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The week ahead: Bigwigs hit Internet World

The conference will feature Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and CMGI CEO David Wetherell, among others. Also this week: high-tech bellwether Amazon.com reports earnings.

9 min read
Following are some of the notable tech-related events scheduled for the week of Oct. 23-27.

The Internet World conference will be held this week with a weighty list of speakers including Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, CMGI CEO David Wetherell and Robert Rubin, chairman of the executive committee at Citigroup.

Other speakers at the conference in New York will include Paul Ottelini, executive vice president of the architecture business group at Intel; Barry Schuler, president, interactive services group at America Online; and Bill Gross, CEO of Idealab.

More earnings are also on tap, including reports from network equipment providers Lucent Technologies and Nortel Networks. The Tuesday announcements will likely to be a tale of two companies on different paths.

While Nortel has benefited from a boom in sales of optical-based networking equipment, Lucent has struggled with a number of strategic decisions. As a result, Lucent will disclose numbers that were recently revised downward, while Nortel is expected to deliver another booming quarter to investors who are thirsty for some positive earning news.

Other companies announcing earnings this week include Amazon.com, Ask Jeeves, Excite@Home, AT&T Wireless, Inktomi, JDS Uniphase, S3, Organic and Sapient.

The information was gathered from First Call/Thomson Financial, Hoover's Online, CCBN's StreetEvents and CNET Investor.

Other events scheduled this week:

Tech Events

Monday, Oct. 23

  • The Internet World conference will be held in New York from Oct. 23 through Oct. 27. The following is a partial list of featured speakers: Paul Ottelini, executive vice president, architecture business group at Intel; Barry Schuler, president, interactive services group at America Online; Larry Ellison, CEO, Oracle; Robert Rubin, chairman of the executive committee at Citigroup; David Wetherell, CEO, CMGI; Bill Gross, CEO, Idealab.

  • Adobe Systems will split its stock 2-for-1.

  • Business 2.0 will sponsor a conference from Oct. 22 through Oct. 24 at the Monterey Conference Center in Monterey, Calif. The focus of the conference will be the "10 Driving Principles of the New Economy." Keynote speakers will include Dr. Gary Hamel, chairman of Strategos, and Robert H. Reid, CEO of Listen.com, an Internet music directory, and author of "Architects on the Web."

  • Wealthy on the Web is a conference that will focus on reaching and retaining affluent customers online. The conference will be held Oct. 23 through Oct. 25 in Cambridge, Mass.

  • The Federal Trade Commission and Social Security Administration will hold workshops Oct. 23 through Oct. 25 in Washington on how to prevent electronic identification theft. Eric Gerlter, CEO of Privista, will focus on how businesses can prevent this crime, which could happen to as many as 750,000 people in the next year. The workshops are at the Department of Health and Human Services, First Floor Auditorium, Cohen Building, 330 Independence Ave. S.W., Washington, DC, 20201.

Tuesday, Oct. 24
  • Genentech will split its stock 2-for-1.

  • The Cyberspace and the Securities Laws conference will take place at the Hyatt Rickeys in Palo Alto, Calif., between 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Brian J. Lane, the former director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Corporation Finance will chair the event. Rules for doing business in the new e-securities world will be covered, including online trading, corporate communications and SEC enforcement.

  • U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Arthur Levitt will deliver an address at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' fall meeting. The meeting will take place at 3:20 p.m. at the Venetian Resort Hotel in Las Vegas.

Wednesday, Oct. 25

  • C.E. Unterberg, Towbin will host an eBusiness Software and Storage Symposium conference on Oct. 25 and Oct. 26 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. Sen. Donald Riegle Jr. will be the keynote speaker, with presentations from several companies including Computer Associates, i2 Technologies and ServiceWare.

  • The Deploying Wireless LANs conference will take place at the Sheraton Brookhollow Hotel in Dallas between Oct. 25 and Oct. 27. The conference will include speakers from companies such as Lucent Technologies and Nortel Networks and is sponsored by Active Communications International.

