F O R I N T E R N A L U S E O N L Y COMPETITIVE ACTION - WEEKLY UPDATE APRIL 15, 1993 Welcome to the new Competitive Action Weekly. If you need more information about these articles, please send an HP Desk message to Competitive /HP6650 Include your name, non-telnet FAX number and the NUMBER THAT PRECEDES THE ARTICLE YOU NEED. If you would like to be added, deleted or you have changed locations, please send a message to Competitive /HP6650. Include your HPDesk address. Competitive Action is posted to HP-UX notes in the group hp.marketing. The string is entitled "hp.competition for ". BC = Beyond Computing BW = Business Week CC = Corporate Computing CIO = CIO CW = Computer World DT = Datamation DNR = Digital news & review EN = Electronic News IW = Information Week MS = Midrange Systems NC = NCR Connection OST = Open Systems Today RSM = RS/Magazine SE = Sun Expert SO = Sun Observer SJMN = San Jose Mercury News SW = Sun World UGX = Unigram-X UNF = UniForum Monthly UR = Unix Review UW = Unix World WN = Workstation News WSJ = Wall Street Journal Editor, Nadine Halsted ************************************************************** FLASH ************************************************************** Competitive Action and Competitive Watch are now available on Power Tools. For more information on accessing Power Tools, send an HPDesk message to Power TOOLS / HP6650/AF. Please limit your request for faxing to a maximum of 3 articles or send your mailing address. If your fax number is outside of the U.S., please note as international. ************************************************************** DIGITAL ARTICLES ************************************************************** 380. ** UNIX COALITION PROPOSAL LOOKS LIKE DEC's OSF/1 (DNR, 4/5/93, pg. 1) The common Unix look and feel promised by the COSE coalition at UniForum closely resembles that of the DEC OSF/1 1.2 operating system for Alpha AXP systems. Both DEC and COSE have put a single look-and-feel interface at the top of their agendas. 381. ** DEC DEAL DRIVES 3-D GRAPHICS PUSH (CW, 4/5/93, pg. 12) DEC and Kubota are now shipping imaging and graphics workstation that bring together Kubota's high-speed graphics subsystems and the CPU power of DEC's OSF/1 Alpha AXP workstation. The DEC 3500 E1.5 offers SPECfp92 of 127.7, and SPECint92 of 84.4 and is priced at $51,995. The DEC 3400 E1.5 offers SPECfp92 of 112.5 and SPECint92 of 74.8 with a price of $34,445. In contrast, the HP 735 CRX-24Z offers 150.6 SPECfp92, 80.0 SPECint92, and priced at $48,045. [ Editors note: The graph reflects HP superior SPECfp92 rating with a small advantage in SPECint92 results to the 3500. The HP system does have a price/performance advantage. ] 382. ** STOP SETTING SALES POLICIES IN STONE! (DNR, 4//5/93, pg. 34) If a customer purchases a DEC 3000 alpha AXP and needs additional memory, the customer may pay premium prices for the memory-upgrade. The way the 3000/AXP memory subsystem is designed, only certain combinations of SIMMs will work , and DEC doesn't give trade-in allowances. 383. ** ALIVE AND KICKING (CW, 4/5/93, pg. 114) VMS is not dead yet. DEC will this week announce new versions of its VMS operating system with planed 64-bit addressing for files and databases and, ultimately, full 64-bit support, according to industry sources. The operating system will also be more modular. ************************************************************** GROUPE BULL ARTICLES ************************************************************** 384. ** MORE BAD NEWS FOR BULL (UW, 5/93, pg. 16) Bull's status as a technology partner with IBM may need some shoring up. Despite an agreement signed last year which put Bull in charge of developing a symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) system to be sold by both companies, IBM announced this spring a separate SMP project that the company acknowledges will compete with Bull's plans. ************************************************************** HP ARTICLES ************************************************************** 385. ** THE TRANSITION TO GLASS-HOUSE UNIX (UNF, 4/1/93, pg. 17) Large-scale