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Technology Stocks : Ampex Corporation (AEXCA) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam Citron who wrote (6238)	3/15/1999 7:56:00 PM
From: flickerful	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 17679

sam... the extensive portfolio of patents Ampex has developed for reel to reel storage of analog video i will defer for specifics to those better versed, but i suspect the range of the ampex portfolio would surprise you. flick

To: Sam Citron who wrote (6238)	3/15/1999 8:36:00 PM
From: Ed Perry	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17679

Taking the DST line alone, much of the development was done about 8? years ago in anticipation of HDTV and the conversion of the general TV broadcasting industry from analogue to digital delivery. As such, the DST solution was too much, too expensive and too early to reap possible reward. As admitted by management, the timing was poor. Now at the turn of the century, the application of this technology may be finally catching up with the requirement of implementation. HDTV is beginning roll-out and broadcasters have until 2006 to convert. However, in this time frame, along came an entirely new medium, the Internet, that may have even more applicability for the technology. We are all awaiting the reported results of revenues. This, and certainly the next quarter reported in May will be the first statement of MicroNet's combined results. The DST sales line is driven by long lead times from large orders. However, the impact of these lead times could be influenced by how narrowcasting and video-on-demand is to be implemented. TVontheWeb and the Melita roll-out may be the test case for this application of DST 19mm. and MicroNet caching and RAID in the context of interactive TV over cable or net delivery. We are all awaiting to see how gear is implemented here. Ed Perry

To: Sam Citron who wrote (6238)	3/15/1999 11:32:00 PM
From: Hal Campbell	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 17679

<< Do not be offended by my skepticism. It's just part of my empirical process.>> Your skepticism is most welcome here, Sam. From this AXC shareholder anyway. A couple comments. The market up to now for DST has been VERY small, but very prestigious. The machines of choice for those few customers that both need their remarkable capacity and speed and can afford the price tag. Some of those customers are listed on the Ampex home page. Even ....when needs for MAMMOTH visual storage capacity finally begin to burgeon ....if other companies simply steal the format and try to mimic it, I seriously doubt they could rapidly equal AXC's state of helical scan 19 mm refinement anytime soon. Ampex wouldn't really be the next anything. They are the first. Just a few highlights. A single double density DST cartridge holds 330 gigabytes. Nearest competitor 56. Cheapest per meg in the business.Fully configured DST 812 holds 25.6 terabytes ( that is approximately the full written contents of the Library of Congress) and can access it quickly.Partitionong -unique to the DST -enables precise inserts and erasures. And..to quote an engineer doing a comparative analysis of formats... Ampex has " the lowest picture distortion of all competing component-digital tape recorders (D5 and Digital Betacam), indicating that Ampex has found the optimal balance of compression, head-to-tape data-rate, and error correction algorithm." That said, while the tech is extraordinary, market share is thus far very low. But thus far the actual market itself for that much capacity is very small...... << I have been impressed, however, by a number of webcasters, among them TVonTheWeb, and feel that these creative webcast studios are very undervalued.>> You nailed it. In the short to medium run ( 6 months to a couple years ) that is where the tulips may reside ( though AXC has other potentials). The risk ...the fear for awhile ...may reside in the cash flow numbers and the market's memory of past problems.The market seems to be remembering some of those past problems now. Many stockholders are eagerly awaiting the CEO's next letter to shareholders to flesh out his strategy. I sure am.