本月福禄克网络公司总裁Chris Odell与Frost & Sullivan “mover and shaker”共享经验
美国福禄克网络公司的总裁Chris Odell*生近日与Frost & Sullivan公司的Jessy Cavazos进行了会谈, Frost & Sullivan公司是业界分析与通讯测试领域的***。在近年来市场不断疲软的前提下，作为在通讯测试业务方面不断保持收益且超越竞争对手的为数不多的公司之*，福禄克网络公司的Chris 应Frost & Sullivan之邀与大家共享经验，分享福禄克网络是如何在不断变化的网络领域中预期并利用市场机遇的。
“网络永远不会越变越慢、越变越小，也永远不会停留在同*个阶段。这就为我们创造了市场机遇。”Odell说：“这也意味着福禄克网络正在与市场同步发展。我们以开创性的故障诊断工具进入网络测试市场，我们还可以提供给用户各类的企业网络管理和电信测试的解决方案。”
[原文：]
Movers & Shakers of the Month
Chris Odell, pdt of Fluke Networks
By Jessy Cavazos, Industry Analyst and Communications Test Sector Leader
Over the years, Fluke Networks has grown and became a major player in the communications test and measurement industry. The company now known as Fluke Networks has gone from being a business unit within Fluke Corporation to being its own separate entity since 2000. Over the past 5 years, the competitive landscape of the communications test & measurement industry has changed dramatically. Fluke Networks is one of its survivors, driving growth and generating continuous profits even through the market collapse. Fluke Networks has consistently outperformed competition. Frost & Sullivan is honored to have the opportunity to feature Fluke Networks as part of its Movers & Shakers program for the month of February '05. Here in discussion with Jessy Cavazos, industry analyst and sector leader of the communication test & measurement team, is Chris Odell, president of Fluke Networks, who agreed to share his view on the current state of the industry and the greatest market opportunities that lie ahead for vendors such as Fluke Networks.
Jessy Cavazos (JC): Fluke Networks is one of the leading vendors in the communications test & measurement industry. Which markets do you consider as primary targets for the company?
Chris Odell (CO): Our business is built around our three key customer segments: Infrastructure, Enterprise and Outside Plant. Our infrastructure business focuses on cable installers, primarily commercial installations but increasingly residential. Our largest business segment is in enterprise networks. We provide solutions for the testing, monitoring and analysis of enterprise and telecommunications networks. We target specifically network operations organizations within enterprises. I think that we are unique in the sense that we serve all of the various types of people within these organizations, from helpdesk technicians all the way up to the network engineer, who is the last resource for troubleshooting and is responsible for the network architecture and the deployment of future technologies. We have a broad portfolio that includes solutions and products targeted at the different types of user, skill level and responsibility. The outside plant portion of our business serves telecom service providers around the world and is undergoing great growth and great change.
JC: Do you include government in the enterprise customer segment?
CO: Municipalities, government, in many cases third-party maintainers, would have similar needs and attributes to an enterprise. So, when I speak of our primary segment being enterprise, it includes not just public companies or enterprises but also government, municipalities, actually third-party maintainers that support those customer enterprise networks as well.
JC: What do you consider as the growing/emerging opportunities in the communications test space?
CO: Today, I think you could aggregate everything under two key drivers. First, there is the constant evolution and adoption of new technologies. As these technologies are invented and eventually deployed within our customer segments, there is a requisite need for being able to test and monitor these technologies, which provides ongoing opportunities for vendors like ourselves that are focused on solutions in the area of network test and performance analysis. An example is the telecom service providers' move into "triple-play" services of voice, data and video. In the enterprise arena, there is further deployment of Gigabit Ethernet. Also, WiFi is obviously a big driver. There is also VoIP. All these technologies continue to drive test equipment requirements.
