Wall Street & Internet (was Re: ISP consolidation)

[Srinivasarao Mulugu <smulugu () sprint net>]

On Wed, 10 Apr 1996, Robert Bowman wrote:

> >
---- other forwarded messages deleted ---
> As long as Wall Street likes the Internet, the industry will continue to 
> grow by leaps and bounds.  When they decide it is no longer trendy/profitable
> then we'll notice most of the garage ISPs will disappear.
... 
>

Conventinal investment wisdom is you sink in the big $s, gain market share,
sit tight and let the cash cow bring in profits...sometimes for a decade 
or more... and in some rare cases this was true for data communications 
as well.

In the case of Internet however, you invest, build the network, you try for 
market share, you UPGRADE (i.e. invest more), you try for more market 
share, you UPGRADE again, etc.

T-1 to DS-3 to OC-3 and beyond... Bigger, Better, Faster...

The two to three year investment cycle seems inevitable.. One can only 
wonder as to how long it will remain palatable to investors.

-Mulugu

=========================================================

Mulugu Srinivasarao                 Tel : 703/904-2013
SprintLink Engineering              Fax : 703/904-2292
Sprint, GSD Bldg.