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Technology Stocks : Concurrent Computer (CCUR) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: port_mgr who wrote (6074)	12/17/1998 11:38:00 AM
From: Goodboy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21143

They had only one question during the Q & A and it came from the Merril guy who covers the high yield debt. The biggest thing they failed to mention and those on the call failed to ask is who is their competitor? They never mentioned that the alliances between SFA, GIC and Pioneer with CCUR and SEAC constitute a major threat to their business model. They also babbled about their lead to market with over 27 months of field testing at Lenfest. I wonder if they would like to stack that experience up against SFA's over 3 years of testing and development in the Orlando Full Service Network and the 100 million of R & D. Diva designed their systems from scratch and it took two years to make it work (head end equipment, servers, routers, set top boxes and content deals). Now they are scraping their box because nobody wants two boxes on their TV and it is more expensive (although they said they would still need to do this in some systems). Their server is high priced and their business model doesn't appeal to the top 10 MSO's. What is laughable is their giddy hyping of the integration deal with GI. They said this is significant because GI's analog/digital hybrid set top boxes cover over 15 million homes or some number like that. As if that meant Diva had an addressable market of 15 million plus homes. The bulk of those boxes are in TCI, Time Warner, Cox, Comcast and Mediaone systems. These are companies that don't plan to follow the Diva model. Lots of smoke and mirrors on this call. They also point out that the Intertainer system is still "only PC based". So what exactly would stop Intertainer from using the SFA integration expertise, the CCUR server that they already have selected and attacking the Diva market with a better cost structure? It's not like Intertainer will have any content issues with the investor base that includes Sony and NBC. They also have some executives that are all former Hollywood bigs including one Oscar winner. Jeff Sagansky, the former President of Tri-star pictures and former #2 guy at Sony is on the board (He discovered Intertainer while working with Sony New Technologies president Mitch Cannold). With all that said, Diva has an addressable and they may be able to make it work profitably, but the competition is coming rapidly. This story has a lot of moving parts and they are moving faster in the background than in the foreground. When the background is visible, we will have a home run on our hands. Until then, will watch the traders play ping pong between 2 3/4 and 4. Good luck!

To: port_mgr who wrote (6074)	12/17/1998 12:00:00 PM
From: Goodboy	Respond to of 21143

I forgot one more point. Their business is getting so hot that the president of the company needs to step down to play more golf, vacation and spend time with the family in South Africa. I followed a lot of companies in my life and it is always a good sign to see the president step down to get in more golf and vacation. The good news is he will continue to work with the company by playing golf with cable executives and negotiating deals in foreign countries he just happens to be vacationing in. How much does that convertible debt grow to in a few years again?

To: port_mgr who wrote (6074)	12/17/1998 3:37:00 PM
From: Christiaan McDonald	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 21143

Port, We had very detailed demos at Atlanta from both Diva and CCUR. Diva was very nice and professional, I was impressed with their system and quality of picture. But it was not one iota better than CCUR's. I reported at the time that Diva and CCUR were good and SEAC had problems. The idea that SFA, Intertainer, and all the others CCUR has signed up with would go forward with an untested product is so ridiculous. CCUR has been in tests with SFA for almost a year now. Why do you think SFA bought $200,000 worth of servers? I guess they bought those to store and look at every once in a while. Ken