The second key driver is the increased focus on greater productivity and greater return on IT investment. Regardless of whether you are a datacom installer, an enterprise network manager or an outside plant operations manager, you have increased expectations today to do more with less, to improve the productivity of the workforce you are responsible for, to have a greater return on investment for the capital dollars that are spent on the network infrastructure. Since the market collapse, there has been a lot more suspicion about what solutions can really add value. There is a lot more scrutiny around business case justification and return on investment analysis. There is also a lot more consciousness about spending capital dollars, usually manifested in multiple levels of signature required to be able to make an investment. Our customers require greater productivity and greater return on investment. A vendor's ability to innovate new solutions that really drive productivity improvements and generate a strong return on investment is critical. Our solutions help drive process improvements, provide faster problem resolution and help our customers assess and optimize network performance.
Fluke Networks has been successful on both fronts, responding to new technology adoption as well as recognizing the challenges our customers are up against in terms of productivity improvements and greater ROI.
JC: I agree that customer's behavior has changed dramatically. If we look at the fiber optic test equipment market, for example, such change has resulted in the increased significance of the used test equipment market. I believe that this threat to new test equipment sales still exist and is not likely to go away. Do you agree?
CO: I absolutely agree with that. The fiber test market may be the most acute example of what we are talking about. With the irrational buildout of fiber networks both from an infrastructure standpoint and test vendor standpoint, the question wasn't what or how much as much as when can I get something that I think I might need. There was obviously overcapacity and capital purchases of infrastructure and test equipment way beyond the actual need that is taking a long time to bleed off. Fortunately for us, it wasn't one of our core markets during the boom cycle because most of that was in the long-haul aspects of the network. What you describe is true. It is certainly an indication of more rationality by customers but also a sign of the maturing of our industry where the decision-making process is more disciplined and there are greater expectations for business case analysis and return on investment justification. In the networking world, pre-2000, there was this insatiable appetite for more bandwidth. Wherever the latest and greatest technology was, it was adopted and spending by customers was arguably disproportionate to their total investment at times. Also, it wasn't scrutinized to determine the benefits customers expected compared to the amount spent. Today, the key for Fluke Networks and really any other player in this space is to be able to innovate customer value. If you are successful at innovating customer value where you are meeting those critical needs providing strong ROI, customers will spend the money to get your solution.
I will highlight later several examples of how Fluke Networks innovates on that front but I wanted to talk about one now more specifically. This example pertains to our Infrastructure business where we serve datacom installers. During the recession, there was a slowdown in the commercial building industry. These customers drive demand from that industry such as when new building go up or companies expand. Hence, they went through really tough times. Any capital purchase is a big deal for them. For these customers, it comes down to buying a piece of equipment or a truck. However, in order to be successful, datacom installers have to own test equipment because in order to get paid at the end of an installation, they basically have to test all of the cables and provide documentation that shows everything was installed correctly and the installation meets standards. We serve this marketplace with certification testers and we are in fact the market leader in this arena. These customers have to own the test equipment, but at the same time, they are struggling to stay in business and are not flushed with capital dollars. However, we were able to innovate customer value with a product introduction made in May of last year: a next-generation cable certification product called the DTX. The DTX still certifies cables but also reduces the total time required to certify by four hours a day. This enables customers to save time and do more installations. When we did the ROI justification, we were able to show that this product had an ROI of five months. We have seen tremendous success in turning our installed base where they already have our products but they see the value being brought in by this new tester. It has such a compelling ROI that customers find the capital dollars for it because the payback is in months, not years. Continuing to grow and outperform really depends upon us being able to anticipate customer needs and innovate customer value.
JC: Are there any guidelines in terms of ROI in the industry? In other words, are customers not receptive if the ROI of a product goes beyond a certain length of time?
CO: Yes, there is. It is like a pendulum where in the 1999 timeframe, there was not any ROI expectation. The ROI could have been a long time; it really did not matter, as customers were more concerned with trying to keep up. The pendulum swung hard the other way where test vendors had to show an ROI within a year or else, they would not make the short list in terms of approved capital expenditures. Today, the average is probably still less than 12 months. It is a much tougher sale when the ROI is over a year because most of our customers are public-oriented companies driven by quarterly performance and annual budgets. Hence, this is the horizon they tend to think in. Some of our most strategic customers may look at it from a longer-term perspective but it is still closer to a year than multiple years.
