F O R I N T E R N A L U S E O N L Y COMPETITIVE ACTION - WEEKLY UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2, 1993 **************** FLASH ************* FLASH ************ COMPETITIVE INFORMATION IS NOW AVAILABLE ON POWER TOOLS. The competitive team is currently installing many new topics on Power Tools. To learn how to access Power Tools, send an hpdesk message to: POWER TOOLS/HP6650/AF. The following items are now on the database or are about to be installed: > Competitor's Corporate Profile > Competitor's Product Information including configuration and pricing > HP's Product Line Positioning Information > Competitor's Support, Services, and Solutions > Gartner Group Win/Loss Reports > Competitor's New Product Announcements > Sales Tactics to use against the Competitor including FUD For more information or to learn how to access these topics, send an Hpdesk message to POWER TOOLS/HP6650/AF. For additional deal consulting, call the competitive group at (408) 447- 6383. ************************************************************* *********************************************************** 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 AND INCLUDE YOUR COUNTRY CODE. 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. ************************************************************* 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 *********************************************************** DIGITAL ARTICLES *********************************************************** 917. ** RDB READY TO MOVE (IW, 8/23/93, pg. 16) After months of mixed signals about Digital's intention to migrate its popular VMS-based Rdb database to Alpha AXP running OSF/1 or Microsoft's Windows NT, the company confirmed that the two new versions are on the way. 918. ** DEC TO ANNOUNCE MORE POLYCENTER APPS NOW RUN ON HP, SUN, AND IBM MACHINES (DNR, 8/23/93, pg. 3) Significantly more of DEC's Polycenter software now runs on systems from Sun, HP, and IBM. DEC has positioned Polycenter products as systems- and network-integrator tools. 919. ** DEC MOVES TO ADOPT A KEY STANDARD (OST, 8/30/93, pg. 1) DEC announced that it has licensed IBM's NetView/6000 software to run on various DEC platforms. Under the IBM-DEC pact, the two companies are developing a version of NetView/6000 - to be called Polycenter NetView - that will run on DEC OSF/1 and the 64-bit Alpha AXP platforms. Versions for on NT and Sun's Solaris will follow. [ Editor's note: Check Power Tools for a Gartner Group analysis of the DEC - IBM announcement.] 920. ** SUPPORT FOR ALPHA APPS (CW, 8/23/93, pg. 104) Powersoft and DEC announced that PowerBuilder and the Powersoft Enterprise Series will support DEC's Alpha products running NT and Rdb. Uniface announced an agreement under which DEC will develop and resell applications using Uniface's client/server tools. 921. ** INSIDE LINES (CW, 8/23/93, pg. 156) Clear the DECs! Marketers from the mini maker are on an intensive campaign to expunge the "DEC" acronym from the industry's vernacular. They've asked publications to refer to the company as "Digital" from now on. *********************************************************** HP ARTICLES *********************************************************** 922. ** HP TOPS IN UNIX SALES? (OST, 8/30/93, pg. 12) HP became the Unix hardware revenue leader, beating out Sun by $40 million in 1992. HP's lead was attributed primarily to server shipments, which usually generate more revenue than workstations. Sun outdistanced HP in unit shipments. 923. ** EVENTS - OPENVIEW FORUM (UGX, 8/23/93, pg. 7) HP has formed the OpenView Forum for developers and users of its OpenView network and system management suite. Membership costs $300 and the group will hold its first conference at the Westin in Dallas, November 1 and 3. (415) 512-0865. 924. ** CONTROL DATA IN BIG REMARKETING DEAL WITH HP (UGX, 8/23/93, pg. 2) Control Data has an agreement with HP for integrating HP's 9000 series 700 and 800 with applications for aerospace, automotive, manufacturing, government and commercial markets. Control Data will also add value with its ICEM CAD/CAM, Aria, and EDL software. The two companies will implement a cooperative marketing plan. 925. ** HP REPORTS UK UNIX SALES UP 94% IN LAST NINE MONTHS (UGX, 8/23/93, pg. 3) HP's sales of its HP 9000 series 800 server in the UK were up 121% for the corresponding 9 month period of last year. Workstation sales were up 68% and HP's total UK Unix hardware and software growth was up 93%. The firms profit for the nine months rose 82.7%. 926. ** WANG PORTS PACE TO HP-UX (UGX, 8/23/93, pg. 6) Wang has ported its Pace for Open Systems client-server application development environment and Open/Image imaging software to HP's 9000 Unix servers. 927. ** WAREHOUSES CLING TO MAINFRAME (CW, 8/23/93, pg. 91) Playtex Apparel is phasing out its leased IBM host and converting to an HP 9000 Unix computer. The data warehouse contains product, distribution and shipment information. Custom reports that used to take two weeks to order, run and test from the information systems mainframe now run in minutes. 928. ** USERS STAY LOYAL AS HP 'OPENS' ITS OS (OST, 8/30/93, pg. HP1) MPE users remain fiercely loyal, convinced that their operating system offers benefits that HP-UX - or any other Unix system - simply can't match. They expect these benefits to continue, even as HP transforms MPE from a proprietary to an "open proprietary" operating system through POSIX- compliance. 