F O R I N T E R N A L U S E O N L Y COMPETITIVE ACTION - WEEKLY UPDATE JANUARY 7, 1993 Welcome to the new Competitive Action Weekly. The task of creating and delivering this weekly update has been moved to the Cupertino Competitive Group. We all extent our appreciation for an outstanding job done by the previous editor, Kelly Hall. Kelly has moved on to a new function providing support out of Fort Collins. If you need more information about these articles, please send an HP Desk message to Competitive HP/6650 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 HP/6650. Competitive Action is posted to HP-UX notes in the group hp.marketing. The string is entitled "hp.competition for ". CW = Computer World OST = Open Systems Today DNR = Digital news & review SO = Sun Observer EN = Electronic News SW = Sun World IW = Information Week UW = Unix Review MR = Midrange Systems WSJ = Wall Street Journal Editor, Nadine Halsted ****************************************************************************** AMDAHL ARTICLES ****************************************************************************** 1. ** AMDAHL SEES THE LIGHT, PREPARES SPARC MIGRATION (EN, 1/4/93, pg. 1) Amdahl, realizing the shift to downsizing, is crating a migration path to Sparc- based Unix multiprocessing servers. The Huron application development environment has been repositioned as a tool for moving mainframe UTS Unix and Proprietary MVS applications to its new Sparc platform. This represents a complete strategy for customers wishing to downsize. However, this product will not be available until late 1993. (Competitive analysis: This could be a significant competitor for HP's own IBM downsizing efforts. This is the same MVS that runs on IBM mainframe systems and Amdahl is offering a one-stop shopping strategy - hardware, software and migration tools from a single vendor.) ***************************************************************************** DIGITAL ARTICLES ***************************************************************************** 2. ** DIGITAL WILL DELAY PLAN FOR INCENTIVE SALES PAY (WSJ,12/31/92,pg.B6) Digital has been the only major computer vendor that does not use a commission based compensation plan for their sales force. This may have limited Digital's ability to attract top sales people. Robert Palmer, the new president vowed to start this new pay structure in January but now has suggested a July start date. The new plan pays salespeople their current salary for making quota, less if they miss it, and significantly more if they exceed it. 3. ** 1992: THE POEM (CW,12/28/92,pg.72) Excerpt from this poem: O'er at DEC, Bob Palmer's hip To find someone to buy his chip; But in the meantime, let's face facts- No one wants to buy a VAX. 4. ** THE BEST PRODUCTS OF 1992 DEC'S ALPHA SERIES (UW,1/93,pg.48) UnixWorld gave credit for the most important product announcement of 1992 to Digital Equipment Corp. for its lightning-speed Alpha systems. Technical achievements include the Alpha chips that start at 150 MHz and is expected to increase to 200MHz this year. According to DEC, the faster speed is the result of its patented advances in low-volt technology. (Competitive analysis: What good is fast hardware without software? DEC is aiming to have a whooping number of applications available by June of 1993. Compare this whooping number of 500 to HP's thousands that are tested and deliverable today. Migration to Alpha is just as easy as migrating to another vendors proprietary system! DEC has not delivered any TPC benchmark numbers and I wonder why. Not until Q2 of '93, will C++, Ada, and TPC/IP services be available and in Q3 of '93, OSI and All-in-1. Q1 or Q2 of 1994, will bring users VMScluster and volume.) 5. ** DEC EVALUATES FUTURE OF ENTIRE SOFTWARE LINE (DNR,12/21/92,pg.1) DEC confirmed that it is evaluating all software offerings and some may end up in maintenance mode while others will be eliminated. However, no decisions have been reached on which products will be affected. Sources close to DEC believe VAX-based CASE tools, design tools and imaging tools are vulnerable. (Competitive analysis: With the added requirements of Alpha's software creation, DEC's installed accounts must be very concerned about future software support. Avoid the future headaches and convert to HP today.) ****************************************************************************** HP ARTICLES ****************************************************************************** 6. ** HP AT HOME ON THE MIDRANGE (IW,12/21-28/92,pg.56) According to InfoCorp, a market research firm, HP has passed Digital Equipment in U.S. revenue for midrange computers. HP now holds the number 2 spot with 17%. IBM still leads with 24%. 7. ** 1992's TOP PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THE 10 MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED (IW,12/21-28/92,pg.28) OpenView, installed in more than 11,000 networks, provides integrated network and system management for multivendor distributed computing environments. Another feather was added when OSF selected it as a key component for DME. The latest release manages OSI and TCP/IP networks. 8. ** IS "DOWNSIZE OR SCRAM" YOUR MANTRA? (CW,12/28/92,pg.104) More than 2,000 attended the Computer Measurement Group Conference and showed an intense interest in the ability to measure, model and forecast performance of local-area networks and other distributed systems. The only vendor product mentioned in the article was HP's PerfView. This product was used as an opportunity for Unix users to manage heterogeneous networked environments from a global perspective. 