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 : IRID - Iridium World Communications IPO Announced! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (1478)	3/30/1999 9:43:00 AM
From: Jeff Vayda	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2693

DoD buy seems like it will come to pass, but how many handsets? WAG: 5000 first order with options for more. A number of DOD agencies, including the Space Battlelab, have been testing Iridium hand-held phones for use by the military. Tests by the Battlelab have been completed and the final report has been sent to Lt. Gen. John L. Woodward Jr., director of the Joint Staff's Command, Control, Communications and Computer Systems Directorate (J-6) in Washington according to an AFRL spokesman. An announcement of a DOD decision on whether to use the Iridium service is expected in early April. The tests, done under a project called Commercial Application for Combat Effectiveness (CACE), analyzed user friendliness, voice quality, delays, handset durability, susceptibility to weather, susceptibility to blockage by buildings and foliage, and reliability. Under CACE the Battlelab also developed a plan for integrating commercial systems with existing military systems. In the last few years DOD has been trying to extend its buying power by fulfilling portions of its communication needs via commercial services. Lt. Gen. Lance Lord, Vice Commander of Air Force Space Command at Peterson AFB, Colo., told SBT that DOD's "intent is to leverage as much of commercial capacity as possible in the future. That way we don't have to produce and buy our own satellites and put them in orbit. If we can make use of commercially available communications that suits the needs, fits the bandwidth requirements and provides the service, we'll probably buy it." (my bold)

To: RetiredNow who wrote (1478)	3/30/1999 12:34:00 PM
From: Dragonfly	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2693

I've never been an investor... Silicon Investor caters to a conservative, narrow viewing crowd that tends to think of Microsoft as a radical investment. This forum for Iridium has never had a following of Iridium investers, they go elsewhere because there's no point in dealing with all the raving Globalstar fanatics. To see the stock go down and people coming out and bashing it-- who've never had an interest, of course-- reminds me of exactly why I stopped participating in the forums on Yahoo. If you have a point, back it by facts: Just posting your conclusion that this stock, that you've no interest in, is gonna fail, with no explanation or reasoning, makes me doubt you've ever done any real research into it. Its really a shame, too-- the web has a lot of potential to be a good place for investors to exchange information, good and bad, but there are far too many people out there who think they can depress a stock by running around saying the company is gonna fail. (Or increase it with similar drivel) Dragonfly