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MERRILL LYNCH INTERNET ANALYST HENRY BLODGETT DISCUSSES THE E-BUSINESS MARKET WITH CRN EDITORIAL RESEARCH DIRECTOR JOHN ROBERTS
CRN_ You recently said we've just passed through the "Big Bang" phase of the Internet. Can you explain?
BLODGETT_ I think most emerging technology industries usually go through a period where ... there's initial skepticism. And then, as soon as the technology starts to prove itself, you have an enormous number of companies created, a huge amount of investment in the sector, the usual valuations start to get ahead of themselves, and then you have a shakeout-like the kind of shakeout we've seen in the last year with Internet stocks, where everyone realizes that all trees aren't going to grow to the sky and evaluations crash.
I think that's what we're going through, and I don't think we're done. I think you'll see at least another six months of really tough times for the majority of the companies.
CRN_ The prices of fiber-optic networking stocks recently took a dive. Before that, it was semiconductors, and so on. Is that process finally finished, and can we...