IT Industry Research

[thefatbaboon]

Hi All,

 

Can anyone point me to a detailed Primer, introduction etc for the IT Industry?  I have no IT background and I've found researching this space a nightmare because of the disparate sources, technical jargon and marketing hyperbole.  I'd like to understand where all the big companies fit and how they compete.

 

Thanks!

[augustabound]

I don't have one for I.T. but I usually google by file type "pdf".

 

https://www.google.ca/#q=filetype:pdf+information+technology+industry+primer

 

I find searching by pdf bypasses all the typical internet crap and you usually find some equity reports by big brokers and some universities.

You could also change industry primer to equity research in your search.

[oddballstocks]

The problem is there is no "IT Industry", there are many different subsets and each is different.  There might be some general research, but you're essentially asking for "energy industry research" do you mean utilities, or oil and gas, or exploration companies etc.

 

Once you can narrow down what you're looking for Gardner and Forester are two IT specific research companies.  You can typically find good company specific research and market research on almost any segment you can imagine.

[thefatbaboon]

I'm looking primarily at IBM, Oracle, SAP…but I'd also be interested in understanding how some of the others fit like Microsoft, HP, Dell, Cisco, Juniper, Red Hat, VMWare, EMC.

 

Over the last year I've listened to tons of Analyst Days, read tons of 10Ks but I've found it really tough going.  There is so much spin.  All of them claim to be "Number 1" in the same areas.  All the jargon is incredibly tiring: Pure, Exadata, Exalogic, Smarter this Smarter that. 

 

Ultimately I hope to understand the overall structure of the industry well enough to have an opinion about competitive advantage.  Unfortunately this is proving much trickier than anything else I've done.  I don't think I've ever invested so much time for so little knowledge in my investing career! 

[augustabound]

I have one on the Semiconductor industry that hopefully you find useful.

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7ZQujnVzj_9RjZHSjdTaUpzS1U/edit?usp=sharing

 

[Palantir]

Just start reading different articles, and you'll get a picture slowly. Infoworld.com is a good place to start.

[eclecticvalue]

Try looking at gartner research reports. They specialize in IT.