JC: In your opinion, what are some of the key technology trends in the industry? How do you think they will shape tomorrow's communication testing industry?
CO: Networks never go slower, never get smaller and never stay the same. That creates market opportunities. IP technology is having a major impact on the communication testing industry. A key example is VoIP. This creates more network traffic, which impacts all three of our businesses. More cabling is required (infrastructure), more bandwidth from existing systems is required (outside plant) and more efficient network management is required (enterprise).
There is a lot more stabilization or maturation in our market than a year ago. There is no longer a debate about what technology to deploy. Today, particularly in the enterprise world, the network architectures are much more consistent. They are also certainly more reliable and stable. So, there are less interoperability issues and customers become a lot more disciplined in their process and how they manage this mission-critical element of their business. Customers' priorities have shifted from firefighting to maximization of availability and performance of the network. That is not a static environment by any means. It is in fact very dynamic because in the network world there are a lot more things put on the network in terms of enterprise applications and capabilities. Customers are looking for solutions that give them insights on how effectively the network is being utilized, not just from a network traffic perspective, but from an end-user experience perspective. A lot more managers are now accountable for not only service level agreements but also the end-user's experience aspects of these agreements. Increasingly, there is a greater need to understand application performance that runs on the network architecture and understand where the bottlenecks are, when they are not meeting the commitments they made to the end-users. There is still a need for problem resolution, which is where we started and are good at but what you will see from us is the broadening of our portfolio around enterprise-wide network and application performance monitoring systems and analysis.
Another trend that I think is obvious is the rapid convergence of technologies, driven by standards and the fact that no one is debating that it should be Ethernet or IP-based anymore. The convergence and the drive to deliver what is commonly referred to as "triple play" or voice, data and video on the same pipes is a major trend. It impacts both our communication service provider customers as well as our enterprise customers. There are new technologies, challenges and we continue to innovate bringing out new solutions to meet these particular needs.
JC: The industry today is highly dynamic. What are some of the key changes that Fluke Networks has witnessed over the past 12 months? How has the company changed to reflect this evolving marketplace?
CO: I think I have highlighted some in my previous answer. Our market is very dynamic and many significant changes have taken place over the last 12 and even 24 or 36 months. Let's focus on two. As I mentioned, networks have become much more reliable. The bigger question is whether the network is doing what is important. In other words, how do customers improve performance or increase the availability of the network services being offered in an environment where there are increasingly higher expectations in terms of performance and more and more things being pushed across the network infrastructure? This has given Fluke Networks the opportunity to expand from installation and troubleshooting tools into performance analysis. This requires new solutions that can provide an enterprise-wide view of network and application performance. Distributed network and application analysis solutions have been a major growth driver for Fluke Networks for the last several years. From a technology perspective, we have broadened to include WAN links that are obviously a source of bottlenecks and concern for enterprises. We have expanded our analysis capabilities up from layers 1 to 3 to application and performance monitoring. It remains a challenge though, because we are so good at what we started doing i.e. portable network testing. That is what people are most familiar with. However, what I like to point out to customers is that it is much harder to put sophisticated network analysis capabilities in a portable package. Actually, going from portable to distributed is a natural evolution for us, as in many cases it is a lot easier since there are no constraints in terms of power, display size, etc. I think we are well positioned to capitalize on this opportunity; it is just a challenge to be known for a broader set of offerings in the market place.
