Flying cars are no longer the stuff of science fiction. Terrafugia, a company based in Woburn, Mass., plans to introduce its car-plane, the Transition, next year.

How does the car-plane work? The Transition has wings that unfold for flying. The wings can fold back up in one minute, and the car is ready to drive. A runway is still required for landing and takeoff. The plane is designed to fly below 10,000 feet, thus flying under bad weather instead of flying into it. The maximum takeoff weight is just 1,410 pounds.

As anticipated, there has been little to no reaction from investors regarding the retirement of the Mercury name plate by Ford Motor Company (F). Given the resounding lack of identity which has surrounded the Mercury brand, eliminating the line seems like a prudent and timely move. Market share for Mercury has dwindled to less than 1%, and estimates put Mercury's portion of Ford's share price at something less than 2%.

Analysts estimate Mercury's value to Ford is approximately $1 billion, while the company on the whole is estimated to be worth approximately $38 billion. When given the fact that Ford expects to transition it's Mercury dealers into the Lincoln brand line, the fundamental value impact on Ford shall be essentially nonexistent. The company has declared that this inter-company transition shall not result in any job loss.

Savvis Inc (NASDAQ: SVVS), the data center company, will be going through serious changes the next few quarters as it continues to get rid of lower profit margin customers and adds brand new capacity. This transition will make apples-to-apples comparison very difficult with past results.

I'd consider taking some money off of the table until the company has fully made the transition. Investors could be able to measure the success of these changes as early as the fourth quarter of this year.

Savvis is building four new state-of-the-art centers which will expand capacity by 160,000 sq ft around the country. The company also has utilized options to take back below-market-rate contracts which it is in the process of re-marketing and repricing. Further, the company has been able to completely overhaul its balance sheet with lower cost-of-capital converts.

The data-center company is upgrading its network with new Cisco equipment, getting rid of older Nortel gear, and will link its metropolitan data centers with fiber to improve service for customers.

All told, Savvis is making the right changes to grow its business and improve profitability which will benefit shareholders. However, with such a broad-based transition going on, hitting bumps in the road is likely and waiting for signs of success is the best course of action. The benefits of this transition should be seen in late 2007 or no later than the 1st quarter 2008.