Conference 7.286::digital

  What is EDS's main business, and where are they located? I assume this is not
the EDS that Ross Perot founded.
  I did hear that the PRODUCTION of DVN programs was outsourced a year or so
ago. I liked those Buzz Luttrell call-in programs and I was sorry to see them
go.

       <<< Note 2119.1 by TOOK::MORRISON "Bob M. LKG2-2/BB9 226-7570" >>>
                             -< Who/what is EDS? >-

>  What is EDS's main business, 

System integration (I believe the are #2 to Andersen), outsourcing (big
contract for network management centers for the Army among others) 

> and where are they located?

I believe the HQ is in Dallas

> I assume this is not the EDS that Ross Perot founded.

Yes.  Sold to GM in '86 or so.  GM was their biggest customer, but I believe 
last year, their outside business surpassed the GM business for the first 
time.


They can be pretty aggressive.  I know of two programs (one I'm taking over 
now) where they do a lot of DEC bashing to the customer, refuse to appear on 
any org chart in a subservient position to anyone but the customer, etc.

When Ross owned it, the culture was very conservative: no facial hair; no 
wingtips, only plain toed shoes.  I believe that may be relaxed somewhat now.  
My brother worked at one of their network control centers for a couple of 
years.  When he started, he was told he must wear a suit to work.  He bought a 
jacket and coordinated pants, they said no, coordinated isn't good enough.  So 
he bought a courdoroy suit, they said no courdoroy.

When GM bought them, they brought new managers into the project he was on.  
The new managers called everyone in for a team meeting, explained they were 
the new managers, what the rules were, etc.  Did anyone have any problems.  My 
brother laid it on the table, and they escorted him to the door.  Then they 
tried to charge him for the internal training he had been taking after his
shift was over each day.  I think he got out of that because he didn't quit, 
they fired him.

>>  What is EDS's main business, and where are they located? I assume this is 
>>  not the EDS that Ross Perot founded.
  

As I understand it, it's one and the same.

   It is NOT the same EDS. I don't know what the initials stand for, but
   the company that has the DVN business is a small communications company
   located in Littleton. Several former Digital employees work there now
   continuing the work they did when they were part of the former Media
   Communication Group (MCG) in Bedford. 

    I think the old Bedford operation is now Quantic Communications
    Inc. in Andover, the former APO site.  mwr

    Most of MCG went to Quantic, but a few folks went to work for EDS...on
    the video side of things.
    
    I'm attending a meeting @ 10:00 to discuss the production side of
    Bob Palmer's announcement, and EDS will be in attendance.
    
    Jim

    It's called EDS Video Services.  They are on Porter Road in Littleton,MA., 
    across the street from the LJO offices.  THey are not related to EDS
    that Perot owns.  Since in our infinite wisdom DEC let go all the Media
    Communications people, all of this work gets sourced out.  EDS has a
    studio and video communications equipment.  They produce MANY videos
    for the marketing groups.
    
    KB
    

    The EDS on Porter Road is the Littleton office of the company Perot
    used to own.  EDS is still headquartered in Dallas.  The Littleton 
    office is mostly staffed by former MCG folks.  In fact, Digital's 
    video networking capability has always been outsourced by Digital 
    through  MCG, it was just invisible to the internal user. It is
    acknowledged that EDS is a competitor as well as a supplier. However,
    their technical capability in video networking services cannot be
    easily or cheaply duplicated internally and their closest rival still
    falls short of our requirements.
    

About a month ago we had to do a quick video of David Stone for one of our 
large opportunities at Xerox. Members of our team contacted a number of 
internally-sanctioned video production outfits. The quoted price for a
5 minute tape of David Stone delivering a personalized message, unedited and 
transferred to VHS format was $2,000. That price was able to be negotiated 
down to $1,000.

My boss happened to see some video I shot of a team event. I happen to be a 
former video producer and he asked if I could accompany him to do the Stone
video. My schedule did not permit me to do that, but I put him in contact with 
a small video production outfit in Worcester (Lapriore Videography) that I
used to deal with.

They did the video for $500 and for a short production with no editing, even 
that is a bit high.

I suggest someone audit how much we're spending for video productions, because 
if this one experience is any indication, Digital is getting ripped-off 
big time.

Regards,

Jim

>>      <<< Note 2119.9 by JMPSRV::MICKOL "Please stop the wrong-sizing!" >>>

>>They did the video for $500 and for a short production with no editing, even 
>>that is a bit high.

