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 : OBJECT DESIGN Inc.: Bargain of the year!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bob Trocchi who wrote (2629)	12/15/1998 10:41:00 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3194

The fact is that this so-called Raw Iron initiative by SUNW and ORCL is a threat to both MSFT and ODIS... Although Oracle8i doesn't address XML issues, it does compete with ODIS's main product (for the time being), that is ObjectStore. Combined with Sun's hardware --and maybe other's-- it could be a serious threat to all the other dbms vendors. Anyway, even if MSFT doesn't buy out ODIS, it'll certainly leverage ObjectStore/eXcelon on a wider scale. Here's the ORCL/SUNW alliance story: Oracle, Sun Micro Team Up in Technology Swap [PALO ALTO, Calif.--Reuters] Oracle Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. said they would share technology to develop powerful server computers that do not need an operating system in a move that could slow archrival Microsoft Corp.'s push into the business software market. Oracle, the world's largest database software company and Sun, the biggest maker of computer workstations, said products would be available by March. Under the deal, Oracle gets access to portions of Sun's version of the Unix operating system called Solaris, while Sun gets Oracle's latest Internet friendly database, 8i, to bundle in its own software, called middleware, that it sells. The initiative is an assault from Sun and Oracle on Microsoft's Windows NT operating system, designed for heavy- duty computing, that competes primarily with Solaris and Hewlett-Packard Co.'s version of Unix, called HP-UX. "This doesn't kill Microsoft, but it will make them hustle and that's good for the whole market," said Kimball Brown, an analyst with market research firm Dataquest. "If this takes off, it leaves Microsoft in the dust." Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison said in a telephone conference call with analysts and reporters that everything would be preconfigured. "It will be as simple as plugging it into the wall and into your network," he added. The product, which Ellison talked about at the Comdex trade show in mid-November, is dubbed "raw iron" because the Oracle database basically runs right on top of the microprocessor and does not need much in the way of an operating system. Called a database appliance server, the product will be sold by Oracle's existing sales force. A database is a vast library of digital information, while an operating system basically runs the computer letting users run e-mail programs, spreadsheets and the like. "Sun's not entering the database business and Oracle's not entering the operating system business," Scott McNealy, Sun's chief executive, said on the conference call. "We're doing a free exchange of core technologies." Ellison said Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Oracle was still talking with PC makers Dell Computer Corp., Compaq Computer Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. Oracle's database now runs on top of Sun's operating system, Windows NT and others. Although there will be no operating system, the computers and Oracle's software would still requires a "microkernel," essentially a tiny piece of software to help Oracle's database software "talk to" the hardware. The agreement also is a boon to Intel, the world's largest chipmaker and its next-generation processor code-named Merced, which is due out in in mid-2000. The Merced can crunch 64 bits of information at the same time, compared with 32 bits in current microprocessors. When Merced -- designed for heavy-duty computing -- is in volume production, there will already be a 64-bit operating system in Solaris and a 64-bit database software program from Oracle available. That could speed the adoption of Merced and spur sales of the chips, which will cost more than $1,000 apiece, for Intel, Brown said. "The day Merced ships, it's got a killer application," once the database appliance servers that Sun and Oracle are working on take off, Brown said. Copyright © 1998 Reuters Limited.

To: Bob Trocchi who wrote (2629)	12/15/1998 1:59:00 PM
From: hasbeen101	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3194

Bob, it looks like the Street is taking Excelon seriously! The stock price is motoring along pretty well at the moment, powered by an improving body of PR material (thanks for digging into that). From this point, the $4.50 price at which we bought recently looks more and more like the gift that it was. I'm still interested in the '99 earnings estimates. Last time I looked, they were around 20 cents or so. Wouldn't you agree that such an outcome would be a bit disappointing?