Now, there is little differentiation. "This new pricing flexibility removes one of the biggest disadvantages that EMC had faces…and will make it an even more formidable competitor in a better demand environment." The pricing could help explain new half-year sector numbers from Gartner Dataquest. The market researcher found that EMC extended its lead in the networked information storage (NIS), which includes Storage Area Network systems and Network Attached Storage gear. GS also believes that EMC's gross margins, which plummeted from 59 percent in Decembers 2000, to 47 percent in June, will stay stabilize in the September quarter and begin to improve in the December quarter. Other observers, including analysts at Banc of America Securities don't expect EMC executives to offer any financial guidance for the current quarter. Earlier, EMC said the quarter would be difficult, in part because of the summer slowdown, but declined to give numbers. Shares of EMC were up 0.06 in morning trading to 19.59.