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Technology Stocks : Ampex Corporation (AEXCA) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sean who wrote (3750)	11/4/1998 1:17:00 PM
From: Ed Perry	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17679

<< The quality of this board is rather amazing. Keep up the excellent research and posts!!! >> Thanks, we are ourselves pushing the edges of the envelope. I doub't that many "special situations" research boutiques do better than what we do in the aggregate. The only concern I have is the general tendency of a drift to the use of certain fowl language <g>. Paul Lee wrote: <<< For a non-techie-- in a paragrapgh or 2--What does this all mean? >>> A good question and it underscores the difficulty in investing in high technology stocks. I am certain that most technology share holders have no inkling of what they are positioned in. Both Warren Buffet and Peter Lynch warned us about this. The topic at hand is about convergence in computers, communications, television and the Internet. This, in the context of business information, and entertainment multimedia. It is also about consumer choice, business progress, competition, government regulation and monopoly pricing. In sum, it is about most of what is around us and is to be, in a modern sense and is therefore a hugely important topic. From Glenn's post concerning the TELUS multimedia trial: Customers have been asking and in fact demanding that the government (CRTC) allow other options for customers to buy their entertainment, PC and interactive services. It is through competition that customers will gain wider choices and enhanced value for these services. In the market portion of the multimedia trial, TELUS will change the way customers buy cable channels. Never before in Canada have customers had the option of choosing and purchasing only the channels they want to pay for. Other cable service providers and satellite companies require customers to choose pre-determined packages, which contain some channels customers don't use but which they still have to pay for. TELUS is offering customers very basic entry-level service with Canadian and US networks and then the ability to choose which additional channels they add and pay for. TELUS will also offer pre-determined packages that provide excellent value for our customers. From Glenn's BC TELECOM and TELUS merger announcement: "This proposed merger is good news for customers, particularly customers who have business operations or personal ties across the country or around the world," said Don Calder, BC TELECOM president and chief executive officer. "The merged company will provide new high-speed data and Internet services to make businesses more competitive. It will also give consumers faster access to the latest products and services at competitive prices." From Randy's post on the SARNOFF CORP. AND WAVE SYSTEMS: Moreover, EMBASSY is compatible with other content distribution channels, including the Internet, cable television, CD-ROM, or DVD, while also providing the needed end-user content and subscriber management system. Consumers receive the flexibility of paying for information based upon their actual usage, while publishers benefit from significantly reduced marketing and distribution expenses and the ability to reach a much broader base of end-user target markets. A convergence of all network types taking place which will allow the mass media networks to carry digital content and data networks, such as the internet, to carry broadcast and streaming content. This is a major opportunity to enable the broadcasting networks to participate in the emerging electronic commerce world. "We are excited by news of the Sarnoff-Wave agreement. We believe it will accelerate the deployment of Wave's E-commerce system, enabling paid-for data and video services in both analog and digital television markets," remarked Ken Plotkin, Vice President of Marketing for Hauppauge Computer Works, Inc. With regard to Ampex, Inc. in all of this, in any large scale deployment of a networked delivery system, the network's utility will be measured by it's limitations and bottlenecks. Once the pricing model and end-user delivery mode and equipment issues are solved, some of the next critical issues become content and delivery on demand. This is where Ampex capital investments, products and digital and video experience come in to play.Ampex's DST and MicroNet's DataDock 7000 are years ahead of the competion in storage, speed and features. These would be an excellent choice for high end large scale broadcast industry and other such corporate users (I feel like I'm writing ad-copy). As a footnote, I find it interesting the the TELUS test market took place in Canada. It could be circumstance, but it could also be that such an attempt done in the states would have been murdered in the crib. In any event, the entire effort seems to be well thought out including potential ramp-up in "economies of scale and scope". Again from Glenn's post on the merger: "An integral part of this proposed merger is to build upon our longstanding relationship with GTE," said Canfield. "As part of this agreement, GTE will offer access to its global resources including its branding strategies, technology agreements and intellectual property rights. These rights cover new and emerging services as well as support systems such as billing, customer contact and network management. Our relationship with GTE will also allow us, over time, to achieve greater economies of scale and scope." Ed Perry From an earlier post, required reading for tech investors: "Only the Paranoid Survive" Grove and "Guerrilla Investing" Moore. If you don't understand the nuances of this stuff then don't deceive yourself.