F O R I N T E R N A L U S E O N L Y COMPETITIVE ACTION - WEEKLY UPDATE AUGUST 5, 1993 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 (AREA CODE AND TELEPHONE NUMBER) FOR YOUR FAX 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. *********************************************************** DG ARTICLES *********************************************************** 818. ** DATA GENERAL Q3 LOSS TOPS $16M (EN, 8/2/93, pg. 5) Data General reported a net loss of $16.4 million for Q3FY93 ending June 26. During Q3 last year, the company reported a net loss of $11.7 million. The customer base of AViiON systems totals more than 20,000 installations. In June, the company introduced the AV 9500 family which will be capable of processing 1600 mips and 1,000 tps. *********************************************************** DIGITAL ARTICLES *********************************************************** 819. ** CAN ALPHA PUSH DEC INTO EDA MAINSTREAM? (DNR, 7/26/93, pg. 1) In recent weeks, industry heavyweights including Mentor Graphics, Cadence, and Viewlogic have unveiled plans to port their design tools to Alpha AXP system. DEC has traditionally run a distant third behind Sun and HP in supplying computer platforms for EDA applications. 820. ** DEC TO DRESS UP TUXEDO FOR OSF/1 ON ALPHA (DNR, 7/26/93, pg. 5) DEC has developed a 64-bit version of the Tuxedo on-line transaction processing monitor for its Alpha AXP computers and will begin selling the software in late August. 821. ** THE ANTENNA (EN, 7/26/93, pg. 4) Look for DEC to say its SCSI-2 storage subsystem will be supported on the Sun platform. DEC has indicated it will support other rival platforms as well. 822. ** DIGITAL POSTS EARNING OF $113.2 MILLION FOR 4TH PERIOD, ITS FIRST PROFIT IN 2 YEARS (WSJ, 7/29/93, pg. B10) DEC ended a tumultuous year of cost-cutting and layoffs by posting net income of $113.2 million for the fourth quarter ending July 3, its first profit in two years. *********************************************************** HP ARTICLES *********************************************************** 823. ** WORKSTATION UNIT: THE VIEW AT THE TOP - HP EXEC DISCUSSES COSE, COMPETITION, ENTERPRISE DESKTOP, NT AND PENTIUM THREATS (OST, 7/19.93, pg. HP3) Dataquest is expected to issue a report that places HP in the No. 1 slot in the workstation market, deposing longtime market leader Sun in market share for 1992. Gary Eichorn, VP and GM of HP's Workstation System Group, says "Sun jumped into multiprocessing as early as they did even though they knew the operating system wasn't ready when they announced it, and probably still isn't... was because they had significant performance problems with their architecture." 824. ** EASING AS/400 MIGRATION TO HP-UX (OST, 7/19/93, pg. 38) Moving commercial applications for the AS/400 to the HP 9000 will be eased by a new product, Synon/Open for HP-UX. The product is an escape valve for AS/400 ISVs and large corporate users to move to Unix while preserving their applications. 825. ** CALCULATING THE VALUE OF X FOR THE B-2 (IW, 7/26/93, pg. 22) Northrop is investing in networks of X terminals to replace paper-based systems used in building the B-2 bomber. Since the beginning of the year, the division has installed about 450 X terminals from HP to manage B-2 factory floor operations. 826. ** EXCISING A TAX BURDEN (IW, 7/26/93, pg. 58) FedEx's new asset management software, running on an HP-based server, lets the company's tax team analyze mainframe information that had been virtually inaccessible. 827. ** CA SHIPS UNICENTER FOR HP (CW, 7/26/93, pg. 56) Computer Associates International said it has shipped 2,000 copies of its CA-Unicenter system management software to HP as part of HP's recently announced bundled promotion for its Unix minicomputers. 828. ** BRIDGING THE GAP (MS, 7/27/93, pg. 14) StarWare announces software that links HP Unix machines with AS/400 and Systems/3X. StarWare connectivity software encompasses three products: Star5250, offers 5250 emulation; StarTools, enables file transfer, remote command execution, and remote print spooling; and StarMail, enables E-Mail exchange. *********************************************************** HITACHI ARTICLES *********************************************************** 829. ** HITACHI REAFFIRMS PA-RISC PLANS (EN, 8/2/93, pg. 16) HP and Hitachi said the Japanese company will resell HP's PA-RISC-based workstations and servers, as well as HP X terminals, under a five-year, $100 million contract. *********************************************************** IBM ARTICLES *********************************************************** 830. ** IBM, OVERHAULING ITS BOARD, WILL CREATE 'GOVERNANCE' PANEL OF OUTSIDE DIRECTORS (WSJ, 7/30/93, pg. A3) IBM is overhauling the structure of its board in the wake of harsh criticism of the directors who presided over its slide into crisis. IBM is creating a committee of outside directors that will nominate directors and handle shareholder proposals. 