Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (83973)	12/6/1998 8:30:00 PM
From: VICTORIA GATE, MD	Respond to of 176387

December 07, 1998, Issue: 1138 Section: Online @ EBN -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Intel's e-commerce takes off -- Web site generating sales of $1 billion in first month Mitch Wagner Special from InternetWeek- Talk about speed to market. Intel has disclosed that sales on its e-commerce site went from zero to $1 billion per month-all in the first month of operation. The site, a self-service procurement extranet that gives buyers custom catalogs and feedback on product availability, is an anomaly when compared with other industrial trading sites. Even the most influential suppliers tend to start small and slowly push for adoption up and down their value chains. But when Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel launched the site in July, the chip giant was determined to move business online instantly. "If we wanted to learn a new way of doing business, we had to start something big," said Sandra Morris, Intel's director of Internet marketing and e-commerce. "If we started small, people would say, 'That's nice, but does it have any application in the long term?' " The extranet, which Intel calls the E-Business Program, is focused on procurement and customer support for a range of products, including microprocessors, motherboards, embedded chips, chipsets, and flash memory. It reaches 200 small and midsize customers worldwide. The customers enter orders manually using browsers. Intel specifically targeted those customers because they had communicated with Intel largely via phone and fax, whereas larger companies typically connect to Intel via EDI networks. The site does not offer an automated way to funnel data into customers' business applications, although it is integrated with Intel's own back office. The extranet is designed to support existing accounts rather than attract new business. Intel officials said they will begin measuring cost savings next year, adding that the company has been able to eliminate 45,000 faxes per quarter to Taiwan alone. Middlemen that distribute Intel components say they are not threatened by the e-commerce push. Earle Zucht, senior vice president for semiconductor marketing at Wyle Electronics Inc., Irvine, Calif., said his company still offers value in selling smaller quantities. "I don't think Intel's strategy is to touch 100,000 customers a day," Zucht said. "Someone has to stock and sell by ones and twos; someone has to pull them and pack them the way the customer asks for them." Since July, Intel has sustained an average of $1 billion in monthly revenue. That rate instantly propelled the company to the top spot among IT e-commerce sites, with Cisco doing about $400 million per month and Dell $300 million per month. But it may be misleading to compare the sites because the vendors offer different functionality and, therefore, different benefits. Morris said Intel feared a gradual approach to e-commerce would drag out the process of integrating the site with the company's back-end ordering and fulfillment systems. A rapid ramp-up also forced Intel to engage customers about their needs sooner than might have happened with a more drawn-out implementation, she said. Placing orders is only part of what Intel offers. The site also features self-service order tracking, as well as a library of product documentation and road- maps that replaces the work of customer-service reps who previously sent information manually to customers. Intel said it hopes to expand the Web site with additional products and partners in the future. "One of the things we have to do is deploy more broadly," Morris said, adding that having to support both the manual and Web-based systems simultaneously is a drain on resources. However, customers will not be forced to use the E-Business Program, Intel said, adding that the system has encountered no resistance. "We would not be allowed to turn this off now," Morris said. "The customers are using it on a consistent basis, and they're really liking it." -InternetWeek is a sister publication of EBN. --- Advantages Of Intel's E-Business Extranet : - Has enabled Intel to eliminate 45,000 faxes per quarter to Taiwan alone - Offers self-service order tracking - Includes a library of product documentation and roadmaps Copyright ® 1998 CMP Media Inc.

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (83973)	12/6/1998 8:31:00 PM
From: VICTORIA GATE, MD	Respond to of 176387

