The overall evaluation results of the first nine visits are shown in the next graph (10=highest)
From 17 - 26 June 1999, the Silicon Valley Association (Switzerland) conducted the tenth study tour to Silicon Valley. The tour comprised 8 company visits, one panel on the Palo Alto Fiber-to-the-home project, a visit to International Business Incubators in San Jose and finally a visit to the MAE-WEST Internet switch of MCIWorldcom in San Jose. Except for the last two, all the visits were evaluated by 11 of the 12 tour participants.
This report represents the observations of the participants after the visits.
| Date | Day | Company | Speakers | Topics |
| 18 June 1999 | Friday | Garage.com Palo Alto |
Andy Scott, Director, Investor Development | Finding and Funding High-Tech Startups |
| Good to get insight in this interesting company | ||||
| Fiber-to-the-home-project Palo Alto |
Peter Alan Nanospace, Murray Suid FTTH trial neighborhood Michael Silverton, Fiberhood Networks Joe Villa-Real, Ondas Network | All about the Palo Alto Fiber Network and the home trial | ||
| Not really relevant to me, but interesting Interesting, varied presentation an on-site visit was lacking | ||||
| Apple Computer Cupertino |
Jesse Stein, Product Line Manager, Hardware Technologies Steve Sullivan, Product Line Manager, Software Technologies Carl Flygare, Business Development Kevyn Shortell, Technology Manager for Linux | Hardware Update Software Update Multimedia Solutions Dinner in the Piano Bar Linux | ||
| Good to see them back again They are back! All very professional It is always interesting to visit Apple | ||||
| 21 June 1999 | Monday | Photo Access Palo Alto |
Gene Wang, founder and CEO Mark Huffman, Director of Sales |
Next generation digital e-cameras can far exceed today's limited digital cameras. E-cameras will provide the fastest easiest way to share pictures on the Internet. |
| Very Interesting to see how and by which means people start new companies | ||||
| PriceWaterhouseCoopers Technology Center , Menlo Park | John du Pré Gauntt, Management Consulting Services |
High end overview of findings in the Electronic Business Technology Forecast and Technology Due Diligence | ||
| Very interesting as the content of the presentation gave an excellent idea on how big corporations such as PWC do their market intelligence technology wise | ||||
| ImaginOn, San Carlos | David M.Schwartz, founder and CEO |
Navigating the Internet by driving through a Movie. Effortlessly acquiring information, pictures, charts and data from the Internet. Interactive Video and Web Pages without a browser. | ||
| Good product, but the presention was not professional at all Also interesting as it shows that start-up an companies going public can be of very different kinds | ||||
| Digital Island, San Francisco (meeting was held in the Carnelian room of the Bank of America building) | Allan Leinwand, VP Engineering and CTO Tim Wilson,VP Marketing |
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| 21 June 1999 | Tuesday | Extreme Networks Santa Clara |
Gordon Stitt, CEO George Prodan Harry Silverglide, Bill Kelly |
Company Overview Product Overview Sales/Business Overview |
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| INTEL Corporation Santa Clara |
Russell Beutler, MBA Intern William S. Fellner, Program Manager |
Introduction to Intel Intel's Server Strategy | ||
| Too pushy, but interesting More of a sales pitch, Investment fund information was interesting Interesting to look inside a very large corporation and to be able to approach them directly for venture capital funds | ||||
| 25 June 1999 | Friday | International Business Incubators, San Jose (No evaluation by the participants) |
Barbara Harley, Director Warren Rosten, Business Development Manager |
IBI has been involved in the development and implementation of 6 business incubators, and is the only international incubator in the US. |
| 25 June 1999 | Friday | MCIWorldcom, San Jose No evaluation by the participants) |
Ray Vidicki, Manager MAE-West |
Visit to MAE-West, one of the biggest Internet Switching Centers in the world |
The overall evaluation results of the first nine visits are shown in
the next graph (10=highest)
Several special events were also on the program: a tour of the Stanford campus, a visit to Fry's electronics, the largest electronic supermarket in the world. Most participants spent the Sunday sightseeing in San Francisco, while the rest visited the "Wings over Moffett" airshow in Mountain View.
Three out of ten participants would work for Extreme Networks (if they had the choice).
Seven out of ten would invest in Extreme Networks (if they had the money).
The overall results of the tour evaluation on a ten point scale are shown in the next graph.