For our outside plant business the telecom service providers need two things: more productivity from existing resources, and the ability to offer new services. Clearly, there is no service provider today that is not under business pressure to deliver greater growth and profits. Driving down costs in their organization to improve profitability is a major driver. For telecom operators, their largest business expense is the copper infrastructure. Our customers are heavily focused on driving measurable dramatic productivity improvements to allow them to reduce the cost of supporting their existing cable plant. That will allow them to increase profitability but also take the savings and redeploy that into investments to respond to their second major driver, which is accelerating the deployment of their next-generation architecture to be able to be the winner in the delivery of voice, data and video services to the end-user. Satellite providers and telecoms are all competing to become that service provider. Telecoms are making major investments in that area. This is why Fluke Networks has acquired a number of companies in the telecom business, most recently portions of Harris Corporation, to become the only provider today of solutions that can be integrated from field test devices to centralized test devices. We can provide a complete solution for that outside plant workforce that allows them to automatically, when there is a trouble ticket, get access to the information from an OSS standpoint. Customers can rapidly close out trouble tickets responding to situations in a more productive way. By doing that, we have customers spending millions of dollars with us and generating measurable results. Going back to our earlier discussion on ROI expectations, we typically go through over 6 months of field trials in multiple cities to prove out our solution can deliver the business case assertions that are made in terms of productivity improvements or reduction of costs. We have been successful in all these field trials and in the end have customers making significant investment with us to realize these results. That is one of the ways that we have responded to this trend. On the other front, there is significant discussion around the next-generation architecture FTTX, which is fiber going in where it was traditionally just a copper infrastructure. They need to upgrade the infrastructure because ultimately they are most interested in delivering the services that ride on top of it. We have innovated with new products in that space and have been able through rigorous field trials and business justification to show how they can speed the delivery of some of these next-generation services. Again, customers are spending millions of dollars with us to respond to the market force that they are facing.
JC: Could you provide me some examples of how Fluke Networks is showing value to customers who are still under economic pressure?
CO: I have already highlighted two including the DTX product that applies to our cable contractor/datacom installer customer segment. In May 2004, we introduced the DTX CableAnalyzer, a cable certification tool that works five times faster than anything on the market. We used DTX to show customers comparisons between two cable installation teams. One team would use a DTX that they purchased, and the other would use a slower tool that had been given to them at no cost. The DTX team is money ahead within five months.
I have also highlighted what we are doing with our outside plant network operators. Telecom service providers are under substantial pressure to control costs, but they see the value in spending millions to test and upgrade existing assets. They realize that to stay competitive, they must deploy next generation services, quickly and efficiently. Our test equipment helps them be more productive and more competitive.
In the enterprise space, we have similar examples. Two come to mind. The first one is in the area where Fluke Networks has operated traditionally which is the hand-held network tester world. We have products that range from $500 to $25,000 with different feature sets, different user interfaces, each one designed with specific end-user in mind, recognizing different job responsibilities and skill levels. We have been able to put a lot more power in the hands of network engineers and technicians that allow them to resolve problems and respond faster. It keeps the problems from escalating to the highest level of the network operations' organization. In many cases, this has led to less people required because the workforce is more productive.
Over the past couple of years, we have also expanded our offering into the distributed network analysis solution space. Recently, one customer with many branch offices and remote R&D facilities told us that network traffic between offices had slowed to the point that product development was suffering, and the company was considering leasing a number of expensive high-speed WAN links. First, they installed an OptiView WorkGroup Analyzer, which showed a high portion of their bandwidth was being consumed by streaming media. With the information from the WGA, the company changed corporate policies, and they did not lease more bandwidth. This is a case where they are driven by the maximizing utilization and performance of what they have. With a nominal investment, they saved a significant amount of money. All they needed to do was to implement corporate policy changes to allow the current infrastructure to last longer.
I think I have highlighted examples in each of our customer segment, whether it is the datacom installers, the enterprise network operations organizations or the outside plant operators, Fluke Networks has been able to respond to customer trends and innovate customer value and get them to invest in our solutions despite the fact that a lot of these customers have tight capital budgets and severe expectations on ROI.
JC: Fluke Networks' presence in multiple markets and in multiple regions of the world gives the company a broad international view. What markets do you consider to be primary markets for the company and what international markets do you consider as key for future growth?