I paid $1000 for my wedding and that included 2 guys for 6 hours *AND*
editing it down to a 1 hour tape.

Garry

My name is Norma Frye and I am the Operations Manager of the Digital 
Video Network - DVN.  I was formerly with the Media Communications Group 
in a variety of roles including production managment (video, slides and 
photography).  Let me see if I can shed some light.

Yes, EDS Video Services in Littleton, MA is a part of Electronic Data 
Systems, the company that Ross Perot started (he left after the merger 
with General Motors).  They have been handling our space segment time, 
transmission management, and downlink installation and maintenance since 
about 1987 when they bought Videostar, our then current supplier.  With 
the outsourcing of all communications services last year we also had 
them pick up the video production and uplinking piece of the business, 
first operating our equipment on our premises, and then purchasing the 
gear and opening their own shop.  This was done after proper evaluation 
of other vendors and alternatives in a competitive fashion.

EDS entered into an agreement with us with very strict confidentiality 
clauses.  Our broadcasts are NOT open to anyone at EDS to see.  
Additionally, EDS is not only a competitor of ours in other areas, they 
are also a very large customer, and sometimes a partner.  The 
relationship is not simple.

Regarding pricing of video services - there is a commodity manager in 
place in purchasing who does monitor and audit pricing.

Please feel free to call or write if you have any other questions 
regarding DVN.

Norma Frye
297-2682

Thanks for the clarification.

re: .11

>My name is Norma Frye and I am the Operations Manager of the Digital 
>Video Network - DVN.  I was formerly with the Media Communications Group 
>in a variety of roles including production managment (video, slides and 
>photography).  Let me see if I can shed some light.
...
>
>Please feel free to call or write if you have any other questions 
>regarding DVN.

This is an example of how we should be communicating in this company, putting
an end to idle speculation by providing FACTS in a TIMELY manner.  Why is this 
the exception rather than the norm?

Thank you Norma!

Steve

    RE:  13
    
   > This is an example of how we should be communicating in this company,
   > putting an end to idle speculation by providing FACTS in a TIMELY 
   > manner.  Why is this the exception rather than the norm?
   >
   > Thank you Norma!
    
    You got this kind of response because Norma is a first-class person. 
    We need more like her!
    
    Chet

	RE:  Last Two

	Thanks for the attagirl!  Now where was I supposed to meet you 
	to drop off payment???

	Glad I could help.
	Norma

              <<< Note 2119.10 by FREBRD::POEGEL "Garry Poegel" >>>

I've worked with Quantic Communications and I think you are comparing apples 
to oranges here.

My experience was a year ago.  I had hosted a technical conference and we took 
8 hours of tape and "condensed" it to maybe 6-6.5 hours.  The condensation 
consisted of removing references to particular customers, inaudible questions, 
conversation, etc., and replacing them (seemlessly in my perception) with
other "sound bites", cuts to other shots, etc.  The transition from one
speaker to another was accomplished with fade out and fade in, and some sort
of thing where they flipped the picture and one guy disappeared and another
appeared.

_THEY_ would cut in audio from another portion of the tape when the video
showed an overhead slide to eliminate "idle" chatter, make the message more
potent, cut to a different camera angle, etc. [I almost said WE here, because
I had to be present for almost all of the two days of editing to ensure that
the final product met my specs, but my editor started out testing different
techniques with me, asking what I wanted to keep/throw away, and by the first
afternoon, he could predict what I was after.  He did all the production and
no, I don't even consider myself to be the director because he knew how best
to present the material _AND_ operate the equipment.] 

The "" are mine to indicate that I don't know the first thing about the
production side, but these folks are _VERY_GOOD_ at this and I would not
expect them to shoot 6 hours of tape and condense it to 1 hour for $500.  We
had two professional cameras on the session with two operators for close to 10
hours when you count the sessions, (our breaks such as lunch, etc., where they
were switching tapes, making adjustments, etc.), setup and breakdown.  Those 
cameras don't go for $700-1000 a pop, they are $30,000 apiece.

The result was broadcast quality (aside from the presentation), and
considering the fact that this was an unproduced, informal meeting, I was
absolutely floored by their ability to produce something that approached my
dreams, after the fact. 

As to the wisdom of "dismissing" the MCG, I think it probably worked to the 
advantage of both parties, Digital and the MCG.  They now produce lots of 
stuff from us (at an hourly cost) and in their spare time, they can handle 
outside work and staff up as needed without burdening Digital.  I think we
save and they gain by filling what previously would have been "idle" time with
outside work. 

'nuff said