December 07, 1998, Issue: 1426 Section: Small Business -- Competing Against Direct -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Compaq Throws SMBs A Direct Initiative -- Channel Vendor's new plan poses challenge for small and midsize Business VARs David Myron, Small Business Editor After more than a year of industry confusion regarding Compaq Computer Corp.'s interest in selling direct, the company delivered its first direct initiative earlier this month. And, as we have covered recently, it is a game plan specifically aimed at the small and midsize business (SMB) market. Although the plan has the power of ink behind it, VARs remain unsure what it will mean to their businesses. Should resellers be concerned that Compaq is abandoning the channel? Perhaps this latest development has arisen out of the failure of channel assembly at Compaq. Many staunch channel assembly supporters at the company are ruefully shaking their heads at the painful discovery that channel assembly, once considered the plan to beat Dell Computer Corp., is in dire straits. The latest announcement indicates that the final nail in the channel assembly coffin has been hammered in-at Compaq, anyway. Instead of working with distributors to improve channel assembly, originally designed to decrease the frequency that a box is opened for configuration, Compaq has taken to the adage, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." The direct initiative is expected to generate a sizable chunk of Compaq's overall revenue-nearly 20 percent. That drops the company's channel-based revenue down to approximately 80 percent, a substantial fall from the 98 percent mark last year. Those percentages are helpful when determining Compaq's focus moving forward, but they don't reveal the full scope of the long-term plan. It's possible the company can still generate or even surpass the same channel-based revenue as last year. In a roundtable meeting with VARBusiness editors, Compaq executives were asked if the channel-based revenue next year is expected to at least equal that of this year's. The executives declined to answer. The company's reticence may indicate a glum future for Compaq resellers, but, ironically, many of them are keeping their cool. VAR Susan Berlin, corporate sales representative at ComputerLand of Hauppauge in Hauppauge, N.Y., says, "Regardless of what Compaq will do, channel sales will remain." Berlin says her company hasn't been successful in the small-business arena, so she could use Compaq's help. Instead, her company focuses primarily on Fortune 1000 customers. She attributes the failure in the small-business marketplace to its sudden emergence. Because the small-business marketplace is new to resellers, claims Berlin, there hasn't been enough time to gain from the learning curve. However, Michael Choo, president of CD Business Systems Inc., a Buffalo, N.Y., Compaq reseller, says he is reaching the SMB market. And the vendor's move into that space is not welcome. "It's going to hurt us, but there is nothing we can do about it," says Choo. "Even though we can get a commission, any time [vendors] go direct, it's not a good thing." Compaq's SMB Offerings In going direct to SMBs, Compaq realized it needs to provide customers with service and support packages. Hence, the release of Compaq CarePAQ, which includes value-priced services for business-critical computing environments with a single point of contact for computing service and support. Compaq CarePAQ services also include warranty extensions, on-site hardware services, installation and start-up services, as well as software support, which provides application support for more than 200 business software applications. For additional support, Compaq CarePAQ offers customers technical support 24/7. To help launch the direct distribution model, the company is pushing a new product line directed at the SMB market: the Prosignia family of desktops, notebooks and servers. Perhaps the most notable aspect of the company's offerings is not the hardware, but the service offerings and bundled applications. The company's service offerings, packaged as Compaq Online Services, provide Internet-based productivity tools on all of the Compaq Prosignia desktops and notebooks. With the Prosignia family, Compaq offers on-demand access to several online services with centralized registration and installation. Compaq Online Services include a bevy of small-business applications. The company's online.commerce service provides turnkey electronic commerce capabilities to SMBs. This enables small businesses to create and manage a Web-based store in 24 hours with built-in order processing and billing starting at $30 per month. Small businesses looking for instant, secure and trackable delivery of digital business files over the Internet can utilize online.delivery. This offers two services from UPS and one service from Compaq through a technology relationship with e-Parcel. Service prices range from $1 to $7 per delivery, depending on the file size and premium options selected. The company's online.briefcase is an out-of-the-office, solution, similar to remote access, that enables users to access their PC information from any computer on the Internet with prices starting at $10 per month. Basic Internet access and Web hosting is provided by online.connectivity, which is available for $20 per month. Prices for data protection at a secure off-site data center start at $10 per month. SMB VARs profit through residual income based on selling those services. In the company's online.library, a combination of electronic books and training software are made available to small businesses. On the Compaq Prosignia desktops and Prosignia notebooks, customers have access to a suite of six computer-based training guides for the most popular business software applications. According to one of Compaq's published reports, the Compaq Online Services' return on investment (ROI) for the average small to midsize business in North America could approach $30,000 per year. The most significant return, more than $13,000 per year, is expected to come from online.commerce. The second-highest ROI is expected to come from online.delivery, which should provide VARs' customers with more than a $9,000 savings per year. The third-highest ROI is expected to come from online.briefcase, which can save the average SMB customer as much as $3,670. Following closely behind is online.backup, which is expected to save the average SMB customer $3,665 annually. Reaction Roundup Regarding Compaq's direct initiative, Ken Thoreson, managing partner at Acumen Team, a consultancy based in Minneapolis, says, "It's a serious blow to the VAR channel, but it's another competitive function that VARs have to look at. If they are going to survive and grow, they have to keep looking for the additional higher value market niches." He also says that to stave off encroachment from direct vendors "VARs need to make sure they have a high-level relationship with their customers. From the sales management perspective, that means an effective continuous campaign to be in front of clients." "Most clients today are looking for an easy way to do business that saves time and effort," says Thoreson. "If a local VAR can create a sales model that makes it easy for customers to do business with them, customers will flock to that VAR." One of the ways VARs can achieve that is to be flexible, which is what Thoreson claims gives VARs the ability to stay afloat amidst the increasing competition from vendors. -Quick Scan Compaq Computer Corp. Houston, Texas (800) 345-1518, www.compaq.com --- Sidebar- VAR Survival Tips - Take advantage of the leverage that Compaq brings. - Continually look at where higher service-based margins are. - Maintain a higher level of relationships with customers by having an effective continuous campaign that attracts them. - Provide clients with an easy way to do business that saves time and effort. - Stay flexible. Copyright ® 1998 CMP Media Inc.

