Tom Taulli

It sounds like an oxymoron: high-flying RadioShack. It seems that whenever I need some batteries or cabling, my first thought is to go to RadioShack . And there is usually a RadioShack nearby (apparently, 94 percent of all Americans live or work within five minutes of a RadioShack). The company had humble beginnings, founded as […]

In the mid 1800s, Julius Reuter saw opportunity where others saw a problem: There was a gap between the telegraph lines of Belgium and Germany. So, he set up a system of carrier pigeons to deliver stock quotes between the two countries. He knew that financial information needs to be current and accurate. Of course, […]

From May 1995 to December 1997, Integrated Telecom Express (ITE) was basically a supplier of integrated circuits, as well as related software solutions. But the company sold this line of business and instead rushed on the bandwagon of the red hot broadband equipment industry. It was definitely a good move. After all, the company is […]

In a recent initiative, President Clinton has set the goal to cut medical errors by 50% over the next five years. True, there will be some whiz-bang technologies to help out. But sometimes low-tech solutions can be just as effective. A case in point is bar coding. This technology can be used for such things […]

Glenn Ballman started his business in 1996. Like a typical start-up, he launched operations from his home. But by 1997, he got a lease and had about six employees. By early 1999, the company received $11.7 million in venture funding. As of March 2000, there was an IPO, raising $230 million. What was the company? […]

The completion of the Genome Project is definitely epochal. However, there is a problem: How do you make use of the huge amounts of data? Well, there are companies that have solutions. Of course, these companies are using advanced computer techniques. It has spawned a whole new field called computational genomics. A leader is Compugen […]

What looks good for the IPO market this week? Reply: I like PECO II. The company was founded in 1988 and at that time, purchased key technologies and a manufacturing facility from ITT. Now PECO II is a leader in power systems for the fiber optic marketplace. PECO II’s technology deals with such things as […]

The founder of Bluefly got the idea for his company when he had a frustrating day shopping. He was looking for off-price designer apparel, but every store seemed to be disorganized. There had to be a better way: the Internet. He launched Bluefly.com in 1998 and since then, it has become a dynamic place to […]

By IPO standards, WJ Communications is quite old. The company was founded in 1957 and was originally a developer of microwave devices for the defense and space industries. Of course, these industries have not been hot – so WJ Communications has been shifting. Now, the company is cutting-edge, with products geared for fiber optics, broadband […]

No doubt, the telecom equipment market has been hot. And, of course, there have been plenty IPOs in the space. The latest is VINA Technologies. Expect it to be strong, as well. VINA has a top-notch management team. The CEO, Steven Bauman, was a principal at GeoPartners Research and vice president of virtual private networks […]

Of course, America Online is more than America. In a sense, the company wants to be World Online. To satisfy its global ambitions, this week AOL launched the IPO of AOL Latin America (let’s call it AOLA for short). In the IPO, AOLA raised about $200 million. Unfortunately, the aftermarket performance was quite lackluster. On […]

It has been a nuclear winter for e-tailing stocks. One theory is that pure online companies cannot survive; that is, there needs to be a brick-and-mortar dimension to the business. Then again, look at barnesandnoble.com. The stock has been languishing. Another company that has a brick-and-mortar dimension is 1-800-FLOWERS . The founder of the company, […]