F O R I N T E R N A L U S E O N L Y COMPETITIVE ACTION - WEEKLY UPDATE JUNE 17, 1993 Welcome to the new Competitive Action Weekly. 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 DM = 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 UR = Unix Review UW = Unix World WN = Workstation News WSJ = Wall Street Journal Editor, Nadine Halsted *********************************************************** INSTRUCTIONS FOR REQUESTING MORE INFORMATION *********************************************************** Send a message to Competitive /HP6650 and include: 1. Name 2. Non-telnet and telnet fax number. For numbers outside of the US, please note as international. 3. Number that precedes the article you need 4. Limit your request for faxing to a maximum of 3 articles. For 4 or more articles, send your mail stop or street address. Missing or incorrect information may delay delivery of your request. *********************************************************** DIGITAL ARTICLES *********************************************************** 622. ** DEC TAPS HP EXEC (EN, 6/7/93, pg. 4) DEC brought in HP veteran Robert Sudkamp as VP of the industry-oriented Automotive and General Discrete Industries market segment. 623. ** USERS REMAIN SKEPTICAL ABOUT DEC FOCUS (CW, 6/7/93, pg. 10) An informal survey conducted at a recent DECUS meeting revealed several DEC user concerns. Price/performance, interoperability, DEC's commitment to OpenVMS and its software pricing and licensing were all key concerns. *********************************************************** HP ARTICLES *********************************************************** 624. ** THE PACKAGE (EN, 6/7/93, pg. 12) HP has eliminated the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) from their worldwide manufacturing, two years ahead of the Montreal Protocol international ban on production of ozone-depleting substances. It has also eliminated all use of methyl chloroform, known as TCA. HP spent four years and more than $60 million developing, testing and implementing ozone-safe substitutes for CFCs and TCA. 625. ** HP SHOWS COLOR X TERMINAL (SE, 6/93, pg. 74) HP has announced a new color X terminal for less than $5,000. The Model 17C delivers up to 93,000 Xstones and is targeted at users needing high- performance graphics and color with a relatively small footprint. 626. ** THE NEW CHAMPION IN LIGHTWEIGHT PCs: HEWLETT'S OMNIBOOK (WSJ, 6/10/93, pg. B1) Computer makers have long struggled to design a portable PC whose weight and size were truly negligible, and whose battery was really long lasting and easy to replenish - without a fatal compromise that crippled the key board or screen, or made using the latest Windows software impossible. All such attempts have fallen short. Until now - enter HP's OmniBook. 627. ** COMMENTS (UGX, 6/7/93, pg. 8) HP is now offering support for Sun workstations and says it has won an initial contract, covering 120 systems, at oil industry supplier Exlog. 628. ** ELF'S DATABASE COMES UP DRY. OIL COMPANY STILL STRUGGLING WITH HP's OPENODB SOFTWARE (IW, 6/7/93, pg. 24) With more than a decade of work on object-oriented technology behind it, HP's core OpenODB software is not ready for prime time, according to one of the company's largest European customers. 629. ** PAPER FORMS HEAD FOR TRASH AT WASTE FIRM (CW, 6/7/93, pg. 8) The local trash collector is about to became a knowledge worker thanks to the efforts of Waste Management. The company is building a custom application on top of a SoftSwitch E-mail gateway and HP's OpenView. 630. ** HP DROPS THE ETHERNET PRICE FLOOR (CW, 6/7/93, pg. 16) HP announced last week what may be the least expensive Ethernet local-area network adapter on the market. The $119 10Base-T adapter competes with similar cards from 3Com and Standard Microsystem that range from $150 to $200. 631. ** COME INTO MY PARLOR (CW, 6/7/93, pg. 108) HP is expected to announce a deal with Synon, a software development company that will enable AS/400 users to migrate their applications to HP's 9000 series of Unix workstations. This follows HP's efforts to attract users form other platforms, such as an alliance formed earlier this year with Wang to migrate its users over to the 9000. 632. ** GETTING THE LEAD OUT (CW, 6/7/93, pg. 108) HP is blaming the longer-than-planned lead times for its PA-RISC workstation, on problems with getting the 100 MHz PA 71000 microprocessor to sit properly in its packaging. Deliveries remain stretched out six to 12 weeks. HP says that lead times will be down to less than four weeks starting this summer. *********************************************************** IBM ARTICLES *********************************************************** 634. ** IBM PLANS TO UNVEIL THREE SMALL, LIGHT PERSONAL COMPUTERS (WSJ, 6/14/93, pg. B7) IBM announced three new PCs that fall into the categories of smaller, lighter and more efficient - and in some cases faster. A new "green PC" meets new energy use guidelines and takes up minimal space on a desk. The two other products are portable computers. The subnotebook weighs less than four pounds and competes with HP's OmniBook. The second portable is an intermediate model of IBM's ThinkPad. 