Conference 7.286::digital

Well, you may not have thought of it as such, but the simple truth is
that this company has been "selling off" its "most valuable asset"
(its employees), for a few years now.

>Well, you may not have thought of it as such, but the simple truth is
>that this company has been "selling off" its "most valuable asset"
>(its employees), for a few years now.

	I didn't mean employees, and I didn't mean real estate either.
I seem to remember Foonley buying the rights to TOPS20 and PDP20s
(but no people).  I was looking for things like selling off (say)
the Terminals group or PDP-11 (or PDP-8) and what happend to the
people that used to work in those groups (engineering and manufacturing).

	Joe

  I don't know what time frame you are talking about, but we sold off the
Greenville, SC PWB business (the business, not just the plant), a few years
ago.

    Just read that we sold off @aGlance to several now ex-Digits, including
    Dave Copeland who was the VP of the group that built this product.
    
    th

Maybe embarrassing for the Software Business Manager of the UK sub, but what
is @aGlance and what did it do?
								- Ian W.

    More technical minds can correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to recall
    that @aGlance was an implementation of the Access Control Architecture
    (ACA Services). There are many ways to use this, but demonstrations
    were given at the last DECworld and other trade shows which depicted
    real time data getting fed to other applications (such as Lotus 1-2-3).
    There were other scenarios as well. 
    
    Apparently, with ACA developers were able to link information from
    existing applications together in less time and with less effort than
    could be achieved using typical programming languages and methods.
    
    /se
    

    The chemical (process) industries would typically use @aglance to
    retrieve data from their process supervisory control systems (the 
    systems that control the mix of chemicals in a continuous process) into
    LOTUS, EXCEL, ... and then use the spreadsheet tools to do trending,
    & 'what if' analyses - from what I remember (I work with alot of 
    chemical accts), it works on a 'tag & value' concept, in other words
    it could retreive the value of the process variable oil-on-yarn, or 
    OOY.  The links could be setup once in a spreadsheet and were 'live' in
    that each time the spreadsheet was recalculated, the data was
    're-fetched' from the process systems.

    Steve (.6) is correct in saying @aGlance is based on ACA -- that's
    Application Control Architecture -- an enabling technology that is the
    basis of much of the CORBA specification of the Object Management
    Group.
    
    Hi Steve.
    
    Ken

See the DEC @aGlance notes conference (topic 91) at CIMFIE::AT-A-GLANCE for
more detail. 


-Bob

    	Call 911 !!
    
    		There has been a high number of gossip around selling parts
    of the Company, if that is what the noter wants to know.
    
    		There are some confirmed: Greenville, Clonmel (Ireland)
    Plant, Galway (Ireland) Plant, Aguadilla (Puerto Rico) Plant and
    the San German (Puerto Rico) Plant, Phoenix (Arizona) were sold 
    (no employees involved in the transaction). We also went out of the 
    Power Supply Business, because is not a 'Core Technology'.
    
    		There are other rumors: Augusta (Maine), Colorado Springs
    (Colorado), Westfield Plant, The Mill, among others that have one way
    or another rumored to be sold.

	Re @aGlance nee DEC @aGlance

	Careful with those tenses, please. We're not ex-Digits yet.
	And Digital will continue to sell @aGlance and @aGlance
	related services. 

	The CPT CBU has very effectively capped future development
	costs, however.

	Jim

re.11
>    		There has been a high number of gossip around selling parts
>    of the Company, if that is what the noter wants to know.

	yes, that is exactly what I wanted to know. and still want to know.

	does anyone know of any employee's that were 'sold off', and if
    so what happened to them, what options they had about staying with
    digital, did they get transfered to the new companies and then given
    a minimal layoff package?
    
	Joe

    
          Here at Westfield (WFO) we are still Digital at this time.
      We were put on the market as a complete metal working buisness
      with the plant,land,equipment and employees all included.Dec is
      also supposed to contract the new owners to build all the stuff
      we presently do till end-of-life and let them(us) bid competitively
      on any new metal work needed by DEC.Our management is negotiating
      with the top six interested parties presently and hopes to have
      a prelim.sale agreement within several weeks.What happens to we
      the employees is all up to negotiations but most of us will probably
      just transfer into the new company with no choice.If they will
      not take us all the rest will packaged out before the end of June.
    

    
    
    	I believe I just read that if you are in a group that Digital
    creates a spin-off company, ie a subsidiary, that the retirement 
    life-time health beneifit doesn't carry over with you.   I think that's
    the way I would interpret a recent memo I received.  This is apparently
    a different situation, however, from being sold outright. any one
    have any comments?