CO: We are perhaps unique from this perspective. As a quick background, networking and networking technologies are today driven by U.S.-based companies. Over the years, in the communication service provider market, there were distinct geographic differences in technology preferences and customization. When it comes to enterprise-based technology, and certainly with the convergence that we see today, it is IP, it is Ethernet, and things running over these technologies. It is really driven by the U.S and deployed uniformly worldwide. The technologies are fundamentally the same. This provides the opportunity for vendors to capitalize on worldwide opportunities. A lot of the companies in our space are U.S.-based with some worldwide presence, typically 20 to 30 percent of their business is outside of the U.S. We had the advantage that Fluke Networks grew up within Fluke Corporation that has been around for 56 years. By virtue of how long they have been in the market place, they developed a worldwide presence early on. They were present in China in the seventies and all over Europe. As we grew up as a business division and eventually separated out as a separate company, we benefited from that infrastructure. So, historically and today, approximately 50 percent of Fluke Networks' business comes from outside the United States. It is very beneficial to our sustaining performance because not all markets are in the same phase of the cycle at all times. A worldwide presence has allowed us to be stable and continue to grow in a tough environment. We just finished a very good year, with strong growth in the U.S. and Asia/Pac, and stable results in Europe. North America was probably hit the hardest during the downturn and we saw over 2004 the increasing importance of emerging markets such as China and India. These countries represent significant markets for us and we are seeing substantial growth from them. Eastern Europe is another area where we have seen significant growth. As the political climate stabilizes and more countries join the EU, there is a buildout of infrastructure and increasing foreign investments. But the networking business is truly global in nature and we fully expect growth in all markets over time.
JC: What are some of the major challenges for Fluke Networks in the industry today and how do you overcome them?
CO: I would probably look at challenges from an external and internal perspective. From an external perspective, we entered the network test market with groundbreaking troubleshooting tools. We are well known for creating new product categories and becoming the leader in these categories whether it is certification infrastructure or portable network test tools. We are also experts in enterprise management and telecom testing. Our job is to show customers how we have grown. As we broaden our offering to more and more sophisticated solutions, the question is how to send this message across to customers? This remains a big challenge. As I mentioned before, it has been the largest growth driver for Fluke Networks for the past 3 years. We are certainly seeing success but anytime you have a change of market segment or broaden your offering to serve a broader set of needs, it is a long-term proposition to gain leadership in these areas, which is our goal ultimately. We are making good progress but it remains a significant challenge.
From an internal perspective, I would say, "Don't lose the passion and don't rest on your laurels". We need to persist to win and innovate on customer value. This market evolves fast enough that you can have the best solution today and in a year from now, you have missed a major shift in the market. That passion for deep understanding of the customer, for staying current with technology trends, imagining what is possible and being there at the right time when customers have needs has been one of our strength historically but will remain a challenge in the future.
JC: Could you highlight the key strengths and core competencies of Fluke Networks?
CO: Our strength starts by focusing on the customer. We relentlessly pursue the true voice of the customer, then imagine and deliver the right solutions for the job. We develop solutions that surprise and delight those customers. Great engineering and flawless execution are essential, but it begins with the customer. We have a history of innovation but the key for success and the key for success and the core competency is this passionate commitment, this deep understanding of the customer and the responsibility that we take upon ourselves to innovate. We are about achieving market leadership through innovation, things that did not exist previously. This can only based upon the insight we have in terms of the challenges that our customers face, not just what they tell us but also what they face and our understanding of what could be possible. Our customers are very good at telling us what they want to see improvement-wise based on what they know and they will generate incremental improvement. Innovation comes from us being able to drill down deeper, understand the customer at a deeper level, the true challenges that they face, the true needs, and it is our responsibility as experts in testing technologies to imagine what can be required. A perfect example of this is the DTX product we have talked about.
JC: Overall, how would you rate your company's performance in 2004? What do you think has influenced this performance?
