Ante Up In A Down Market

Nonetheless, investors are looking for blockbuster hits. These days, they're placing their biggest bets on telecommunications plays. Though a telecom-company craze may be developing, investors insist these firms are solid. Says Reyes, "In many cases, there were no tangible assets with the dot-coms"-- a fact that became evident as many went bankrupt and had only their customer lists to sell.

In contrast, Breyer says optical, broadband, wireless and Internet-infrastructure companies have real technology assets and are routinely experiencing growth rates of 200 percent to 400 percent. And many of them can't build enough products to satisfy demand--a different story from dot-coms that spent much of their lives trying to manufacture demand for their wares.

In most cases, the attempt to create demand proved futile. Too bad it took so many people a couple of years--and about $100 billion--to learn that lesson.

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