9. ** HP ADDS BUSINESS SERVER SYSTEMS (OST,1/4/93,pg.32) HP, solidifying both its Unix and proprietary business server lines, has rolled out 17 systems built for configurability. Included are 13 Unix boxes sectored into four classes of systems. Boxes will be expandable to two-way multiprocess- ing in mid-1993. Four new MPE/iX boxes were also introduced, as were new POSIX-compliant programming and user interface features. When compared to IBM's AS/400 and RS/6000 systems or the the SPARCserver, HP's new systems were more price competitive. 10. ** OLTP SHOPPING? LOOK NO FURTHER (OST,1/4/93,pg.6) One way to evaluate different vendors systems is offered by the Transaction Processing Council. This group publishes benchmarks on 20 hardware platforms, 22 operating systems and 13 databases. Included is a list of top performing hardware / OS / DBMS combinations and top price / performance combinations. HP appears on both tpsA rankings but isn't included in the top 5 for tpsB rankings. HP is a star performer this quarter with the HP9000/Software AG Adabas combination. 11. ** HP FOCUS - A SUPPLEMENT FOR THE HEWLETT-PACKARD USER COMMUNITY - MAKING ANOTHER MIGRATION (OST,14/93,pg.HP1) Washington State funds a distributed computing model. Communications Technology Center (CTC) in Redmond, Wash. is a state agency that streamlines administrative and fiscal operating procedures for the state's 32 community and technical colleges and other state agencies. HP won a contract in 1982 against DEC, IBM and others. CTC has since purchased about 40 HP 3000s and rewritten all the applications it once had on the Sperry- Univac mainframes. System wide, CTC has more than 3,000 serially- connected workstations, including PCs, Macs and terminals, linked to the HP 3000s. ***************************************************************************** IBM ARTICLES ***************************************************************************** 12. ** BARGAIN HUNTERS TAKE HEED: IBM STOCK COULD STILL FALL, SO TAKE A RAIN CHECK (WSJ,12/29/92,pg.C1) IBM's 1992 high of 100 3/8 was double the current stock prices that are hovering in the high 40's and low 50's. One analyst predicts IBM's stock will fall to the low 40's and IBM may cut half of its 200,000-person sales force. IBM has predicted that it will take $7 billion in pretax charges for asset write-offs and job cuts. Mr. Akers promised that IBM will be a bigger player in the lucrative computer-services and software markets. (Competitive analysis: Compare this to HP's stock and its continual climb from 50 1/4 to 72.) 13. ** IBM AND BULL UNVEIL RISC PLANS (UW,1/93,pg.16) IBM plans include a cluster architecture based on Power RISC due out in 1994. This will be a four- and eight-way system built on a more powerful 620 RISC chip. Bull will use the current 601 RISC chip to provide a Bull/IBM MP system with 4-, 8- and 16- way systems. This will also be available in late 1993. (Competitive analysis: HP's technology in the area of multiprocessing is available today). 14. ** IBM FUTURE HINGES ON SERIOUS MOVE TOWARD OPENNESS (OST,1/4/93,pg.1) IBM's problems stem not so much from the pace of technological change, but by advances in the open systems movement. IBM was not expecting this rapid change. One analyst points out that while IBM was planning and implementing SAA, HP was putting efforts into Unix and transitioning to the Precision Architecture. The results reflect HP's strategic vision and concentrated efforts. In June of 1992, there were 23,000 mainframe sites, 4,000 fewer than 3 years ago. IBM must refocus the company on lower- margin open systems products instead of highly profitable, proprietary, fast- dying products. (Competitive analysis: Remember IBM's SAA is still in the design phase and may be replaced by an "Open SAA".) 15. ** IBM BOLSTERS CLIENT/SERVER RESOURCES (MS,12/22/92,pg.1) The new Client/Server computing (C/S) unit reports directly to president Jack Kuehler. Plans include C/S centers worldwide that demonstrate systems based on IBM and non-IBM products. IBM will bring its expertise in database, OS, networking, and RISC to create new services and solutions. The centers will make major investments to increase service capabilities in C/S areas such as consulting, design, education, installation and outsourcing. (Competitive analysis: IBM will continue to concentrate in areas with high margins.) ***************************************************************************** MIPS ARTICLES ***************************************************************************** 16. ** MIPS ANNOUNCES R4400 CHIP (UW,1/93,pg.18) MIPS announced its next generation 64-bit microprocessor, the 150-MHz MIPS R4400 and claimed a performance of more than 100 SPECmarks. However, one analyst points out that other RISC vendors have more software written for their chips and this gives them an advantage. (Competitive analysis: Sell solutions not hardware.) ***************************************************************************** PYRAMID ARTICLES ***************************************************************************** 17. ** PYRAMID: DOWNSIZING SOLUTIONS (UW,1/93,pg.16) A new UNIX server, the MISserver ES Series was announced. The ES scales to 24 processors, delivers 768 mips and is aimed at companies that are downsizing from IBM mainframes. Pyramid played down the hardware and focused instead on an agreement with systems integrators Comdisco and Integris. The three companies will develop and market open system-based solutions for the IBM mainframe market. **************************************************************************** SUN ARTICLES **************************************************************************** 18. ** THE BEST PRODUCTS OF 1992 - SUN'S MICROSPARC (UW,1/93,pg.55) Sun was able to price the SPARCclassic at less than $4,000 for quantities of 12 or more and is fully configurable. It comes with 207MB disk, color monitor and 16MB of memory.The SPARCclassic brings the price of a Unix system within approximately $1,500 of a robust 486 PC and may be an alternative. 