CO: Our performance in 2004 was very good across all of our businesses and all geographies. We saw the strongest growth in North America and Asia Pacific. In Europe, it varies, with some countries being slower to recover and Eastern Europe generating more growth. From a global standpoint, the market was better in 2004 than it has been for years. We report to Danaher separately from Fluke Corporation. As a parent company, I could not imagine being owned by a better parent in terms of what they bring to us in terms of operational execution. They are reputed for the Danaher Business System. Many may think that is simply a collection of tools but it is much more than that. It is the rigorous application of a set of business processes, and application of tools that drive consistent performance and real excellence. As a subsidiary of Danaher, we do not publicly state financial details. We can, however, state some general facts. We experienced double-digit sales growth in 2004. We are a profitable entity, and have been every year since our inception as a separate company in 2000 even through the market collapse. Two factors helped drive this performance. The most important is that we continue to innovate customer value by providing the right solutions to our customers. We have also been helped by the global nature of our business. Our market perspective is still cautiously optimistic, but certainly better. The hurdle rates for capital investment approvals are higher and there is a lot more circumspection about what to invest in. They are more focused on getting more from what they already have. We are well positioned for 2005 as we continue to invest in product development, we will continue to bring more products to the market place. We are cautiously optimistic but I think that the market hit bottom and we are recovering. The winners will be the ones that innovate on customer value and secure the most of the customers' spending.
JC: Which end-user groups do you consider as a primary customer target for Fluke Networks' products? What are some of the key technology and testing issues for end-users in the industry today and how does Fluke Networks address those issues through its test solutions? Any specific example?
CO: We serve three primary customer segments; the datacomm contractor, the Enterprise network operations staff and the Outside Plant Operators of Communication Service Providers.
For the Enterprise, our customer is the network operations organization. Historically we have served network engineers and network technicians with innovative new products that have increased productivity and workforce effectiveness by providing the right tool for the job and skill level of the operator; enabling problems to be solved closer to the front line and driving faster problem resolution. In the last couple of years we have also been able to serve the CxO of the IT organization with our enterprise wide network and application performance analysis solutions that help optimize the utilization and performance of the enterprise network.
For our datacomm contractor customers, it's all about time. We continue to serve these customers with industry leading, breakthrough products that dramatically reduces the time required to certify their cabling installations allowing them to do more jobs in less time.
For our Outside Plant Operators, we are providing integrated solutions that drive measurable workforce productivity improvements in support of their existing cable plant as well as solutions that help our customers accelerate the deployment of their next generation FTTx network architecture and delivery of services such as DSL.
JC: In terms of product introduction, what were the key highlights for 2004 and what is in store for 2005?
CO: 2004 was a banner year for new products, and it extended across all three business units:
IntelliTone Toner and Probe Series brought digital technology to the toner and probe market. Digital toning decisively rejects noise and false signals, making it easy to locate the correct cable in a crowded bundle. Cabling Business magazine awarded IntelliTone it "Award of Excellence" in May, 2004.
The DTX CableAnalyzer is the fastest, most accurate cable certification tool in the world. It has the ability to test both copper and fiber, has embedded expert diagnostics and documented test results capability.
The SuperAgent Application Performance Analyzer adds a new look into the network, from the perspective of application response time. Providing information not previously available, SuperAgent quickly identifies delay as a component of the network, server or application, and determines which team owns the escalation.
The EtherScope Network Assistant provides vision into the network to help the user spot problems and solve them faster than ever. This portable, Gigabit LAN analyzer is suited for proactive and reactive problem solving.
The NetDSL Bulk ADSL2+ Qualification System is the fastest and easiest bulk pair verification and wideband service qualification system for telecom next generation triple play services. The product is in use by RBOCs and major PTTs around the world.
There is more is in store for 2005, and we will discuss details as those products are introduced.
JC: Who does Fluke Networks consider to be competition and how does the company differentiate itself?
CO: Competitors are many and varied, and are quite different across our three business units. We differentiate ourselves by focusing more on the customer and their needs, our brand promise, which is delivering Network SuperVision rather than the latest competitive move. This promise is built on three principles:
We offer the right tool to the right person, i.e. delivering the right tool for the job and the person doing it. Not everyone has the same level of responsibility so you cannot assume that all customers need the same thing. We designed our products with this fact in mind.
