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To: Elwood P. Dowd who wrote (49740)	2/26/1999 7:28:00 AM
From: Kenya AA	Respond to of 97611

*OT* Robbie Notebook: J.D. Edwards Gets Honesty Points By TSC Staff 2/25/99 3:38 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO - Poor Rick Allen. It was pretty tough for the J.D. Edwards (JDEC:Nasdaq) CFO to face investors at the BancBoston Robertson Stephens conference Wednesday. But Allen appeared, head down and apologetic, and immediately tried to offer investors hope about the company's recent slump. Hoping to tap into the Internet theme, Allen touted that the company's products are 100% HTML and Java ready. But Allen is so honest, his attempts at hype gave way to admissions of more company blunders. "We have a really good Internet story here, but we haven't been very good at telling it," he confessed. He then addressed J.D. Edwards' late entry into the Internet industry. "There's an advantage to being late to market -- being a little self-critical -- our technology is fresh." One Bay-area fund manager who looks for beaten-down companies, speaking after the company's presentation, said, "You have to admit, they might be a little slow, but they are an extremely honest group." "He was very much, 'Mea culpa, mea culpa.' They didn't try to hide anything." The fund manager said that was very much unlike Documentum (DCTM:Nasdaq). "By their presentation, you would have thought there was nothing wrong," he said. But "they really got grilled in the breakout session because they wouldn't explain exactly why orders didn't get closed," he said. "First, they were in denial and then they admitted things and got defensive," said the fund manager, who added that he used to own Documentum shares but he doesn't now. "And I'm really glad about that." Documentum's stock is down 63% this year as the document management software company has guided Wall Street's estimates for 1999 lower when it last reported earnings. -- Medora Lee 1-888-QUIT-AOL That is the phone number that EarthLink (ELNK:Nasdaq) receives many of its new customers from. "AOL (AOL:NYSE) owns the new market for newbies," says president and CEO Charles "Garry" Betty, while 70% of EarthLink's new users "come with previous experience." And many are coming from AOL, Betty told a group of investors at the BancBoston conference Wednesday. The company also offers its customers a monthly guide to the Internet called "bLink" and the "EarthLink guide for AOL graduates." The company ended the fourth quarter with more than one million subscribers, and it's working to boost the incremental revenue generated from each one. At the end of the fourth quarter, EarthLink was generating about 68 cents for each member in addition to monthly access charges. Betty expects that incremental revenue figure to reach $1 by mid-1999 through electronic greeting cards, travel planners and other e-commerce services. In 1998, EarthLink improved its gross margins from 53% to 58%, and Betty says those will climb to 63% by the end of 1999. -- Suzanne Galante Inquiring Minds Want to Know While Microsoft (MSFT:Nasdaq) canceled its Wednesday afternoon presentation at the conference because its representative was detained in Washington, D.C., testifying in the Microsoft antitrust case, BancBoston Robertson Stephens was polling its attendees on the impact of the trial and other pressing investing questions.

To: Elwood P. Dowd who wrote (49740)	2/26/1999 7:29:00 AM
From: Kenya AA	Respond to of 97611

