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What Congress Doesn't Know Will Hurt You

What Congress Doesn't Know Will Hurt You
Basic accounting know-how would improve questions at hearings.
Tuesday, July 23, 2002
By Daniel Roth

When the House Committee on Financial Services hauled top WorldCom executives onto Capitol Hill in early July, its intent was to uncover how and why the telco booked nearly $4 billion of operating expenses as capital expenditures. But with ex-CEO Bernie Ebbers and ex-CFO Scott Sullivan taking the Fifth, little was revealed--except this: Many members of Congress need a refresher course in accounting (remedial American history wouldn't hurt either). In the interest of helping our Representatives, we asked a few professors to deconstruct some of the questions:

Can EMC Restore Its Glory?

Can EMC Restore Its Glory?
The hardware juggernaut's answer to its problems: software.
Monday, July 8, 2002
By Daniel Roth

In August 2001, two dozen coders, product managers, and marketers at storage kingpin EMC were sitting in a conference room on the company's sprawling campus outside Boston. The gathering was routine: The group was plotting a road map for the latest release of EMC's ControlCenter software. One programmer explained to Erez Ofer, who oversees the group, how a certain piece of the software would help power EMC's crown jewel: the Symmetrix box, a data-storage system that can cost several million dollars. Ofer stopped him. "I think you should build that for Hitachi instead," he said, invoking an EMC archrival. The room fell silent. Then came a reply: "Are you serious?"

He was, and so is EMC. In an attempt to regain its past glory, the beleaguered company is rolling out a bold new strategy. Since 1991, when it practically invented the modern storage market, EMC has defined itself first and foremost as a hardware company, albeit one that sold pretty darn good software. But the technology world has turned upside down, so EMC is attempting a flip of its own--emphasizing software instead of hardware. And if that means embracing Hitachi's or any other competitor's technology, so be it.