831. ** AS/400 ENHANCEMENTS COMING (OST, 7/19/93, pg. 4) IBM is planning to spruce up its AS/400 with a multitude of improvements, including RISC processing and object technology, within three to five years. The vendor plans to add 64-bit RISC processing to the unit through field upgrades to protect investments in software and hardware. 832. ** EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (IW, 7/26/93, pg. 8) IBM is said to be readying its Highly Parallel Query System, the first of several specialized parallel processors built with the 6-Mips CMOS chips being produced by IBM Germany. The system will initially offer 16 multiprocessors that will attach to an IBM mainframe, letting users read from DB2. 834. ** IBM FLICKS ON TALIGENT (CW, 7/26/93, pg. 1) Rather than wait until 1995 for a complete native implementation of Taligent, IBM is pursuing a course that calls for layering object services developed for Taligent on top of OS/2 and other operating systems. *********************************************************** MICROSOFT ARTICLES *********************************************************** 835. ** FTC DECIDES NOT TO DECIDE (CW, 7/26/93, pg. 4) Twice was not enough for the Federal Trade Commission, which deadlocked once again in a vote to determine what action, if any, to take in its three-year antitrust investigation of Microsoft. 836. ** MICROSOFT'S NET CLIMBED 26% IN ITS 4TH QUARTER (WSJ, 7/29/93, pg. B10) Further underlining its hegemony of the global software market, Microsoft posted its first billion-dollar quarter in sales, with net income climbing by 26%. *********************************************************** SGI ARTICLES *********************************************************** 837. ** SGI YEARLY SALES TOP $1B - MIPS AIDS YEAR-END NET (EN, 8/2/93, pg. 8) Silicon Graphics reported that for its fiscal year ending June 30, the company's consolidated revenues were $1.1 billion, a 26% increase over the comparable period last year. *********************************************************** SUN ARTICLES *********************************************************** 838. ** QUARTERLY NET DOUBLES AT SUN MICROSYSTEMS (WSJ, 7/29/93, pg. A4) Sun, confounding a loud chorus of skeptics, said net income for its fiscal fourth quarter more that doubled to $76.1 million, or 72 cents a share. Sun was able to boost its gross profit margins to nearly 43% in the period. 839. ** SUN TO MARKET QSTAR'S OPTICAL STORAGE WARE (OST, 7/19/93, pg. 47) QStar and Sun have entered a marketing partnership promoting QStar optical storage software for Sun SPARC platforms to software developers. QStar also announced that its hierarchical storage management software is now available to HP 9000 Unix workstations and servers. *********************************************************** UNISYS ARTICLES *********************************************************** 840. ** INTEL, UNISYS SAID TO PLAN TO DEVELOP COMMERCIAL USES OF PARALLEL PROCESSING (WSJ, 8/3/93, pg. B6) Intel and Unisys are teaming up in the race to develop a form of high- performance computing power known as parallel processing for the commercial market. *********************************************************** OTHER *********************************************************** 841. ** NO TRAIN, NO GAIN - STUDY PROBES CLIENT-SERVER IMPACT (IW, 7/26/93, pg. 14) A study finds that untrained users will spend three to six times as many hours to reach the same level of functionality on a given application as trained users. In addition, formal training and support costs about $1,350 per application while an untrained user will eat up between $3,000 and $5,000 to reach a skill level at, or below, a trained worker. 842. ** CSC CLEARS THE AIR AT THE EPA (IW, 7/26/93, pg. 16) Adopting a "we'll pay now so we don't have to pay more later" stance, Computer Sciences Corp. agreed to pay the Environmental Protection Agency $2.1 million to settle charges that the company made " false and misleading statements" and overbilled the government agency. 843. ** IT SALES SPARKED BY GROWTH IN COMPUTER SERVICES (EN, 8/2/903, pg. 10) Total US information technology sales in 1992 amounted to $420 billion and accounted for 7% of the country's gross national product, according to a soon-to-be-released report. Computer services had the greatest increase with 25% . Overall employment demands within the IT business are expected to grow at about 19% CAGR from 1992 to 2002. ******************* END OF DOCUMENT ********************