635. ** CLIENT/SERVER COMES TO OV/400 (MS, 6/8/93, pg. 8) IBM announced the Current OfficeVision/400 Workgroup Program, which provides a Graphical User Interface to As/400 based office functions and a Personal Information Manager. 636. ** LAYOFFS (IW, 6/7/93, pg. 8) IBM subsidiary Integrated Systems Solutions Corp. (ISSC) last week notified 100 employees that their positions will be terminated by year's end. ISSC said in April that it would cut 1,500 to 3,000 of its 15,000 US jobs through an incentive program, but now says there may not be enough volunteers at some sites. *********************************************************** NCR ARTICLES *********************************************************** 637. ** FDIC CHARGES NCR WITH LAX SECURITY (IW, 6/7/93, pg. 15) NCR's outsourcing operation, which handles data processing for 750 financial institutions, is downplaying reports that a federal agency found slipshod data security control at one of its processing sites. *********************************************************** SUN ARTICLES *********************************************************** 638. ** SUN UNVEILS SPARC GROUP (SE, 6/93, pg. 14) Sun has revealed more details of its SPARC Technology Group, whose mandate is to promote the use of SPARC outside the company. The group offers a variety of plans ranging from early access for developers who simply need to know something of Sun's long-term processor plans, to the very expensive option of licensing Sun's own designs for SuperSPARC and other SPARC variants. 639. ** UPGRADES, ENHANCEMENTS, ADDITIONS (SE, 6/93, pg. 72) Dozens of companies have announced support for Sun's Solaris 2.X. Sybase is available on Solaris 2.1 and plans include Sybase 10 to be available later this year. Information Builders has released FOCUS on Solaris 2.X. Cognos plans to port its PowerHouse application development tools and environment to Solaris 2.X. 640. ** COMMENTS (UGX, 6/7/93, pg. 8) Sun is having some fun with NeXT Computer offering a trade-in of NeXT hardware for a Sparcstation 10. *********************************************************** TANDEM ARTICLES *********************************************************** 641. ** BOMBAY TAKES STOCK (IW, 6/7/93, pg. 16) The Bombay Stock Exchange is moving to automated share trading based on Tandem NonStop Cyclone system and Ungermann-Bass local area networking products, with systems integration assistance from India-based Wipro Infotech. 642. ** TANDEM, VIEWSTAR TO PITCH JOINT SYSTEMS (CW, 6/7/93, pg. 8) Tandem and ViewStar said they will jointly market a client/server document handling system early next year. Tandem's NonStop SQL relational database servers will handle images, text and fax data for Microsoft Windows clients on PC local area networks. *********************************************************** OTHER *********************************************************** 643. ** TRENDLINES (CIO, 6/1/93, pg. 24) Bronzed gods and goddesses take note: Your time in the sun is numbered. A $40 PC program is doing the numbering, predicting what dose of ultraviolet radiation will be harmful based on your lifestyle, location and schedule of outdoor activities. 644. ** REENGINEERING THE RIGHT WAY (IW, 6/7/93, pg. 56) Unix-based systems are gaining favor among companies facing the rigors of full reengineering. Industries with distributed operations and architectures - where a failed node won't shut down the company - are particularly likely to turn to Unix. 645. ** TOOLS' DOUBLE MAJOR (IW, 6/7/93, pg. 16) It'll be a match made at Harvard when beleaguered mainframe maker Amdahl and system integration giant EDS pair up at Boston's Harvard Club to introduce a new joint venture to provide client-server development tools for business applications. 646. ** FUJITSU'S COMPUTER SALES SLUMPING (EN, 6/7/93, pg. 13) Fujitsu, Japan's leading computer vendor, may lose its throne this year to second place NEC. The difference in the forecasts of the two companies is due primarily to their different computer strategies. While Fujitsu has traditionally remained loyal to mainframes, NEC has placed emphasis on PCs, workstations and servers, which is proving to be advantageous in the current downsizing environment. 647. ** STRATUS TO ADD HIGH AVAILABILITY LINE, WILL MAKE SOFTWARE ACQUISITIONS (UGX, 6/7/93, pg. 3) Stratus is laying plans to broaden its product offering beyond its Continuous Processing Systems, moving into the market for high availability system that can go down. It also plans to put more emphasis on software and services, and is on the look-out for software companies to acquire. 648. ** USERS SPEAK OUT ABOUT THE 'NEW' WANG (CW, 6/7/93, pg. 70) Wang's reorganization into a software products company is causing grumbling among many users, but advice from those moving to nonproprietary client/server systems is clear: Move carefully and plan ahead. ********************* END OF DOCUMENT ******************