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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: PCSS who wrote (53246)	3/13/1999 6:18:00 PM
From: neverenough	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 97611

BUSINESS Compaq targets Internet in bid to hit US$50b, says Pfeiffer NEWSBYTES -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Internet is helping spur Compaq towards annual revenues of $50 million, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Eckhard Pfeiffer told the Australian press in a Sydney media briefing. "We are at an annual run rate of US$37 billion and that makes the '99 target [US$43.5 billion], which is the analysts' estimate, a lot more achievable. Once we do that I think we would have the momentum to make the move to the US$50 billion," Pfeiffer said. With a dark suit, showy shirt and a red-patterned tie with swirling, abstract motifs, his now-snowy hair immaculate, Pfeiffer - visiting the Australian subsidiary for a regular checkover - ran his own presentation from a notebook. It went off smoothly, with none of the glitches that seem to dog Bill Gates at public presentations. The venue was strangely at tables set for a meal and a late breakfast was served (croissants, rolls, meats and fruit). A domestic Australian bubbly was poured for those who needed a heart-starter at 10 am (15 minutes late). One glass was poured at the top table at the elbow of Ian Penman, Compaq Australia's managing director. But it went untouched. Pfeiffer dwelt on the strengths inherited from acquisitions such as Tandem, including "7 by 24" processing in banks, stock exchanges and other critical businesses. He also spent some time on Digital's absorption which took Compaq into information technology (IT) services with 27,000 people. He also mapped out a star role for potential spin-off AltaVista, which in the Pfeiffer vision is set to become the leading destination for information and e-commerce on the Internet. Compaq already claims to be top brand on the Net. "Forty-five percent of the information technology infrastructure of the leading Internet companies are Compaq systems," Pfeiffer said. Business cycles formerly ran in years, Pfeiffer said. They shortened to nine months or so in the 1980s. But after 2001, in the Internet era, he predicted, they would be measured in seconds, or rather in transactions because the transaction would be the basis of all business. AltaVista's target, as set by Pfeiffer, is to become the leader in the fast-growing market of Internet content information. "That market will reach US$170 billion by 2002. This is approximately the size of the entire PC market today," he said.