Unix systems are emerging as viable alternatives to traditional mainframes. New system management tools, a production culture and cross- platform applications and development tools duplicate the infrastructure. "We coined the term mainframe alternative because when a customer pulls an application or an entire MIS organization off a mainframe and onto an HP Business Server, the customer may be up-sizing performance but downsizing costs," says HP's Eavey. [ Editors note: This is a great article for justifying a mainframe alternative strategy and sells the HP 9000 as the right choice. ] 386. ** EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (IW, 4/5/93, pg. 8) Over the next three years, 7-Eleven Japan will install Unix-based, client-server networks to deliver decision support to about 5,000 outlets. The company is spending $12.5 million on HP gear. This includes five series 800 business servers, 200 Series 700 RISC workstations, and an undisclosed number of X terminals. HP will also help manage the networks and provide multivendor support. [ Editors note: Congratulations YHP ! ] 387. ** HP EXPANDS SQL ACCESS (DNR, 4/5/93, pg. 22) HP has developed an SQL-based interface that can read and update information stored in a previously non-relational database. HP's TurboImage database will employ the new interface and has been renamed HP Image/SQL. It can be used with new or existing applications and SQL-based 4GL and client/server tools. 388. ** COMPUTER FIRM RESULTS LIKELY TO BE GLOOMY (WSJ, 4/12/93, pg. A7A) Analysts in recent days have cut estimates for Sun, Tandem and others, while Digital and IBM are expected to post continued losses. HP, by contrast, remains strongly profitable. 389. ** CINCOM SOFTWARE UP ON HP, DEC UNIX (UGX, 4/5/93, pg. 5) As promised last March, Cincom has launched the Unix version of its integrated manufacturing software on both HP and DEC's Ultrix with DEC's OSF/1 following in the second half of the year. David Miller, UK marketing manager, says "The company is not rushing to implement under IBM's AIX. Most customers who are interested in a Unix version are looking for prime open system vendors and AIX is not usually towards the top of the list". 390. ** NEWS SHORTS (CW, 4/5/93, pg. 6) The Precision RISC Organization, which promotes HP 's Precision Architecture-RISC technology, is circulating specifications for an application programming interface designed to assure compatibility among different vendors' PA-RISC based products. ************************************************************** IBM ARTICLES ************************************************************** 391. ** PLUG MAKERS COMPLAIN (DT, 4/1/93, pg. 13) IBM's plug-compatible mainframe competitors aren't too happy with IBM's attempt to gain control of performance benchmarks for high-end systems. IBM has run the Large Systems Performance Reference (LSPR) benchmark on IBM, Amdahl and Hitachi mainframes. IBM is not publishing LSPR code, and there is no way for the PCM's to verify or attack IBM's numbers, which presumably show the ES/9000 to be superior. 392. ** IBM's NEW BALANCING ACT (UFM, 4/93, pg. 7) IBM's recent troubles may be bad news for its employees, customers and stockholders, but over the long-term, it's going to be good news for Unix and open systems. IBM will emerge from its current troubles with a much better balance between its proprietary and open systems offerings. 393. ** FOR IBM EUROPE, 'THIS IS THE YEAR OF TRUTH' (BW, 4/19/93, pg. 45) IBM Europe is looking for dramatic ways to change its business. The sign: IBM France's $466 million bid for software specialist CGI Informatique. Buying CGI would further reduce IBM Europe's dependence on computer hardware sales and move the company into the fast-growing area of software and services. 