  • The 2000 Infrastructure: Building Out the Digital Economy conference will take place in Henderson, Nev., between Oct. 25 and Oct. 27. Meta Group is sponsoring the event.

Thursday, Oct. 26

  • The Sony PlayStation 2 goes on sale. In late September, Sony slashed its U.S. shipments of the game console in half because of component shortages. The shortages, coupled with the holiday shopping season, are expected to keep product in great demand.

Friday, Oct. 27

  • Lycos investors will vote on whether to sell the Internet company to Terra Networks of Spain for $5.4 billion in shares, less than half what Terra offered in May.

Earnings

Monday, Oct. 23

  • Drugstore.com operates an online store and information site for health, beauty, wellness, personal care and pharmacy products. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 64 cents.

  • Corning is a global, technology-based corporation that produces optical fiber and cable and manufactures specialized glass products and TV glass panels. Per-share consensus estimate: 35 cents.

  • SBC Communications provides comprehensive telecommunications products and services through a global network of brands and operations in the United States and a number of other countries. Per-share consensus estimate: 56 cents.

  • Tickets.com sells tickets, event information, and related products and services online and through telephone sales and retail stores. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 27 cents.

  • About.com is a collection of targeted, topic-specific Web sites. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 21 cents.

  • Cobalt provides Internet marketing and business-to-business services to the automotive industry. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 44 cents.

  • Corio provides customers application implementation, integration, management, and upgrade services and related hardware and network infrastructure . Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 61 cents.

  • ClickSoftware provides Web-based application software that enables companies to provide service and product delivery in enterprise environments and over the Internet. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 7 cents.

  • Pets.com is an online retailer of pet products, information and resources. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 98 cents.

  • Silicon Graphics provides scalable, computing and visualization solutions for technical and creative customers. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 46 cents.

  • Gadzoox Networks makes hardware and software for the creation of storage area networks. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 30 cents.

Tuesday, Oct. 24

  • Xerox makes document systems by integrating copiers, printers, scanners, fax machines, and software for PCs and workstations. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 19 cents.

  • Ameritrade provides online, phone and fax trading. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 3 cents.

  • Lucent Technologies makes telecom equipment and software. Lucent also makes integrated circuits and telecommunications power systems and is a major supplier to the personal communications services market. Per-share consensus estimate: 17 cents.

  • Nextel Partners uses Motorola's integrated digital enhanced network technology to provide digital cellular, text-numeric paging, and two-way radio services on a single phone. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 30 cents.

  • Storage Networks provides remote online data storage services to clients like Yahoo, Merrill Lynch and AristaSoft. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 44 cents.

  • Amazon.com sells books and other items online. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 33 cents.

  • Ask Jeeves provides a natural-language question and answering search engine on the Internet. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 42 cents.

  • Excite@Home offers broadband Internet connectivity, personalized, Web-based content, and targeted advertising services. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 10 cents.

  • Click Commerce provides business-to-business software products and services that use the Internet to connect manufacturing companies with their distributors and dealers. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 8 cents.

  • Compaq Computer makes PCs, desktops and portable products, and hardware and software. Per-share consensus estimate: 29 cents.

  • Nortel Networks is North America's No. 2 maker of telecom products (Lucent Technologies is No. 1). Its products include switching, wireless and broadband network systems; it also makes fiber-optic systems for high-capacity data and voice networks. Per-share consensus estimate: 16 cents.

  • Razorfish is an e-consulting company that provides a wide range of services including strategic consulting, Web design, and integration with enterprise resource planning and legacy systems. Per-share consensus estimate: 2 cents.

Wednesday, Oct. 25

  • AT&T provides long-distance, wireless and local telephone service, along with Internet access (AT&T WorldNet) and a full range of telecom services for businesses. Per-share consensus estimate: 36 cents.