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (83973)	12/6/1998 8:34:00 PM
From: VICTORIA GATE, MD	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

Dell business desktop down to $850 By Stephanie Miles and Brooke Crothers Staff Writers, CNET News.com December 4, 1998, 4:55 p.m. PT Dell will cut prices on corporate desktops computers on Monday, bringing these robust business systems to the $850 mark. Dell Computer will reduce the prices on its high-end and mid-range OptiPlex desktops targeted at large corporate customers on Monday, bringing one system based on an Intel Celeron processor to $849, or $1,048 with a 15-inch monitor. This is a reduction of 11 percent. This G1 model includes a 333-MHz processor and a 4.3GB hard drive. Sub-$1,000 business systems with the newest Celeron chip are already offered by both Compaq and Hewlett-Packard (HP). The chip is also popular in consumer models. The low cost model from Dell means it's matching competitors blow for blow in the low-cost business desktop market, an area where Compaq and HP have typically been the most aggressive with pricing. Do you want to know more? Read related news View story in The Big Picture Get Reviews: Dell Get Prices: Dell Go to Message Boards Search News.com At the high end, a GX1p will fall to $1,999 from $2,199, a drop of nine percent. This packs in a 400-MHz Pentium II chip, 128MB of memory, 10GB hard drive, a networking chip from 3Com, and a 17-inch monitor. A mid-range model will fall from $1,399 to $1,299. "We're now selling $10 million over the Internet; corporate sales over the Internet have increased to a hefty portion. Due to those efficiency gains, we have seen quite a drop in operating expenses...that's what's driving this," said Danny Young, director of marketing and sales for the OptiPlex line. Related news stories • Dell cuts notebook, PC prices November 5, 1998 • Dell cuts price of consumer PCs October 29, 1998 ========================== Compaq BB Robertson Stephens upped its rating to strong buy from buy and its price target from 40 to 50... Briefing concurs... Key resistance is at 40... Penetration of this ceiling would mark upside break out from 15-mo trading range and position computer maker for run to the 48-50 range over next 6- to 12-months. Gateway (slumped badly after CEO was said to have noted at a CS First Boston Tech Conference that revenues in October and November ran behind target... However, Gateway spokesperson later reported that company merely noted that it has to sell a lot of computers in December to meet its target... Given strength in sales since Thanksgiving company expressed that it was to early to change its guidance... Important support is at 49. ========== Just try to help you post all the new on SI HA!HA!HA!