19. ** MIGRATION'S A LIABILITY FOR SOLARIS 2.X (OST,1/4/93,pg.10) Users at the Sun User Group conference were more concerned with a difficult migration process rather than the benefits of the OS. Changes include multithreading support, different commands and file systems, a virus checker and the C compiler has been unbundled. An increase in performance at the eight-processor level will also be available. However, users argued migrating to a new OS is a considerable task. (Competitive analysis: How does a user stay on schedule and convert to a new release? How much does it cost and what are the risks?) 20. ** NEW SUN SERVICE FACILITATES RIGHTSIZING (SO,1/93,pg.8) Sun Integration Services is assisting Sun customers with planning and implementing major technology transformations, selecting partners, and serving as project mangers or prime contractors. The group will initially include 50 professionals from key technology areas within Sun that have experience in client-server technology. 21. ** SUNSOFT RELEASES SOLARIS 2.1 WITH ADDED FEATURES (SO,1/93,pg.6) This new version delivers up to 40 percent increase in network performance and up to 50 percent in user interaction. It includes full SMP, multithreading and major enhancements in graphics providing 2-d and 3-d capabilities. New installation features: Jumpstart configures systems across network wit no user interaction required, an upgrade foundation for future upgrades to Solaris. New administration features; Online backup across the network, a graphical tool to add new accounts and build directories on remote servers, a database management tool to review and modify information in the central administration DB, a graphical interface for print servers, a host manager tool for configuring client systems, and an ICON based software manager. A XGL graphics library for vendors needing a programming interface, hardware device driver and run-time environment. This 2.1 environment is priced the same as 2.0 at $795 in single quantity. No charge for upgrades. (Competitive analysis: Again, what is the risk associated with converting to the new release? ) 22. ** SPARCCENTER 2000 DEVELOPERS PROMISE MAINFRAME-UNIX MIGRATION TOOLS AT SPARCCENTER 2000 ROLLOUT (SW,1/93,pg.26) Sun has built several partnerships with IBM mainframe and minicomputer software vendors. The goal is to build an enticing bridge to users and the SPARCcenter 2000. For the 250,000 IBM System/36 installations, Sun partnered with Universal Software. This company offers a S/36 emulator for RS/6000 and SPARC systems. It does not require the programmer to learn Unix because all its interfaces are the same as the S/36 environment. Anderson Consulting plans to offer its CASE tool Foundation for Cooperative Processing. This currently runs on IBM's PS/2. Epoch Systems will provide an interface for optical discs. Computer Associates provides utilities for security, file management, scheduling, commercial processing, spooling and other management tools. A joint marketing and development agreement with Legent provides plans to integrate commercial strength tools and mainframe solutions to off-load mainframe processors on Sun boxes. (Competitive analysis: Sun is definitely focusing on the commercial environment and the downsizing phenomenon) ***************************************************************************** OPERATING SYSTEM ARTICLES ***************************************************************************** 23. ** AT&T AGREES TO TURN OVER UNIX TO NOVELL (EN,1/4/93,pg.4) AT&T will turn over ownership of the workstation operating system to Novell in return for a three percent share in the LAN company. As part of the deal, Novell may receive 100% of the shares in Unix System Labs (USL) and USL's DCE. Also, the widely-used C and the Tuxedo on-line transaction processing environment will move to Novell. 24. ** NOVELL TO BUY UNIX PLEDGES TO UPHOLD 'OPEN' TRADITION (OST,1/4/93,pg.1) Novell will continue to honor Unix's traditional open development and source- code access procedures. It will run USL as an independent subsidiary that will keep all current early-access and OEM relationships intact. The deal, announced 12/21, calls for Novell to exchange its own stock for USL stock, a plan that will cost Novell approximately $333 million. 25. ** NOVELL TO BUY UNIX - LICENSEES WELCOME BIG RED TO FORTHCOMING WINDOWS NT BATTLE (OST,1/4/93,pg.1) Unix vendors perceive that Novell will use this to help steal users away form the Redmond, Washington based Microsoft. Several potential hazards expressed by Unix licensees include that Novell might change the policy of compliance with third-party standards such as those set by X/Open, and that Unix might become less prevalent on high-end servers because of Novell's historic focus on PC's and other low-end systems.