*OT* Robbie Stephens Conference: Bring on the Competition, Network Solutions Says By Spencer E. Ante Staff Reporter 2/25/99 8:59 AM ET SAN FRANCISCO -- Can Network Solutions (NSOL:Nasdaq) continue to prosper even as competitors prepare to enter its lucrative Internet registration business? The nearly unanimous answer seems to be yes. Before executives began addressing Network Solutions' packed presentation Wednesday at the BancBoston Robertson Stephens Tech '99 Conference, Robbie analyst Keith Benjamin tried to "clear up the confusion" about Network Solutions' business by saying that "there's no competition coming." Benjamin spoke of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or Icann, a not-for-profit entity authorized by the U.S. government to oversee the evolution of the Internet domain name system. The five companies that Icann selects to compete with Network Solutions will effectively end the company's monopoly on domain-name registration. But the process of bringing new competitors has taken so long that Network Solutions has been able to fortify its dominance. When Network Solutions CFO Bob Korzeniewski took the podium, he boasted that Network Solutions has the "best business model on the Internet." But he didn't mention the I-word. After dragging its feet for months, Icann looks like it's finally getting its act together. The company Feb. 8 released guidelines for companies hoping to compete with Network Solutions that are expected to be approved by Icann's board in early March. By the end of April, Icann plans to introduce five competitors into the domain name registration business as part of a two-month test phase. After that, Network Solutions will be required to provide equal access to the shared registration system for all accredited registrars. And though Icann says it will let an unlimited number of companies participate in the registry, Network Solutions is guaranteed a seat at the table because it will still control the master root registry of all Internet domains. Analysts don't expect the competition to put a big dent in Network Solutions' business, largely because the company has had a good, long time to anticipate competitors. "The momentum of the business has never been better," said James J. Pettit, an analyst with Hambrecht & Quist, which co-led Network Solutions' IPO. "We believe they are strongly positioned to be the dominant player in a huge and growing market." Pettit said H&Q has a 12-month price target of 250 on the stock, which closed Wednesday at 163 3/4. Despite the end of its government-sanctioned monopoly, Network Solutions executives say the company's seven years of experience, its marketing deals with Yahoo! (YHOO:Nasdaq) and Netscape (NSCP:Nasdaq), and its partnerships with more than 150 Internet service providers and 85 international partners put the company in a good position to maintain its market dominance. "It sounds unstoppable to me," said Victor W. Long, an investor with V/L Holdings, after the presentation. "The first one to the mother lode wins the game." Moreover, Icann has often been its own worst enemy. The group has been roundly criticized for its lack of openness and public accountability. One often-heard complaint is that the late Jon Postel, an Internet pioneer who helped draft the Icann plan, selected the board's members privately. And just a few days ago, one woman, Ellen Rony, announced plans to stage a protest at the board's upcoming Singapore meeting with gray ribbons. So far, 20 groups and individuals have joined Rony's Web campaign, including Net luminary Dave Farber, Computer Professional for Social Responsibility and the Domain Names Services Organization. All this hullabaloo over Icann hasn't seemed to faze Network Solutions executives. "We're probably going to hear a lot about it during the breakout," Korzeniewski said. After which his colleague added for emphasis: "Competition makes us stronger. It's a good thing." Meanwhile, Network Solutions plans to leverage its relationship with existing registrants to move into new services, such as a premium registration service for an extra $49, branded email accounts for $4.95 per month, country-level registration services that cost in the low to mid five-figures, and a .com directory that company officials say they plan to sell advertising and classifieds on. "We branded ourselves in 1998 as the .com people," said Korzeniewski. "But in the past year we've become much more than a one-product company. In 1999 we have plans to expand on that aggressively."

To: Elwood P. Dowd who wrote (49740)	2/26/1999 7:31:00 AM
From: Kenya AA	Respond to of 97611

*OT* Robbie Notebook: Lycos Says It'll Get the Votes By Suzanne Galante and George Mannes Staff Reporters 2/25/99 10:00 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO -- Lycos (LCOS:Nasdaq) is confident that the company will "get the votes to get the deal done," executive vice president Ron Sege told a group of reporters following his presentation at the BancBoston Robertson Stephens Technology '99 Conference, referring to the merger of USA Networks (USAI:Nasdaq), Lycos and Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch (TMCS:Nasdaq), announced Feb. 9. Sege said he's "exceedingly optimistic for the deal to go though," even though one of Lycos' biggest shareholders, CMGI (CMGI:Nasdaq) is supportive of the deal but "not at this price." CMGI holds a 20% stake in Lycos. Lycos shareholders have voiced their unfavorable opinion of the deal with a lawsuit filed Monday on their behalf. The suit alleges that Lycos executives said openly that they were committed to remaining independent while they were in talks to close the USA merger. News of the USA deal drove Lycos' stock down 35% to 94 1/4 on the day it was announced. The stock closed Thursday at 93, up 2 1/2. Sege was unsure what percentage of vote was needed in order to approve the proposed merger. A vote is expected by May 10. Sege, who has only been with the company for three weeks, started his Thursday afternoon presentation with "an apology in advance for any questions I can not answer." The conference schedule listed the Lycos presenter as Edward Philip, company COO and CFO. He talked up the merger, then ran a video explaining the synergies among the parties involved in the deal. "This deal makes compelling sense strategically," he said. "We can't rationally debate values too strongly." The absent Philip, it turns out, had stayed in snowy New England to co-host an investor meeting with Lycos CEO Robert Davis that outlined earnings and set an aggressive schedule for the proposed merger. "The next holiday season is the first bellwether for us all," he said. Lycos posted a loss of 3 cents a share in the January quarter, widening from the year-ago loss of 1 cent. The First Call consensus estimate was for a 4-cent loss. Revenues for the second quarter rose 143% to $30.6 million. A highlight of the East Coast meeting was a simulated Home Shopping Network broadcast that Davis & Co. staged. Borrowing one of the hosts who hawks products on HSN, the simulation was meant to show off some of USA's plans for Lycos: Pitching its sites on TV when selling a computer, or telling viewers to visit the Lycos site to place their order or get more information. Davis also offered more details than attendees at the Robbie conference heard, saying the company would also set up an "uber-shopping destination," the name of which has not yet been disclosed, as well as set up many smaller sites with a smaller product focus -- a jewelry site, an electronics site and a computing site, for example. "You will see a steady onslaught of Internet sites," Davis said, in as soon as 30 days. He also said that by the end of the year, he expected Home Shopping Network television sales pitches to be archived on a Web site, so callers could pick and choose to watch from a catalog of broadcasts. The audience was cordial; none of the questioners expressed displeasure with the deal, and only one of them mentioned CMGI's objections.

