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

To: DownSouth who wrote (24006)	11/4/1998 11:34:00 AM
From: joe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 45548

>>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.<< My understanding is that channel sales are not only for commodities, but for highly sophisticated hardware which the customer needs help with, and for companies that just can't/don't want have a continuously large sales force. >>(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 would think that the reason COMS is selling the storage devices is to add value to end-to-end solutions. These are products that have been requested by customers. The fact that COMS can offer a "full solution" is one of its great strengths. >>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...<< How current is your info? COMS is turning the corner. From what I've heard, the USRobotics and COMS sales coordination has made large improvement and keeps getting better. >>There is one more issue to discuss. Margins. The biggest component of network attached storage sales is disk drives, where the margins are pathetic.<< Another reason, why COMS would have an advantage selling these products in a "full solution". If margins are that low, then it's harder to make $$ selling individual units. >>What proprietary component from COMS will produce good margins in this market?<< If you're talking about other COMS products, there are a lot. Look into it and you will find out. You'll also find out that COMS is efficiently reducing costs...another great way to raise margins.

To: DownSouth who wrote (24006)	11/4/1998 11:47:00 AM
From: joe	Respond to of 45548

Just got this info on Storage Network Products. This may turn out to be a big thing! _______EMC Unveils Two Storage Network Products_______ EMC Corp. introduced two products yesterday as part of its plan to deliver enterprise storage networks. The first, EMC Volume Logix, is security software that ensures secure disk access in a shared storage environment. Only authorized servers and users will have access to data in a network--an industry first, the company says. "It's fundamental to the effective and secure delivery of data," says Jim Rothnie, senior VP and chief marketing technical officer at EMC. Pricing for Volume Logix ranges from $15,000 to $35,000. The second product, a new version of EMC's Fibre Channel hub, connects to Windows NT systems and lets users consolidate data in those systems. Companies often scatter NT data across several servers, rather than store it in a single repository, EMC executives say. The new Fibre Channel hub capabilities connect storage systems to NT systems from Compaq, Dell Computer, Hewlett-Packard, and Siemens. Pricing starts at $35,000. -- Jennifer Zaino