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[IP] more on Retrospective analyses of Y2K





Begin forwarded message:

From: Joel M Snyder <Joel.Snyder@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: May 31, 2006 2:35:06 PM EDT
To: doug@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: brian.randell@xxxxxxxxx, dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IP] Retrospective analyses of Y2K

Doug:

I strongly agree with the 'shifting budget' argument. I have long said that one of the reasons that people saw such a slowdown is that there was this enormous bump of people refreshing ALL their PCs and servers in 98/99 and then they just didn't need to buy them in 2000/2001/2002. So if you looked at the graph up to 99, you predicted a lot of "hockey stick up and to the right" spending, which was really anomalous.

I'm not sure how much that can be blamed for other ills within the economy, but I think your argument is supportable (with other evidence, of course).

I have taken the current SarbOx/GLBA and associated a new phrase with it; I have been using it in lectures: "It's Y2K all over again." This means that people are able to go into their CFO's office, throw a Purchase Requisition under his/her nose, and say "this is for regulatory compliance" and BOOM out comes the cash.

So the question to research (and fairly quickly) is: is this true? And, if so, can your conclusions about Y2K spending be fast-forward applied to 2005/2006 spending in IT? Is there another boom/bust that technology companies, especially those in the security space, are going to see?

I suspect not entirely, because regulatory compliance is of smaller scope than "every single company in the world," but there is some parallel.

jms
--
Joel M Snyder, 1404 East Lind Road, Tucson, AZ, 85719
Phone: +1 520 324 0494 (voice)  +1 520 324 0495 (FAX)
jms@xxxxxxxxx    http://www.opus1.com/jms    Opus One


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