To: Elwood P. Dowd who wrote (49740)	2/26/1999 7:33:00 AM
From: Kenya AA	Respond to of 97611

*OT* Robbie Stephens Conference: Cirrus Awaits a Recovery By TSC Staff 2/25/99 9:00 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO -- Cirrus Logic (CRUS:Nasdaq) may have transformed itself over the last 18 months, but revenue growth still remains a quarter or two out, the company's newly appointed CEO David French said at the BancBoston Robertson Stephens Technology '99 Conference. Cirrus is one of the few communications chip makers that have yet to see the dramatic growth that competitors such as Vitesse Semiconductor (VTSS:Nasdaq) and TranSwitch (TXCC:Nasdaq) saw last year. That's because Cirrus has been dragged down by unprofitable products such as graphic chips and modems. That situation has pulled down Cirrus' stock from its all-time high of 61 1/8 in September of 1995 to 8 today -- a drop of 87% during a period when the Nasdaq Composite Index has more than doubled. French said Cirrus can't be judged on past results anymore. A management overhaul that began in September is finished, as is a restructuring of operations started 18 months ago. The company has cut a third of its workforce, sold a test facility in California, ended a costly manufacturing arrangement with Lucent (LU:NYSE) and is renegotiating a similar arrangement with IBM (IBM:NYSE). Revenues are expected to decline as much as 10% this quarter because of the loss of design contracts last year. Sales of new products, however, should show up during the second half of the year. Three product areas -- mass storage, integrated circuits for digital audio and precision data converters -- are high-margin niches in which Cirrus has competitive advantages. Listening carefully, in the audience, was Eran Bendoly, CFO of Novanet Semiconductor, an Israeli company that makes integrated circuits for networking. "It seems that they have their act together," Bendoly said of Cirrus. "They are focusing on areas where they have unique expertise." -- Marcy Burstiner Looking at Larson When investors decide whether to put their money into Network Associates (NETA:Nasdaq), they're not just looking at the business. They've got to look at its management, too -- specifically CEO Bill Larson. Larson, who zipped through his presentation at the Robbie Stephens conference, was high energy, as usual. He talked about the wide range of security software that the company now has and bragged about its leadership in several areas of network security including anti-virus scans, firewalls and other "Cybercop" products. But the main draw for some here was Larson, an unabashedly boisterous and aggressive CEO who investors either love or hate. "He's done a great job, there's no doubt about it," said one Bay-area fund manager who nevertheless has stayed away from the stock. Echoing the view of other money managers who asked not to be identified, he called Larson scary. "Come on, would you want to work for him? Can you imagine telling him that something's gone wrong with a project? That's when things go wrong and people try to hide them and hide them until it's too late." -- Medora Lee Getty Gets Digital Robbie Stephens analyst Keith Benjamin calls Getty Images (GETY:Nasdaq) one of his "most problematic Internet stocks" because the company has assets and earnings, making it difficult to value it against other Internet stocks. "Style and flash are much more exciting than substance," he said at Getty's presentation. To which Getty CEO and co-founder Jonathan Klein responded, "We'll stick with assets and earnings, if you don't mind." Getty is part of a $5 billion market of providing visual content to customers ranging from ad agencies to magazines to new media publishers. The ad industry alone generated 58% of Getty's revenue last year. Now Getty is pushing to sell its images online, hoping the move will cut costs and improve access to customers. Sounds good, but 1999 revenue growth might not be as strong as last year. Klein expects 15% revenue growth in 1999, "with the potential for upside." Sales, including acquisitions, increased by 84% in 1998. Excluding acquisitions, sales grew 18%. "That might not be strong enough for me," says Cern Basher, vice president of Provident Investment Advisors, who is considering an investment in Getty. Basher is also concerned about the proliferation of free images on the Internet. But he says Klein reassured investors at the breakout session that its images are protected with a watermark technology. The stock gained 7/16 to 19 3/8 Thursday, marking a 15.5% rise since the beginning of the year. -- Suzanne Galante

