixWare 7 also borrows elements from older versions of UnixWare, which SCO acquired from Novell in '95. The new version is more reliable, faster and makes it easier for customers to add hardware than the old UnixWare, according to Anderson. SCO has been making Unix operating systems since '79. The company doesn't sell any computer hardware; it leaves that to its partners. Other hardware makers selling UnixWare 7 include Unisys Corp., Fujitsu Ltd. and Data General Corp. Data General will use UnixWare 7 as its only bridge to Merced, says Linda Mentzer, vice president of Data General's Unix business unit. Data General could have adapted its own software to work with Merced, but chose to partner with SCO instead. ''SCO has worked with Intel for years,'' Mentzer said. Unix hardware companies are turning to UnixWare 7 in part because of the strong growth of Windows NT, according to Mentzer. Many can't afford to pourmillions into developing their own operating systems -including Data General. Mentzer credits the new SCO operating system with allowing many Unix hardware makers to better compete in the rough-and-tumble server hardware business. 'The alternative to Unix is NT,'' Mentzer said. ''If you have a very fragmented marketplace, (hardware makers) have a very difficult time keeping Unix offerings on par with NT offerings.'' Analysts say SCO now has a path for the future. And the company has been marketing its operating systems aggressively - something SCO failed to do before, according to some industry observers. It's one reason such heavy hitters as Compaq and IBM have rallied behind SCO. ''We're riding on Goliath's head - and Goliath is Compaq and IBM,'' Anderson said. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Copyright (c) 1998 Investors Business Daily, All rights reserved. Investor's Business Daily - Computers & Technology (03/12/98) Tiny SCO Finding Limelight With Midrange Unix System By Michael Tarsala