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Technology Stocks : Son of SAN - Storage Networking Technologies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J Fieb who wrote (1154)	4/4/1999 3:09:00 PM
From: J Fieb	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4808

Upside on storage...... upside.com The Annual Upside Downside Page 16: Computer Storage In late 1998, the storage industry resembled New England weather--if you didn't like it, all you had to do was wait a minute for it to change! New features and enhancements are being built into storage devices with dizzying speed. Even as we go to print, traditional stand-alone functions--such as disaster recovery duplicate imaging and backup systems that work across diverse form factors--are being engineered into storage solutions. In addition, storage requirements are exploding--we believe the average IT group's requirements will increase 35 percent to 50 percent in 1999. We can foresee a time in the near future when data storage will outweigh any other computing, processing or networking issue. We're urging a storage-centric view of the IT landscape. EMC Corp. No wonder EMC seems to be on a continuous roll: The company is well-run, well-positioned and aggressive. A superb attacker, it wrested the market from IBM Corp., Storage Technology Corp. and its Japanese competitors. However, the wolf is always at the door for storage hardware suppliers. EMC needs to get into software and services in a big way--and quickly. Market Share Innovator Overseas Alliances Management Overall Score: 4.4 Quantum Corp. This computer storage company made money in a tough market in 1998. Although it has been a strong technology leader in the tape business, Quantum has suffered big losses in the PC disk drive segment. Having trimmed its workforce this year, management is projecting more than $6 billion in revenue for '99. Market Share Innovator Overseas Alliances Management Overall Score: 3.2 Iomega Corp. This removable-drive maker is having a rough time. But while it may be losing money now, it should be in the green later in the year. Good products, and although management turnover is a concern, recent acquisitions make sense. Market Share Innovator Overseas Alliances Management Overall Score: 3.0 Seagate Technology Inc. Faces an uncertain future after jettisoning company co-founder and former CEO Al Shugart. Seagate lost money in '98; now it's hoping new products will help it turn the corner. We think PC disk drives represent the ultimate commodity market (after motherboards). Fierce fight with Quantum and Western Digital Corp.; the barracuda had better eat some of the competition. Market Share Innovator Overseas Alliances Management Overall Score: 2.6 Storage Technology Corp. This company's Virtual Storage Manager system for linking multiple large storage devices is a hit--it could even be a blockbuster. With great management and excellent technology, Storage Technology is coming back from the walking dead. It may be courting Data General Corp. Market Share Innovator Overseas Alliances Management Overall Score: 2.4 Western Digital Corp. This disk-drive maker is shaping up as an also-ran. It lost money in '98, and the outlook for '99 doesn't look much better. Its lack of new strategic products has hurt. Market Share Innovator Overseas Alliances Management Overall Score: 2.0 Howard Anderson is president of The Yankee Group, a Boston-based firm he founded in 1970 to analyze high-technology companies. Anderson also co-founded Battery Ventures, a Wellesley, Mass.-based venture capital firm. The Yankee Group and Battery Ventures may provide financial backing, research information and other consulting services to companies mentioned in this feature.