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Technology Stocks : The New QLogic (ANCR) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Craig Stevenson who wrote (17093)	7/8/1998 10:46:00 PM
From: George Dawson	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 29386

Craig, I agree - especially if Brocade's sales people are selling it like in the release. Public loop is clearly the upgrade. I think the argument against a proprietary mode to access private loops (rather than the standard) is that the larger and more complex address field required for a loop or loops on a switch need to be modified by the new scheme. Apparently all adapter and storage manufacturers have or will be adopting the public loop standard and there will be more products coming out. As I stated in the earlier post today - I am attempting to confirm with some high end storage companies. In the case of Ancor, once again timing is everything. If our hypothesis is correct - the key is surviving to make it into that environment. I wonder if Vixel has a similar proprietary scheme, to run private and public loop on the same SAN. If they do it could contain Brocade's play for a de facto standard, and make it very difficult for the IT guys in the future (2 proprietary technologies on the same SAN). George

To: Craig Stevenson who wrote (17093)	7/9/1998 10:43:00 AM
From: trendmastr	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 29386

<< If the Brocade/STK press release says what I think it does, this could explain some of Ancor's apparent OEM losses. If Brocade has developed some sort of proprietary method of connecting private loop drives to their fabric (that Ancor doesn't support), OEMs with a bunch of private loop drives would favor Brocade's approach, even if it is non-standard. Worse yet, this could create a bandwagon effect for Brocade, making their approach a defacto standard, and leaving Ancor out in the cold.>> Warning: I am very frustrated with this company. If that bothers any of my fellow speculators, please don't read on. Major venting follows Craig: I like your analysis. So what you are saying is that while ANCR was hoisting the "we have the approved industry standard solution" flag, the customers were saluting the Brocade "I don't give a darn whether it's standard or not, it's good enough for me" flag. If that's so then ANCR appears to have fallen on its own sword. The company was remaining "pure" but it would appear that the only ones who really cared about that are the engineers who run it. Is it business 101 that teaches you to listen to the customer? If what you so incisively suggest is true, then the current sorry state of the stock is a byproduct of a flawed strategy and not just inept sales and marketing (btw, what HAS Carla Kennedy been doing?) too expensive per port pricing, geographic undesirability, lack of focus, time frames being pushed out or the air conditioning not working in the offices. I find this extremely troubling. It may be heresy to criticize Cal Nelson here (I know he's supposed to be a nice guy, that's not the issue) but it would seem that both he and Mr. Hendricksen have erred and erred mightily. The screen of the nda's has allowed this apparent blunder to go undetected and leave all us "not in the know" shareholders guessing as to what's going on, while our investments have been "downsized." Nelson and Hendricksen have been around long enough, THEY are now accountable.With each passing day, the cash in the coffers dwindles (and no one here expects much out of 2nd or 3rd quarter) and the old "going concern" monster raises its ugly head. As several have said, the upcoming cc looks like a make or break situation. Mssrs. Nelson and Hendricksen should be out pleading, on bent knee if necessary, with some of the nda customers (if there are any real customers) to allow the company to make at least one real announcement of substance (as opposed to the Steve O'Hara variety) during the cc. Take along Monty Hall to help you, Ken and Cal. Cut the price per port, give them an introductory 2 for the price of 1 special, settle for break even, promise them that they never have to go to Minnesota in the dead of winter, whatever, do SOMETHING to generate some news that at least gives the illusion that things are turning around. The ballpark that you want to play in may still be under construction, but your game started quite a while ago and you've used up most of your bench just to get to this point. tm