The week ahead: Sun's services; Cisco's earnings

Following are some of the notable tech-related events scheduled for the week of Feb. 5 through Feb. 9.

Sun Microsystems will unveil its Web services initiative Monday, outlining how software developers can use the Java programming language to build Web services.

Sun Chief Executive Scott McNealy is expected to make the announcement on Monday at a conference dubbed "The Net Effect: To Services and Beyond."

The announcement is significant as Sun attempts to regain equal footing with rival Microsoft, which over the summer unveiled its own Web services plan based on the Windows operating system.

Also next week, Cisco Systems will announce its fourth-quarter and year 2000 earnings. Analysts will be listening for predictions for 2001.

Cisco is one of the only blue-chip technology companies that celebrated the new year virtually unscathed by the economic slowdown. Unlike its peers in the semiconductor, telecom and PC industries, Cisco did not issue an earnings warning or announce any major restructuring plans. Analysts will be on alert to hear if Cisco's good fortune will continue.

Other companies scheduled to announce earnings next week include Snowball.com, TheStreet.com and Razorfish. Snowball and TheStreet have both suffered from the sharp drop in Internet advertising, while Razorfish, a Net consulting company, has been affected by the overall dot-com die-off.

Forecasts from these companies will offer some clue to the future recovery of the Internet economy.

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

Other events scheduled this week:

	Tech Events

Monday, Feb. 5

• The Annual National Automobile Dealers Association Convention will take place at the Las Vegas Convention Center Feb. 3-6. Speakers will include General Motors CEO Richard Wagoner.

• Sun Microsystems will host The Net Effect: To Services and Beyond at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Sun's CEO Scott McNealy and President Ed Zander will showcase the company's smart Web services.

• Banc of America Securities will host the Technology Week conference at the Ritz Carlton in San Francisco Feb.5-8. Speakers will include Nokia President Pekka Ala-Pietila, Veritas Software CEO Gary Bloom, and Juniper Networks CEO Scott Kriens.

• Merrill Lynch will host the Internet Infrastructure Services Conference at the St. Regis Hotel in New York on Feb. 5. Speakers will include Exodus Communications CEO Ellen Hancock, Equinox CEO Peter Van Camp, and Digex CEO Mark Shull. For more information call (212) 236-7072.

• The Project Lens Identity Conference will take place at the Monterey Convention Center Feb.4-6. Scientists, technologists, business leaders, and policy-makers will convene to discuss changing human identity in the face of rapid technological advances. Speakers will include John Bentivoglio, chief privacy officer for the Justice Department; Larry Irving, CEO of UrbanMagic.com and former advisor to the president on Internet issues; Dean Hamer, geneticist at the National Cancer Institute, and Anne Foerst, theological adviser to the Cog and Kismet AI projects at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab.

• Internet Commerce Latin America will take place at the Hyatt Regency in Miami Feb. 5-6. Sponsored by Jupiter Communications, the conference will explore the future of Latin America's Internet markets. Speakers include Charles Herington, CEO of AOL Latin America, and Jose Soriano, founder of Red Cientifica Peruana.

• Designing a Virtual University: Strategies for Enterprisewide E-learning will take place at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco Feb. 4-7. Speakers include Brad Luckhaupt, vice president of NCR Global Learning, and Gregory W. Cappelli, director of the Global Equity Research team for Credit Suisse First Boston.

• The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers will hold its annual International Solid State Circuits Conference at the San Francisco Marriott Hotel Feb. 5-7. Leading researchers from companies and the academia will present papers at the convention on breakthroughs in semiconductor design. Intel CTO Pat Gelsinger will deliver a keynote speech.

Tuesday, Feb. 6

• Server I/O will take place at the Monterey Convention Center Feb. 5-8. The conference will address server, networking and storage markets.

• The Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau will host the Cable Advertising Conference at the Marriott Marquis in New York City on Feb. 6. Speakers include Mindshare CEO Irwin Gotlieb, Ford Motor Global Media Manager Mark Kaline, and Viacom President Mel Karmazin.

