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Technology Stocks : 3Com Corporation (COMS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: joe who wrote (24003)	11/4/1998 10:25:00 AM
From: DownSouth	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 45548

>My understanding is that COMS goes through the channel, and has just about the best channel distribution in the biz. I just don't believe that the market for the new storage product line is ready for channel sales. Channel sales require a movement of the product to a commodity, rather than a head to head competitive environment. (I could be wrong. Perhaps the network attached storage market is there, but NTAP and EMC are growing as a result of strong, motivated direct sales forces.) >I'd like to hear more about how COMS sales reps are demoralized. Are you talking about the ones involved in network storage, or all of their sales reps? I am talking about the non-consumer product network guys and gals. They have been hitting their head against the CSCO wall for a long time. Their stock options are not "in the money" and their management is confused as the USRobotics and COMS cultures clash. Now the rumors of an acquisition... There is one more issue to discuss. Margins. The biggest component of network attached storage sales is disk drives, where the margins are pathetic. What proprietary component from COMS will produce good margins in this market?