Imagine waking up tomorrow morning with no access to the Internet. No e-mail. No news. No streaming video.

Even though the Internet as we know it is only a couple of decades old, this is still a difficult scenario to comprehend. Entire businesses - literally thousands upon thousands of jobs - exist because of the web.

Now we’re entering an age of Web convergence. Every single element of our old media - radio, television and print - is migrating to the Internet at breakneck speeds.

Within the next five years, the depth of offerings on the Internet and the global population connected to them will grow exponentially. In fact, the worldwide Internet economy is now growing at such a rate it will be next to impossible for content providers to keep up…

Bandwidth is being eaten up left and right by more data-intensive offerings, such as streaming video. Young people are also gobbling up

...

Soapstone Networks Inc. (SOAP) is now a developer of emerging, software-based service and control solutions for service providers' next-generation networks. The company is primarily focused on developing and marketing its Soapstone PNC (Provider Network Controller) framework.Without meaningful current revenues and limited visibility into future revenue, our price target on SOAP is based on the company's cash balance. We estimate that Soapstone will have approximately $6.33 per share in cash in six months, the horizon of our target price. Although the stock is likely to trade below its cash value until Soapstone shows traction from its PNC business, we believe its strong cash balance will provide some support given that it will not burn through all its cash for years. If new initiatives are unsuccessful, it is always possible that the company liquidates or chooses another strategic option to return the cash to its shareholders. ...

We maintain our Hold recommendation on the shares of Soapstone Networks, Inc. (SOAP). The company’s shares continue to drift down with a lack of news regarding customers for its PNC (Provider Network Controller) product.

Soapstone is primarily focused on developing and marketing its Soapstone PNC framework. The company has made several announcements regarding new products, including successful interoperability testing of the IPsphere Forum Service Structuring Stratum. However, it currently appears that PBT, which was expected to be the key driver for PNC, is having a difficult time catching on with tier 1 carriers.

Although we believe it is too early to judge how successful Soapstone products will ultimately be, the company has a strong balance sheet with $7.09 in net cash per share, which will provide some support to the share price. Our price target on SOAP is based on the company’s cash balance.

We estimate that Soapstone will have approximately

...