929. ** HP's UNIX OS ADVANCES ON 3 FRONTS (OST, 8/30/93, pg. HP1) HP is moving its HP-UX Unix operating system forward on three fronts: adding middleware to construct a comprehensive open systems software architecture; building in support for the Common Operating System Environment; and, coordinating technical and commercial releases into a unified HP-UX version. *********************************************************** IBM ARTICLES *********************************************************** 930. ** IBM THROWS LOT IN WITH OSF'S STANDARD (CW, 8/23/93, pg. 10) IBM announced DCE support for OS/2 clients. DCE is a standard promoted by the Open Software Foundation that outlines specifications for distributed networking, such as directory services and remote procedure calls. IBM already supports DCE on its AIX variant and plans to make it available on all its computing platforms by the end of 1994. 931. ** 'DECONSTRUCTING THE AS/400' (IW, 8/23/93, pg. 18) New IBM models hint of more open solutions. IBM will use a September 7 press briefing to pit the new AS/400s - code name Huron - against Unix- based processors, particularly HP's highly successful line. IBM is considering porting NT or running rivals' database software. 932. ** CORNELL TO BUY IBM SYSTEM (CW, 8/23/93, pg. 92) Cornell announced plans to buy one of IBM's SP-1 Scalable Power parallel supercomputer system for $13 million. The 512-processor system is based on IBM's RISC System/6000 chip design. *********************************************************** MICROSOFT ARTICLES *********************************************************** 933. ** MICROSOFT/SYBASE V. NOVELL/ORACLE (UW, 9/93, pg. 16) Novell has made an agreement with RDBMS leader Oracle to bundle a new product, dubbed Oracleware, that combines Novell's networking and Oracle's database software. Microsoft has a long term relationship with number-two RDBMS vendor Sybase, the companies will co-develop Sybase's SQL Server for Microsoft's Windows NT. 934. ** MICROSOFT GOES A-COURTIN' (IW, 8/23/93, pg. 14) In a move to help position and support the fledgling Windows NT operating system, Microsoft invited a dozen enterprise system software vendors to its headquarters to court their participation on an advisory board. In return for porting their application, Microsoft pledged that it would offer development and marketing support. Companies included ASK, Computer Associates, and Oracle. 935. ** NT READIES FOR PRIME TIME (CW, 8/23/93, pg. 4) Early adopters of NT are reporting that it is now stable enough to begin moving into production. *********************************************************** NCR ARTICLES *********************************************************** 936. ** NCR CUTS PRICES, ADDS CONTROLLER (OST, 8/30/93, pg. 17) NCR plans to announce a series of enhancements to its RAID disk arrays, including price cuts of as much as 50%, increased performance and a new controller. NCR also plans to add support for Microsoft Windows NT within 30 days. *********************************************************** SGI ARTICLES *********************************************************** 937. ** GAMES PEOPLE PLAY (EN, 8/23/93, pg. 4) Nintendo and SGI will announce that new versions of the Japanese firm's entertainment game player will incorporate MIPS computer RISC processors. *********************************************************** SUN ARTICLES *********************************************************** 938. ** CLIENT/SERVER MAY ECLIPSE SUN (CW, 8/23/93, pg. 1) Sun is caught in a major client/server squeeze. Users said the leading Unix workstation vendor must beef up its system integration and support services to compete with much larger server rivals IBM and HP for corporate downsizing projects. 939. ** USERS BALK AT FORCED MIGRATION TO SOLARIS (OST, 8/30/93, pg. 48) Sun's aggressive stance on migrating to the Solaris 2.x operating environment was the major concern of users attending a recent Sun user conference. Users are reluctant to move to Solaris 2.0 because of the lack of software applications and differences in system administration functions. *********************************************************** UNISYS ARTICLES *********************************************************** 940. ** UNISYS LAUNCHES ITS U 6000/DT DESKTOP UNIX LINE (UGX, 8/23/93, pg. 5) Unisys has entered the desktop Unix market with its new U 6000/DT line of workstations. Designed to be used as high-performance clients and entry- level servers, the U 6000 DT systems are claimed to be the first in the industry specifically designed to run the Novell UnixWare client-server operating system for seamless integration with Unix and NetWare environments. *********************************************************** OTHER *********************************************************** 941. ** PLEASE HOLD - FOR TWO WEEKS (IW 8/23/93, pg. 80) The average executive spends about 15 minutes a day on hold. That adds up to two weeks a year - the equivalent of the average US workers vacation - of wasted time and productivity. 942. ** NETSERVER BREAKS PERFORMANCE MARK (CW, 8/23/93, pg. 54) Auspex System announced that its NS 6000 broke the 2,000 operations/sec. throughput barrier running SPECnfs. The system achieved a throughput rate of 2,037 SPECnfs with response time of 46.5 msec. while managing eight Ethernet-based networks. ******************* END OF DOCUMENT ********************