To: Elwood P. Dowd who wrote (49740)	2/26/1999 7:36:00 AM
From: Kenya AA	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 97611

No Respite for PCs By James J. Cramer 2/26/99 7:27 AM ET No respite for the PC industry today. Business Week pronounces the death of the personal computer at the hands of computer appliances that, say, just answer email, as opposed to land astronauts on the moon and answer email. First Boston issues a chilling note about a revenue shortfall at Compaq (CPQ:NYSE), and there are shares of that former darling kicking around in the high 30s (I have 200 puts on Compaq instead of the 2,000 puts I should have had.) And the bitter aftertaste of Steve Milunovich's Dell (DELL:Nasdaq) weakness call hangs over the market like the stench cast off by a Kraft paper-bag mill. So much money has been made in this segment that it is difficult to imagine a time when you can't buy these stocks on weakness. But part of the job of a trader is knowing where the knives are falling and where the knives have hit their target and are no longer raining. Right now, the knives are still falling in personal computers. What do I mean by this? Take the extended slide in the oil drillers. Many, many times people reiterated buy and reiterated buy -- as they will no doubt do today -- and all it did was gaffe you. Me, I like wireless and telco. I am kicking myself that, for instance, I let go of my Qwest (QWST:Nasdaq) -- sorry Jim Seymour, who simply knows this area better than anybody alive -- but I was so worried that all of tech was headed down in knee-jerk fashion that I took advantage of the ramp the other day and booted it. Now I can only hope that in the wake of the Compaq call the Qwests of the world come back down. But one train derailment does not mean all of the other trains come back into the station in orderly fashion. Meanwhile, new tech, the Net and its adherents, might romp again off of a robust IPO market and some good numbers from "established" Net players. The dis-aggregation of tech as we know it continues, and the game gets more exciting, as one group powers ahead while another sputters.

To: Elwood P. Dowd who wrote (49740)	2/26/1999 8:48:00 AM
From: Lynn	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 97611

I did some digging into Gateway's announcement that, "It would provide free Internet service to customers who buy a PC costing more than $1,000." Here's what I found: First, it is only free for one year, is not unlimited access, and could result in some whopping bills for families where a few people access the internet through the account: >Under the Gateway offer, buyers of desktop, portable and other systems costing more than $1,000 >will receive 150 hours of Internet access a month through gateway.net. After the first 150 hours, >users will pay $1.50 per hour for access. source: biz.yahoo.com Next, I went to Gateway's internet site to find local access numbers. When I could not find any, I telephoned Gateway and spoke with someone in technical support, who said the numbers were not listed there but he would look up numbers for me. He failed to find numbers for any of the four towns I gave him in four different states, MA, CT, NY, and PA. The fellow told me people in these towns could use the toll-free 888 number. When I asked if there would be a charge [since a toll free number to access an internet provider often incurs an hourly charge] he said yes, and gave me the telephone number of the billing department to find out exactly what the hourly charge is. So far, I can not get through [busy]. Next, I asked him who Gateway was using to provide internet access. In case I was not phrasing things the right way, I told him that as an example of what I meant, Bell Atlantic contracts through IBM to provide their internet service. The fellow said Gateway uses Uunet--so I got into Uunet's web site. Uunet's site does have an area to find local access numbers. Checking for some additional medium-sized U.S. cities and town, I again came up empty. Here is the URL for that page: us.uu.net Summary of my initial digging into Gateway's free internet offer: There are too many places in this country that do not have local access numbers to the IP. People who live in these areas who are unaware that "toll-free number" does not mean "no charge," the way it does for voice calls, and only buy a PC from Gateway working under the faulty assumption that they will be saving money [by avoiding IP charges for a year] will be screaming in outrage once they receive their first bill. Yes, I'm sure the 888 hourly charge will be stated in the documentation--but how many people today read all the information that comes with things? This offer could backfire. It's my opinion that if a PC maker wants to hook customers by a free internet access offer, they should contract with an IP provider such as Prodigy or AOL, both of which can be accessed by a local number almost everywhere in the U.S. Limited local numbers spell problems. Lynn