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

To: George Dawson who wrote (19133)	11/4/1998 1:57:00 AM
From: Kerry Lee	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29386

Another FC story from Computer Reseller News: techweb.com Following are excerpts: <<Compaq Commits Big To Storage-Area Networks (11/03/98 1:14 p.m. ET) By Joe Wilcox, Computer Reseller News Compaq announced Monday that it will significantly enhance its StorageWorks enterprise backup solution with robust, enterprise-ready Fibre Channel clusters. A key component is the introduction of the Model 35/70 DLT 15 Cartridge Library, which adds Fibre Channel functionality, support for 1 terabyte of storage, and a backup rate of 36 gigabytes per hour. The solution lets VARs configure three libraries together, supported by one Fibre Channel tape controller per library in tabletop or rack-mount fashion. Guy MacKenzie, product manager for StorageWorks Enterprise Backup Solutions, explained that by using Fibre Channel, VARs could set up customer installations for concurrent backups without exhausting network resources. StorageWorks has been working for about two years putting this solution together, he said. Basic components of the storage-area network (SAN) backup solution include a Fibre Channel loop, host adapter, storage hub and tape controller, shared differential tape libraries, and Fibre Channel-enabled backup software. The solution also comes with a software CD and Storage Management Solutions 3, which includes backup software. The 12-port hub limits configurations; for example, 11 servers and one tape library or nine servers and three tape libraries. Compaq will introduce bigger libraries in the first quarter of 1999, company officials said. But the limitations stop there. Because of the bandwidth available separate from the network, concurrent backup is only limited to the number of tape drives. "If I've got six drives, I can be doing six parallel backups," MacKenzie said. Compaq's commitment to SAN backup is crucial to its wide-range acceptance, analysts said. Dataquest, a San Jose, Calif., market-research company, recently surveyed 250 Windows NT users and found three areas dominated their backup strategies: reliability and data integrity, disaster recovery, and online backup. Compaq's SAN backup solution successfully addresses all three areas, said Tom Lahive, senior analyst at Dataquest. "Compaq, by far, has the largest NT server and storage market share right now," Lahive said. "What users are telling us is they need more robust backup strategies. In order to justify online backup, you need the No. 1 market leader providing the full solution. The key with Compaq doing it is it will commoditize the online backup marketplace." Lahive said he expects most major vendors will follow suit within two months. But some aren't waiting that long. Data General's Clariion division announced Monday it had entered into a partnership with 3Com, based in Santa Clara, Calif., to deliver Fibre Channel SANs for NT server environments. >>

To: George Dawson who wrote (19133)	11/4/1998 8:03:00 AM
From: Patrick Sharkey	Respond to of 29386

George, in my experience there is too much ambiguity about the reasons and timing behind adoption of rights plans, and shareholders who should be free to respond to unsolicited offers to purchase stock; a rights plan makes it far more difficult for that solicitation to take place, but often such impediments can be favorable for the company and shareholders in circumstances where the market price does not represent true value. I have never studied the original Ancor rights plan, and I have not studied the modifications made by the recent Board action because, although of mild interest, they are unimportant considerations in my investment decision. One thought: Since we still don't know much about the Inrange transaction, the warrants and other provisions, maybe this is tied to whatever agreement Ancor management made with Inrange and that this is the perceived source of the "takeover" threat at low dollars by which a company would buy public shares and acquire control, with the ultimate result of taking the company private at a favorable price which did not reflect future market value -- if Ancor or Ancor products made it big in the marketplace. Generally speaking, rights plans represent a tension between management, which wants the company to remain independent, and shareholders. The early courtroom battles over such plans (which may have nothing whatsoever to do with the reasons for action by Ancor management) focused on whether it was fair to forestall market activity in favor of management wanting to "entrench" themselves, or to interfere with market forces which would determine what shareholders really thought future prospects. We can all speculate about what the reasons are behind the plans; I certainly don't know and won't know until company management tells us more. In sum, the Ancor rights plan may be a good thing for us as shareholders, or it may not. Pat