DEC sold the Cupertino Calif. MCM plant to Bill Robinette back in late 1992.
The MCM's were used in our 9000 line. DEC is know only 10% of the business.

The name of the new company is MicroModule Systems. See the article in
Semiconductor International Feb 1993 page 33 for details. There was no sales
price listed.

/jon

    Re. Noter.
    
    	Again, gossip, no official confirmation, that in some cases (the
    one that keep hearing again and again is the Greenville PWB Shop that
    was sold to AMP WITH EMPLOYEES INCLUDED (????).
    Same gossip goes with regards to the San German PWB Shop it was sold
    to a Canadian Company with SOME (about 250) Ex-DECies in the 'package'
    deal.  Again, the 'Official Word' is/was that both new companies 
    'needed the PWB expertise that these employees had'.
    
    	As far as I know, both companies are doing well, therefore can not
    comment what if the companies go belly-up (Ex-DECcies will receive a
    similar TFSO package ??????) don't know, however don't think so.
    
    	On the issue of Retirement Funds.   That is one question that has
    not been answered appropiately by DEC.   However, legally if you have
    accumulated under $ 3,500.00, you should receive a lump-sum, now
    if you have more, you will have to wait until retirement age to
    collect.    Retirement Funds can not be transferred to your new employer
    retirement fund by law (IRS).
    
    Now, DEC can agree, with the US Goverment Permission (IRS), to transfer the
    money from the Retirement Fund to a IRA Account (this IRA account is
    not the usual ones you can purchase anywhere, it is a special one that
    has to comply with certain govermental (IRS) requirements).   However this
    require a lot of paperwork and justification.   If DEC is going to
    do it, it will probably be done for a specific plant/site and not for
    a single employee.   
                                                 

	U.S. News                          LIVE WIRE
    
           Digital to sell U.S. leasing business to GE Capital
   
         Digital will sell its U.S. leasing business to GE Capital's Vendor 
   Financial Services group. Under the agreement, GE Capital will become 
   owner of Digital's leasing business and be Digital's delivery partner for 
   the support of high-quality financial services. 
        Employees of Digital's U.S. leasing business will become GE Capital 
   employees, and will continue as dedicated account managers to their 
   current customers and provide services on future financing arrangements. 
   Operating as a business unit of GE Capital's Vendor Financial Services, 
   DECfinancial Services will support the relationship and ensure continuity 
   and growth in service offerings for Digital's customers. The transition of 
   the U.S. leasing business from Digital to GE Capital will be completed 
   within several weeks. 
        "As part of Digital's strategy to focus on core competencies, we 
   are selling our U.S. Leasing business," said Russ Gullotti, vice 
   president of U.S. Sales and Services. "The leasing business is both 
   management- and capital-intensive. We feel that it makes good business 
   sense for our customers and our business to put our successful leasing 
   program in the hands of a company that specializes in financial services."
        Headquartered in Stamford, Conn., GE Capital is a diversified 
   financial services company with assets exceeding $92 billion. GE Capital's 
   activities include equipment management, mid-market financing, specialized 
   financing, and consumer services. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of 
   General Electric Co., a diversified manufacturing, technology and services 
   company with operations worldwide.

    re: -17
    
    Just a nit....AMP AKZO bought the GSO (Greenville SC PWB shop) facility
    lock, stock, barrel AND people.  AMP is building circuit boards there
    with DEC's (former) capacity, including machines and the labor force.
    I don't know the details of just how many AMP management came in to the
    plant, but I do know that 'most' of DEC's former employees were able to
    stay employed and just continued working without interruption for the
    new company.  They did not get a TFSO package.
    
    Steve  (one of the GSO employees gave frequent updates to me via another
    Notes conference on the status prior to, during and after the buyout.)

RE .18
>>        Employees of Digital's U.S. leasing business will become GE Capital 
>>   employees, and will continue as dedicated account managers to their 

Does anyone know how many people this affects?



Greg

Digital - Leasing business sold to General Electric
        {The Boston Globe, 19-Jun-93, p. 34}
   Digital, which is cutting costs, said yesterday that it has agreed to sell
 its US leasing business to a unit of General Electric Co.'s GE Capital
 subsidiary.  Joyce Radnor, a Digital spokeswoman, said that the Marlborough
 group's 40 employees - many of whom are dispersed among sales offices - would
 be retained by GE Capital's Vendor Financial Services unit and would continue
 to serve current customers...

						Trace

    I noticed that the internet/clarinet. news announement, mentioned that
    DEC had dropped 45K employees, in the last four years....
    
    q
    

MRO4 is officially being sold to Fidelity Investments.  The story is in Livewire
today.

Elaine