Conference 7.286::digital

>  BOSTON -- Digital Equipment Corp. President Kenneth H. Olsen deflected 
>shareholder questions about succession at the company's annual meeting and 
>later said he expects to increase the size of the board.
>
>  "We're actively looking to expand the board," he said. "We believe in small 
>boards, but not this small." The board currently has eight members, and Mr. 
>Olsen is its sole management director.

    I hope they add some younger members. The computer industry is being
    led by young people using computers in non traditional ways. This is
    what DEC was 30 years ago. Now what was non traditional then is
    traditional now. (Traditions come fast in our business. :-)) We've
    got some really good people on the board and I wouldn't suggest
    dropping any of them but adding to it seems like a very healthy idea
    at this time.

    			Alfred

    PS: They should not consider anyone new for the board who doesn't
    have and regularly use a terminal or PC on their desk.

>    Does that mean that Ken wouldn't be considered if not already on the
>    board?  :^)

    Quite right. If, on the other hand, we didn't have KO on the board
    already the criteria I'd suggest would probably be different. Fact is
    he's there as are a number of other people of his age and background.

    		Alfred

    I wonder if Ken is read only in here?
    
    Jamie.

According to today's Globe, Ken is the *youngest* member of the board.

    
    You know the point about requiring new members to be real computer
    USERS is not bad.  Ever looked into senior mgmt offices at DEC and seen
    who does and doesn't ever touch a key board (or mouse)? 
    Interesting.... I know most managers I've had at DEC who don't directly
    use a system also don't understand how important it is to have a system
    that is available when you need it, reliable print services, and so on.
     
    It's all part of understanding the customer's perspective.
    
    I think the age is important too.  You need a mix.  The industry is
    changing and the services and guidance that the board needs to provide
    are different now then they were in the past.
    
    

    	Someone who attended the meeting told me a little more about the
    comments on Alpha...which were pretty amusing. Apparently, K.O. was
    holding up CPU boards with Alpha chips and saying that Alpha's real and
    that we could ship it now...BUT...the software isn't ready. So we'll
    wait. His tone apparently suggested that he didn't like waiting for
    that pesky software and would just as soon like to start shipping the
    iron right now! This struck such a familiar ring with me...as if the
    customers these days are chomping on the bit waiting for some new piece
    of hardware with nothin' on it.

    
    Re: Younger board members.
    
    How's about a UNIX bigot or two?
    
    -Ed
    

    I'd like to see a few hard-nosed business managers who know something
    about running a big business in a highly competitive field. 
    Personally, I could care less of they could tell a PC from a
    D-8 Caterpillar.  We don't need techno-weenies at that level.

    
    Who said anything about tech weenies?  Scott McNealy has a Stanford
    MBA.  
    
    -Ed
    

    Marv,
    
    What makes you think Ken doesn't have a P.C.?  He may have a laptop he
    uses in his travels?  P.S.  Have you seen him up there in NH lately??
    
    Leslie Quigley @FLA
    

    RE: .11 I think KO doesn't have a PC because he is regularly quoted as
    saying the he's not a computer user. He just makes them. Pehaps I'm
    wrong, and I'd love it if I was, but I doubt Ken has or uses a
    computer of any kind on any kind of a regular basis.
    
    		Alfred

It is my understanding that the function of a board of directors is that they
are elected representatives of the company's shareholders. Personally I would
look for qualifications, experience, and track record which indicate that my
investment is going to be well looked after and perhaps even appreciate. This is
the duty of the BOD. If they make money for me, I will be more inclined to vote
for them. (Not that Digital directors need fear for their positions on my
my account!)

So - technical management qualifications are not really required. However, it's
the responsibility of the board to appoint competent managers to run the
company, and that's where we should look for 1st. class technical management
qualifications (in my opinion).

	Richard.

    FRANKLY, (in other words, just my opinion) if we had some board members
    who used some of our software once in a while, just for preparing
    reports and such, there might be more emphasis on quality somewhere.
    Not to mention any pet peeves or anything...
    