394. ** ISSC PARKS AT HERTZ (IW, 4/5/93, pg. 16) IBM's Integrated Systems Solution Corp. (ISSC) is in the driver's seat at Hertz with a five year contract to manage systems operations, develop back office and financial applications and provide maintenance support for the IBM mainframes at the $2.8 billion car-rental company's worldwide data center in Oklahoma City. ************************************************************** SGI ARTICLES ************************************************************** 395. ** BUSINESS BRIEFS (WSJ, 4/8/93, pg. B5) Movie maker George Lucas's closely held Industrial Light and Magic and computer maker Silicon Graphics have agreed to pool resources in the lucrative field of visual effects and film production. ************************************************************** SUN ARTICLES ************************************************************** 396. ** SUN'S 64-BIT SPARC DEBUT (SE, 4/93, pg. 8) Sun is expected to announce plans for a new, 64-bit version of the SPARC processor. To be called UltraSPARC, the device will execute four instructions in a single cycle. Within three to four years, says a Sun director, "we are looking at a chip that runs 1,000 SPECfp92 and 800 SPECint92." 397. ** SUN CHAMPIONS ANOTHER KIND OF CHANNEL (SE, 4/93, pg. 10) Sun, along with HP and IBM, has emerged as a champion of a new networking standard called Fibre Channel. The initiative is to advance Fibre Channel as an affordable, high-speed interconnection standard for workstations and peripherals used in thousands of commercial and technical applications." 398. ** A LEANER AND MEANER RESELLER PROGRAM (SE, 4/93, pg. 12) Sun Microsystems Computer Corp. (SMCC) claims to have eliminated 500 or so resellers from its ranks in the past year. SMCC is currently generating more than 55% of its sales through resellers. The company is looking to expand this percentage to 60%. At approximately 28% to 34%, the margins Sun allows its resellers are in the ballpark with other workstation vendors. 399. ** SOLARIS SERVICE- FROM MORE THAN JUST SUNSOFT? (SE, 4/93, pg. 14) Currently, for Sun users, Solaris/SunOS problems where handled by Sun, or SunSoft if you were running on a Sun clone. If an SMCC pilot program pans out, users could be going to a third-party service provider. This may be the third party hardware provider. 400. ** HOW DOES SUN DO IT? (SE, 4/93, pg. 14) During Sun's second fiscal quarter (ending December 321, 1992), Sun sold 10,000 SPARCstation 2s, 28,000 SPARC station 10s. Sun also sold 3,000 SPARCclassic and LX systems, and 18,000 IPXs, IPCs and servers combined. During the same period, SunSoft claims to have distributed more than 176,000 Solaris and Unix licenses, 131,000 of which were for Solaris 2. 401. ** BITS (UW, 5/93, pg. 20) Sun has formed a wholly owned subsidiary called Firstperson Inc. The unit has been working for the past two years on developing software technology that integrates all types of digital data with hardware components, such as fax machines and televisions. 402. ** COMMENTS (UGX, 4/5/93, pg. 8) Scott McNealy on IBM Corp's new chief executive officer Louis Gerstner: "Who cares who's captain after the wings have fallen off." ************************************************************** UNISYS ARTICLES ************************************************************** 403. ** UNISYS HOPES TO BREAK WORKSTATION BARRIER WITH PCs (UW, 5/93, pg. 18) Hoping to expand its UNIX business beyond its U6000 servers, Unisys rolled out a line of Intel-based Unix business workstations. The company believes customers that might otherwise buy low-end RISC workstations from Sun, HP, or IBM will go for these new Unix PCs instead. ************************************************************** OTHER ************************************************************** 404. ** NOVELL REDUCES UNIX PRICES (UW, 5/93, pg. 15) Novell has reduced its price of Unixware by 50%, from $495 to $295. But despite the price reduction the operating system will face difficulty because it lacks trained distribution channels, a support staff, and users with a good understanding of the product. 405. ** UNIX-BASED SERVER SCALABLE TO FIVE PROCESSORS (CW, 4/5/93, pg. 48) Wyse technology recently unveiled a new Unix-based symmetric multiprocessor designed to support up to 250 active users. The maximum configuration with five CPU's would cost approximately $50,000. HP will provide onsite support for the new boxes.