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Eleven analysts and top management from sixty-one sector firms examine the technology & communications sector in this special 238-page U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray Technology & Communications Conference issue from The Wall Street Transcript, available at (212/952-7433) or http://www.twst.com/info/info396.htm

TWST: What are the commonalties those seven share as far as market space or technology?

Mr. Robinson: Actually I don’t look for technological advantage as technological advantage is temporary. I look more for companies that are embracing new technologies to advance their cost structure for provisioning their end-user services. So while there are new technologies created every day by telecom equipment providers or by open communications companies that analyst Ted Jackson would follow, I really look for the companies that embrace those technologies and put them on their networks to drive their cost structures down. The main reason is that communication services, at the end of the day, is a commodity, and the way you win a commodity business is by having the lowest cost structure. Metromedia Fiber (Nasdaq:MFNX) has three business lines — actually four, but I usually count three. The most valuable one is the dark fiber metro rings. If you look at a metropolitan area, they have dark fiber rings that interconnect all of the buildings. They do not light that fiber. They merely sell that fiber, much as you would sell a piece of real estate to anyone who needs it. So they’re about the only place to go, besides Level 3 (Nasdaq:LVLT), to get metropolitan dark fiber. Their other two business lines are very similar to those of Exodus (Nasdaq:EXDS). AboveNet is a hosting company that provides a place for enterprises to put their servers to connect them to the public Internet and allow them to provide e-commerce, etc. Metromedia has a division called SiteSmith, which is now pretty much integrated with AboveNet. SiteSmith provides managed services, which is a fairly nebulous term that means they do everything to make sure the Website is connected and runs smoothly for an enterprise, and that is an increasingly complex task. There are a lot of data networking skills that SiteSmith performs that an enterprise probably doesn’t have in their box of core competencies.

TWST: The obstacle for these companies appears to be their ability to market what they have. How much is that a hurdle for these companies in the next year or two?

Mr. Robinson: Every company in the communications business is trying to transfer their customer base from emerging businesses — from dot-coms to entrenched businesses — enterprises, and that has taken time. You have to convert the sales force, there are a lot more people chasing after the same amount of business now, and enterprises have a much more diligent and stringent approval process than dot-coms did. When you go to sell an enterprise, you have to fill out a request for a proposal and you have to pass all of their investigatory procedures to determine whether or not their data is going to be safe in your data center, whether or not your network is reliable enough or redundant enough that you won’t have data loss or data downtime, etc. So the sale cycle is a lot longer, it’s tougher, it’s less price-sensitive, but at the same time, we think demand continues to grow at a slow pace and will accelerate when technology spending recovers, whenever that is. So selling their wares right now is the key point, because capacity additions are not that important anymore, and access to capital is zero. They’ re not going to get more money, and what they have to do is grow into what they have right now. So they have to grow into their capacity and they have to grow into their debt, and that’s going to take time.

This special issue includes:

1) Wireless Communications & Mobile Computing - In an in-depth (1,600 words) Analyst Interview, Samuel May, Managing Director of U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray Inc., examines the outlook for the sector and shares specific stock recommendations.

2) Mobile Computing Communications - In an in-depth (4,100 words) Analyst Interview, William Crawford, Vice President at U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray Inc., examines the outlook for the sector and shares specific stock recommendations.

3) Business Commerce & Software - In an in-depth (2,200 words) Analyst Interview, Jon Ekoniak, Vice President at U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray Inc., examines the outlook for the sector and shares specific stock recommendations.

4) Entertainment Software Stocks - In an in-depth (2,700 words) Analyst Interview, Anthony Gikas, Vice President of U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray Inc., examines the outlook for the sector and shares specific stock recommendations.

5) Collaborative Enterprise Commerce - In an in-depth (2,600 words) Analyst Interview, Timothy Klein, Research Analyst at U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, examines the outlook for the sector and shares specific stock recommendations.

6) Outlook for Optical Components - In an in-depth (1,700 words) Analyst Interview, Conrad Leifur, Vice President of U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, examines the outlook for the sector and shares specific stock recommendations.

7) Technology & Business Services - In an in-depth (2,800 words) Analyst Interview, Brett Manderfeld, Vice President of U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, examines the outlook for the sector and shares specific stock recommendations.

8) Education & Learning Services - In an in-depth (2,300 words) Analyst Interview, Mark Marostica, Senior Research Analyst covering Learning Services at U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, examines the outlook for the sector and shares specific stock recommendations.

9) Broadband Service Delivery - In an in-depth (3,600 words) Analyst Interview, Frank McEvoy, Vice President of U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray Inc., examines the outlook for the sector and shares specific stock recommendations.

10) Internet Media & Commerce - In an in-depth (4,200 words) Analyst Interview, Safa Rashtchy, Vice President of U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, examines the outlook for the sector and shares specific stock recommendations.

11) Communication Services Companies - In an in-depth (4,000 words) Analyst Interview, Cary Robinson, Vice President of U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray Inc., examines the outlook for the sector and shares specific stock recommendations.

12) CEO and Sponsored interviews (average 2,500 words). Top management of sixty-one sector firms examine the outlook for their firm and the sector.