We provide more ways to look into the network.
Each solution provides unique vision into the network. We set a high hurdle with our products and each one requires having something unique that did not exist before that adds value to the customer. Hence, you see unique vision being a common theme across our product line. This really stands out when customers are evaluating our offering.
JC: What do you believe are the competitive factors that will enable Fluke Networks to emerge as a stronger and more resilient participant in the future?
CO: As previously mentioned, our parent company, Danaher Corporation, uses a set of management practices called Danaher Business Systems (DBS). DBS has been described as our secret weapon. It is really not a secret. When implemented, it is a formidable weapon.
JC: Are there any alliances or partnerships that you expect to make in the coming year?
CO: Fluke Networks has used a combination of internal resources, acquisitions and partnerships to fill market needs. Current technology partnerships exist with OPNET Technologies, Concord Communications, Cisco Systems, Extreme Networks and Microsoft. New alliances/partnerships will be announced as they come to fruition. It is driven by a core belief in delivering the right solution to the customer. That doesn't necessary mean that we have to be the technology provider in every case; with partners, we can offer a stronger solution to the customer. So partnerships and alliances are an ongoing part of our strategy to meet customer needs because we want to be the best in class at what we are doing. Hence, if we can stay focused on our competencies and allow other companies to compliment your solutions, ultimately the customers are better served and at the same time we stay focused.
JC: What is the strategy in terms of acquisitions? In May 2004, the company acquired parts of Harris Corporation. What do you see as the key benefits of this acquisition for Fluke Networks?
CO: Acquisition is a key part of our strategy. As a parent, Danaher is probably one of the best that I have seen on that front. They have a very strong disciplined process around acquisitions, of unbelievable due diligence process and best in class integration process that makes us 3 to 4 times more successful at acquisition integration than the market overall. We have done several major acquisitions in the last two years, starting back in 2001 with Microtest, LoopExpert in 2003 and more recently portions of Harris Corporation in 2004. They have been very successfully integrated and increased our market share and enable us to strengthen our solution offering to customers. The Harris acquisitions were meant to round out our outside plant offering. We now offer everything from hand tools - pliers, tool belts, butt sets and punch-down tools - to central office test equipment. Fluke Networks is well positioned to offer test solutions for all levels of the service providers' business.
Internal resources, acquisitions and partnerships are all used to foster growth. At this time, there is nothing that can be stated with any specificity regarding acquisitions. Acquisitions are not our only strategy, we have huge investments going in our core markets around organic development of our solutions and you will see both going forward.
JC: What is your take on when the market recovery? Do you think it has begun in 2004?
CO: Fluke Networks is guardedly optimistic. We certainly felt improvements in the market in late 2003 and throughout 2004 across all market segments and geographies. There is a lot more sobriety in the market, a lot more circumspection and expectation around investments and what the actual return for the customer is. We naturally hope that the recovery is long and robust. We also cannot predict or control that. We are well positioned to take advantage of the market conditions as we see them for the coming year. The best we can do is to stay focused on true customer needs. The good thing is that networks are not going away. They are not getting smaller, running slower, or being used for less things. In the next couple of generation's lifetime, what we can do in the form of communication technology in driving business is going to become strategic. I'm pretty bullish on the long-term opportunities being to continue to be responsive to customer needs. Remember, we are not in a static market, it is a dynamic market.
JC: What does the future hold for the communication test & measurement industry and more specifically Fluke Networks?
CO: I think there is going to be more consolidation within the market. It has already started and I believe it will continue. My prediction is that over the next 12 months, you will see a lot more mergers and acquisitions in the industry.
Fluke Networks has been very successful innovating customer value, driving top line growth, sustaining profitability, which makes us a long-term player in achieving leadership in the segments that we targeted. Eventually, we will achieve leadership in the new segments that we are undertaking. I appreciated the opportunity to share with you who we are and what we are about.