    Anyone remember the time KO had an 11/23 delivered to his house?
    The resulting memo had a line like "We should find the person who
    designed the packaging and make sure he doesn't do anything else for
    us..."
    
    ed

 Digital - In search to expand its board. 200 MHz Alpha chip.
	{The Boston Globe, 8-Nov-91, p. 67}
   Kenneth H. Olsen. president of Digital Equipment Corp., gave shareholders a
 peak at a new high-speed computer chip crucial to Digital's future yesterday.
 He also pledged to expand its board of directors, possibly with a woman or a
 minority member.
   Speaking at the Maynard company's annual shareholders' meeting in Boston,
 Olsen said he was actively looking to expand the all-white, all-male board. At
 65, Olsen is the youngest of the eight board members, which includes the former
 chairmen of Raytheon Co., Ford Motor Co., Eastman Kodak Co. and The Boston Co.
 Four members have served on the board more than 20 years and Olsen is the only
 Digital executive on it.
   "I believe in small boards, but not this small," Olsen said after the
 meeting.
   A Digital spokesman said the company had retained a personnel search firm to
 find women and minority candidates for the board. For 17 years Digital had a
 woman director, Dorothy E. Rowe, retired senior vice president of American
 Research & Development Corp., the venture capital firm that invested $70,000
 to launch Digital in 1957. Rose passed away two years ago.
   "I want people who can make a contribution and not just for look's sake,"
 said Olsen, who has been criticized for surrounding himself with directors
 that are unlikely to oppose his decisions.
   Yesterday's meeting was like more than a dozen previous annual meetings
 during which Olsen delivered his state of the company message, much like a
 preacher giving a morality message on how hard works makes for success.
   Asked to name any "rising stars" in top management who might succeed him,
 Olsen declined politely, adding that he feared forgetting a name or two.
 Olsen, who has run Digital since its inception, has reported been urged by
 some directors to plan for a successor, something he has steadfastly refused
 to do.
   He also commented on the recent spate of executive departures, including
 James M. Osterhoff, who resigned in September as Digital's vice president of
 finance and was named chief financial officer of Denver-based US West.
   "We've lost a number of managers," Olsen said without naming names. "I
 didn't work with some of them ... but they were so valuable that some were
 brought in at twice the salary plus a bonus."
   Olsen was the only Digital executive to speak during the 75-minute meeting.
 And unlike most companies' annual meetings, there are no slides of earnings,
 advertising campaign films or predictions about future earnings.
   Instead, Olsen talked in a folksy, relaxed manner sprinkled with humor
 about the company and its strengths. He acknowledged the worldwide recession
 had hurt Digital but said he had no idea when it would end.
   He also took the wraps off a computer chip slated to serve at the heart of a
 new line of computers, code-named Alpha, that analysts say could make or break
 Digital's future.
   The new device, which will pack 1.8 million transistors on a thumbnail-sized
 sliver of silicon, uses reduced instruction-set computing technology. It will
 run at 200 megahertz - four times the speed of Intel Corp.'s current
 top-of-the-line computer chip.
   Olsen, who presented a prototype computer workstation built with the chip,
 said it would take a year to complete the software needed to run it. Systems
 based on the new chip, which will run the company's proprietary VMS software
 and the widely available UNIX system, are due late next year.
   Asked how Digital can equally support the younger UNIX and the older VMS,
 Olsen smiled and said that just a parent can love two children, so Digital can
 accommodate two operating systems.
   "UNIX is like a sixteen-year-old who is young but not very reliable, while
 VMS is a 40 year-old ... not much fun, but very reliable."

>  Unless sales pick up, he said, the company's work force will be reduced 
>further. A spokesman later said he was referring to previously disclosed 
>plans. In June, John F. Smith, senior vice president, said in an interview 
>that Digital would cut its payroll by 9,000-10,000 jobs in the current fiscal 
>year, which began July 1, and that the cuts would be adjusted higher or lower 
>depending on revenue. As of Sept. 30, Digital's payroll stood at 115,300 
>people.


           Does anyone know what the payroll was on June 30?  Delta?
           
           Does that 115K exclude Philips?
           
           When's the next round?  After Q2 results???
           
           Steve