• Kaufman Brothers will host the All-Optical Networks 2001, which will take place at the Renaissance Dallas North Hotel Feb.6-8. The event will explore the developments in optical switching, access, transport and components. Speakers include David Andersen, director research and development at Agilent Technologies, and Greg Nulty, vice president at Ocular Networks.

• The TeleStrategies OSS World 2001 Conference will be held at the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Feb.6-9. Companies that will be attending include Telcordia Technologies, Verizon Communications, and Lucent Technologies.

Wednesday, Feb. 7

• Verizon will host an analyst meeting at the Sheraton Hotel in New York.

• Hunt-Scanlon will host the Achieving Human Capital Advantage Conference at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, Feb. 7 - 8. Companies that will be attending include Accel Partners, ChiefMonster.com and GE Capital.

Friday, Feb. 9

• Leggs Mason will host the Telecommunication Conference at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. Speakers include Telecom Wireless Research Vice President Sean Butson, CenturyTel CEO Glen Post and Nextel Partners CEO John Chapple.

	Earnings

Monday, Feb. 5

• Intuit makes personal finance software. Per-share consensus estimate: 45 cents.

• iVillage is a Web site targeting women. The site has 15 channels focused on topics including health, food and money. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 38 cents.

• Sagent Technology makes software that lets corporations track sales trends, tailor customer service, and provide data to selected consumers. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 19 cents.

• Simple Technology makes memory products including DRAM (dynamic random access memory), SRAM (static random access memory) and flash memories. Per-share consensus estimate: 14 cents.

• Women.com operates a network of Web sites aimed at women. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 35 cents.

Tuesday, Feb. 6

• Sonic Solutions sells hardware and software for professional audio and video workstations. Per-share consensus estimate: N/A.

• Cox Communications provides cable TV service, digital cable TV, and some local and long-distance phone services. The company is using its fiber-optic networks to push its move into the telecommunications and Internet arenas. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 21 cents.

• Cisco Systems controls more than two-thirds of the global market for routers and switches that link networks and power the Internet. Per-share consensus estimate: 19 cents.

• Microstrategy makes software that lets companies comb their databases for sales trends, customer behavior, and other hidden patterns useful for marketing plans. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 40 cents.

Wednesday, Feb. 7

• PeoplePC sells computer packages that let individuals pay a monthly fee and receive a new computer every three years. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 63 cents.

• America Online Latin America sells Internet access in Latin American markets. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 42 cents.

• Applied Microsystems makes testing and analysis software. Per-share consensus estimate: N/A

• Ask Jeeves operates a native language search engine and Internet portal. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 52 cents.

• Barnesandnoble.com is an online bookseller. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 31 cents.

• Emusic.com lets consumers sample or buy music that can be downloaded from the Internet in an MP3 format. The company has suffered as more consumers turn to sites like Napster where they can download music for free. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 20 cents.

• Time Warner Telecom operates as a competitive local-exchange carrier (CLEC) in offering integrated broadband communications services primarily to long-distance carriers, ISPs, wireless companies, and government agencies. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 8 cents.

Thursday, Feb. 8

• TheStreet.com operates a financial news Web site. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 29 cents.

• Organic provides services including marketing, branding, Web site design, and e-mail promotion for client companies. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 20 cents.

• Razorfish provides Web design and integration with systems. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 20 cents.

• Snowball.com is a hub for information and entertainment channels, including ChickClick, which is aimed at young women; IGN, which offers video games and science fiction; SportsUniversity, a site for college sports; and PowerStudents, a site for high school and college students. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 32 cents.

	Economic Reports

Monday, Feb. 5

• The National Association of Purchasing Managers releases a monthly report compiled from surveys of purchasing managers from 20 industries on manufacturing activity. Wall Street expects the index to decrease to 52 percent for January from 53 percent last month. Analysts interpret index values of more than 50 percent as evidence of an expanding economy, while a number of less than 50 percent indicates contraction.

Wednesday, Feb. 7

• The Consumer Credit report by the Federal Reserve shows the monthly debt assumed by consumers for purposes other than home mortgages. Current estimates for this number were not available.

Thursday, Feb. 8

• Initial Claims refers to the number of people who filed for unemployment benefits each week as reported by the Department of Labor. Claims will be reported for the week of Feb. 3.