Mr. Godfrey: Our focus is on the enterprise software applications used by Global 2000 companies. The different verticals that I focus on are systems management, ERP, integration, customer relationship management and the platform space. The companies that comprise these verticals include Microsoft (MSFT), Computer Associates (CA), Siebel Systems (SEBL) and TiBco Software (TIBX), just to name a few.
TWST: Chris, how do you define computer software at Merrill Lynch? What
do you include in your coverage?
Mr. Shilakes: Much the same as ABN Amro. The first category is
enterprise application software, which would include everything from
Ariba (ARBA) and PeopleSoft (PSFT) to Siebel and SAP (SAP). We also
cover enterprise infrastructure software, which would include a lot of
the platform technologies that George mentioned, such as Microsoft and
Computer Associates, as well as BEA (BEAS), BMC (BMC) and Oracle (ORCL).
We would also put the integration vendors broadly in that space,
including companies such as SeeBeyond (SBYN), Vitria (VITR), webMethods
(WEBM) and so on. We have an analyst who covers the enterprise
analytics space, which includes the business intelligence and content
management areas ' everything from Business Objects (BOBJ) and Cognos
(COGN) to Informatica (INFA) and Interwoven (IWOV). We also have an
infrastructure management analyst, and he covers the storage, security
and network management segments, but that's not my primary coverage
area. So I think you'll find that George and I pretty much overlap on
the major, large cap names in the sector.
Tickers included in this excerpt: ARBA, BEAS, BMC, BOBJ, BORL, CA, COGN, CSCO, EMC, EPNY, INFA, ININ, IWOV, MERQ, MSFT, NOVL, ORCL, PSFT, PVTL, SAP, SBYN, SEBL, SFA, SY, TIBX, VITR, VRTS, WEBM
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