The week ahead: HP, Cisco host analyst event

Following are some of the notable tech-related events scheduled for the week of Dec. 4 through Dec. 8.

Hewlett-Packard and Cisco Systems will host analyst conferences next week during a tumultuous period for technology stocks.

Cisco's conference comes near the close of one of its more challenging years, when investors have turned their backs on telecommunications companies and many of the equipment providers who serve them.

Chief executive John Chambers and his management team are expected to lay out the company's plans to maintain its growth path, which has seen sales and earnings growth continue to accelerate in recent quarters.

HP will hold its biannual security analyst's conference. The meeting comes following worrisome reports about slowed PC sales and less than one month after HP missed per-share earnings expectations by a dime.

Scheduled speakers at HP's conference include chief executive Carly Fiorina and chief financial officer Bob Wayman.

Also next week, Sun Microsystems will announce its delayed and long-awaited Full Moon, which allows several computers to share jobs across several servers as a way to improve performance and reliability. Full Moon is a key feature to how Sun will expand into increasingly demanding computing markets.

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, Dec. 4

• The Online Exchanges 2000 conference will take place at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers Dec. 4-6. The conference will address how traditional procurement and supply chain practices are "being junked" in favor of an online model. William J. Brodsky, chairman and chief executive officer of the Chicago Board Options Exchange, will be the keynote speaker. Other presenters include Mark Walsh, chairman of VerticalNet, and Dave Perry, chief executive officer of Ventro.

• IBM's Media Seminar will take place at IBM's New York City office on Dec. 4 from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Attendees will be given a sneak preview of IBM's new e-business evaluation tool, which helps corporate executives review their enterprise systems. The event is restricted to members of the news media. For more information contact David Vermillion at (212)320-2313.

• The Electronic Frontier Foundation Technology Fair will take place at the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, room 140, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Berkeley, Calif. iPrivacy will showcase its privacy-enhancing software for e-commerce at the fair.

Tuesday, Dec. 5

• The Digital Economy Conference sponsored by Business Week will take place at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco Dec. 5-6. Speakers will include Richard Belluzzo, vice president of Microsoft's Consumer Group, and Robert Growney, chief operating officer of Motorola.

• Healthcare Forum: Transforming Healthcare in the Internet Era will take place at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta on Dec. 5-7. The conference will discuss how consumers using the Internet will direct their own health decisions, including paying bills and researching drugs.

• The 2000 Politics Online Conference will take place at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. Speakers will include Sam Donaldson from ABCNews.com and Phil Noble of Politics Online.

• The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania will present findings from its archive of the Election 2000 Web campaign, as well as national survey findings, experimental studies of what works on the Web, and case studies of six congressional districts. The event will be held 9:30 a.m. to noon on Dec. 5 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

• Sun Microsystems will split its stock 2-for-1.

• The Bluetooth Developers Conference will take place at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, Calif., Dec. 5-7. The conference will explore issues relating to Bluetooth, a short-range wireless technology that allows gadgets such as cell phones and handhelds to share data without cords. Speakers will include Stephen Nachtsteim, vice president of Capital, and Frank Spindler, vice president of Intel Architecture Group.

• The AICPA National Conference on Current SEC Developments will take place at the Marriott Metro Center in Washington, D.C., Dec. 5-7. Attendees will hear the latest SEC changes and updates.

Wednesday, Dec. 6

• The Wireless Billing Systems and Mediation conference will take place at the DoubleTree Hotel Buckhead in Atlanta. The conference will look at how to build profitable business models for mobile Internet and e-commerce services.

• The Enterprise Web and Portal Conference will take place at Hyatt Orlando in Kissimmee, Fla. The conference will focus on the role corporate portals can play in distributing information to employees.

• The Wireless Office Conference will take place at the Cathedral Hill Hotel in San Francisco Dec. 6-7. The conference will focus on the development of wireless office solutions.

• The Online CRM for Financial Services eCustomer Intimacy Series will take place at the Adam's Mark Hotel in Philadelphia Dec. 6-7. The conference will focus on specific financial industry challenges and the latest CRM technologies.

Thursday, Dec. 7

• The Jupiter Entertainment Forum will take place at the Regal Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles Dec. 7-8. The conference will explore the convergence of television, film and the Internet, focusing on broadband and digital television.

	Earnings

Monday, Dec. 4

• Datatec installs computer network hardware and software for large corporations. Per-share consensus estimate: 2 cents.

• Lernout and Hauspie Speech makes speech recognition, dictation, and translation software. Per-share consensus estimate: N/A.

Wednesday, Dec. 6

• Caldera Systems makes Linux-based operating system for PCs and Web servers. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 22 cents.

Thursday, Dec. 7

• National Semiconductor integrates circuits used in communications devices, networking equipment and automobiles. Per-share consensus estimate: 51 cents.

• SBE makes high-speed computer communications controllers and remote-access networking products. Per-share consensus estimate: N/A

	Economic Reports

Monday, Dec. 4

• One-family New Home Sales for the month of October are expected to fall to 920,000 from September's 946,000. In October 1999, the Commerce Department reported 906,000 one-family homes were sold.

• The index of Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) is expected to fall 0.1 percent for October as compiled by the Conference Board, a business group. In September, the LEI stayed unchanged. The index, designed to signal peaks and troughs in the business cycle, is a combination of 10 indicators, including consumer expectations, money supply data, and the change in housing permits issued.

Tuesday, Dec. 5

• The Non-Manufacturing Index is a measure of business activity in the services sector. In the most recent report, the National Association of Purchasing Management reported that its index fell 4 points to 58 percent in October from September.

• Factory Orders is a Commerce Department calculation that represents the percentage change in the dollar volume of new orders, shipments, unfilled orders and inventories reported by U.S. manufacturers. September orders rose 1.6 percent, and analysts expect a drop of 0.3 percent for October.

Wednesday, Dec. 6

• Productivity is a measure of the efficiency of goods and services being produced. Wall Street expects the Department of Labor to revise third-quarter productivity gains to 3.5 percent from the preliminary 3.8 percent released in early November.

Also this week

• Intel and Analog Devices are expected to announce their first digital signal processor, the chip used to power cell phones. The two companies have scheduled a 9:30 a.m. PST telephone press conference for Tuesday.

• High-end storage leader EMC will debut a lower-end storage product Tuesday that will compete more directly with Network Appliance, another giant of the data-storage landscape.

• Sunwill announce its delayed and long-awaited Full Moon software Tuesday.

• HP will brief Wall Street analysts Wednesday for its twice-yearly security analyst meeting. Speakers will include CEO Carly Fiorina; CFO Bob Wayman; Pradeep Jotwani, president of HP's consumer business; Ann Livermore, president of HP's business customer organization; Carolyn Ticknor, president of the imaging and printing division; and Duane Zitzner, president of the computing systems division.

• Networking behemoth Cisco Systems will hold a conference for financial analysts Monday and Tuesday in San Jose, Calif.

• Several technology IPOs are scheduled to debut next week, including Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor, and Gemplus International, which makes smart card-based products for security and mobile applications.