  • AT&T Wireless is the No. 3 U.S. mobile phone service provider behind Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless (the SBC-BellSouth joint venture). Per-share consensus estimate: 2 cents.

  • Forrester Research is a market research firm focused on the Internet and technology. It supplies hundreds of reports and briefs to its some 1,800 corporate clients, providing insight into market forces, industry trends, business strategy and consumer behavior. Per-share consensus estimate: 21 cents.

  • PeoplePC sells memberships whereby customers pay a monthly fee and receive a name-brand computer (replaced every three years) with warranty, Internet access, and access to its buyers' club. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 56 cents.

  • WebMethods makes XML-based business-to-business software used to improve supply chain management by linking together the procurement, order processing, inventory management, shipping and fulfillment, and enterprise resource planning of business affiliates. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 11 cents.

Thursday, Oct. 26

  • Lockheed Martin is the world's No. 2 aerospace and defense firm behind Boeing. Per-share consensus estimate: 24 cents.

  • Nextel Communications is a digital mobile phone operator that provides business users with wireless phone service, two-way radio dispatch, paging and text messaging, all on one handset. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 37 cents.

  • Sony is the No. 2 consumer electronics company. It makes products including semiconductors, DVD players, batteries, cameras, MiniDisc and Walkman stereo systems, computer monitors, and flat-screen TVs. Per-share consensus estimate: N/A.

  • TheStreet.com is a financial Web site that was launched by financial pundit James Cramer. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 37 cents.

  • Buy.com is the No. 2 Internet retailer behind Amazon.com. It sells computers, software, books, golf gear, CDs, DVDs, consumer electronics and games. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 18 cents.

  • Inktomi operates a large-scale network-caching application that it licenses to Internet service providers and corporations to boost network speeds. Its Content Delivery Suite stores content at multiple locations and sends it across separate servers, reducing its distance and delivery time to end users. Per-share consensus estimate: 5 cents.

  • S3 makes products including digital audio players and products for broadband access and home networking. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 29 cents.

  • JDS Uniphase makes laser subsystems and equipment for fiber-optic telecommunications, signal processing, and semiconductor wafer inspection. Per-share consensus estimate: 16 cents.

  • Sapient provides Internet and operational consulting, creative design, software implementation, systems design, and technology development. Per-share consensus estimate: 12 cents.

  • Organic offers services such as marketing, branding, Web site design, email promotion, media relations, and fulfillment. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 3 cents.

Also this week

  • Drkoop.com is an Internet-based consumer health care network addressing subjects such as chronic illness, wellness and nutrition. Per-share consensus estimate: N/A.

  • Women.com operates a network dedicated to women, featuring original content, personalized services, community and online shopping. It was founded to capitalize on the opportunity to provide women with services, information and tools on the Internet. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 19 cents.

Economic Reports

Wednesday, Oct. 25

  • Existing Home Sales are expected to fall to 5.13 million from 5.27 million.

Thursday, Oct. 26
  • Initial Claims refers to the number of people who filed for unemployment benefits. No estimates were immediately available.

Friday, Oct. 27

  • Gross Domestic Product represents the nation's total output of goods and services. This number is expected to rise by 3.4 percent.

  • Durable Goods Orders are expected to increase 0.6 percent.

Also this week

  • Congress adjourns for the year this week, and it's unclear whether the Senate will vote to increase the fees employers pay for each H-1B high-tech visa to $1,000. The House recently approved the measure, sponsored by Rules Committee chairman David Dreier, R-Calif.

  • Congress is expected to vote on a a bill by Sen. John McCain that would require schools and libraries receiving federal funding for technology to obtain at their cost filtering equipment to protect children online.

  • Red Gorilla's physical assets will be auctioned off following the closure of the San Francisco-based application service provider.

  • Technology IPOs include Cquential--a Cambridge, Mass.-based company that helps clients with mobile commerce and content distribution over digital networks--and Aristotle International, which maintains a database of voters for political purposes.