Conference 7.286::digital

    Who came up with this name?

How's it pronounced?  Ava Store or aVAStor?

  My guess is people will say "Ava Store", whether they are supposed to or not.
And people hearing this will think ""AVASTOR" is a store that sells AVAs. What's
an AVA?" It's clear that STOR means "storage"; what does AVA mean?

    
    
    	I guess it kind of has a EVER sound to it...
    
    	You know? Like forEVER???

Press Release:  June 21, 1994

Kay Ritter
AVASTOR
508/841-5961

Leslie Garvey/Janice Rosen
The Weber Group
617/661-7900

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


DIGITAL'S OEM STORAGE BUSINESS RENAMED AVASTOR

Reinforces Leadership in Worldwide Storage Components Market



SHREWSBURY, MA -- June 21, 1994 -- Digital Equipment Corporation today
announced that to further emphasize its leadership in the storage components
industry, its OEM Storage Business has been renamed AVASTOR.  The AVASTOR
identity positions the business to compete in worldwide markets with
independent storage providers.  It also helps to further distinguish Digital's
storage components as the business aggressively expands its worldwide reseller
and distributor channels, while continuing its efforts with leading original
equipment manufacturers (OEMs).  Digital also announced today the AVASTOR
Customer Resource Center, which will provide product information, technical
data, installation assistance and trouble-shooting for the Business' magnetic
disk, tape drive and solid state disk customers.

    "Over the past year, Digital's storage components business increased new
customer revenues by 350% and more than doubled our disk drive marketshare*,
while expanding our global distributor and reseller partnerships from five to
33," said Jack Sharp, vice president of sales and marketing for Digital's
AVASTOR business.  "The AVASTOR identity will enable us to continue enjoying
rapid growth by establishing a focused brand that helps us compete more
effectively with other vendors."

    In a separate release today, Digital's AVASTOR business announced new
standards in computing performance with the new Capella Series of disk drives
specifically designed for the high-end desktop environment.  The Series
features Digital's first industry-leading disk drive with magneto-resistive
(MR) head technology.

* Source:  International Data Corporation

    AVASTOR, which manufactures magnetic disks, DLT tape drives and solid state
disks, remains an integral part of Digital's Storage Business Unit.  The
Storage Business Unit also includes the Heads, StorageWorks Solutions, and
Video Interactive and Information Services businesses.  While Charles Christ,
vice president of the Storage Business Unit, oversees all AVASTOR activities,
the business is led by Jack Sharp, vice president of sales and marketing,
William Lowe, vice president of worldwide storage manufacturing, and Peter
Franklin, director of marketing.

New AVASTOR Customer Service Offerings
    To support its rapidly expanding customer base, AVASTOR announced a new
Customer Resource Center in the U.S., and plans to establish a similar service
in Europe and Asia later this year.  The Customer Resource Center hotline,
(800) DSP-DISK, offers an automated information support system and direct
personal support for AVASTOR's magnetic disk, DLT tape drive and solid state
disk customers.  Staff is available Monday - Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
(EST), with a message center available after hours.

    In addition, AVASTOR offers a worldwide bulletin board service (BBS) that
customers may use to download AVASTOR software utilities, applications and
technical publications, post messages to the Customer Engineering staff, and
review online product information.  AVASTOR customers worldwide can access the
BBS by dialing
(508) 841-5578.

AVASTOR's Advanced Technologies
    In addition to its world-class service offerings, AVASTOR meets storage
component customer needs by incorporating advanced technologies in its family
of offerings; these technologies include AVASTOR's performance-enhancing
ASABETt silicon chip set, MR and Diamondhead thin-film heads, and Digital
Linear Tape (DLT).  By leveraging these technologies and Digital's 30 years of
storage manufacturing expertise, AVASTOR's magnetic disks, solid state disks
and DLT tape drives are able to meet customer demands for unparalleled
performance, reliability and capacities in easily-integrated packages.  For
instance, AVASTOR's DLT drives boast five times the durability and four times
the performance of competing helical scan devices, and its new MR magnetic
drive offers the industry's leading data transfer rate, fastest seek time and
highest MTBF.



Worldwide Manufacturing
    AVASTOR manufactures its storage devices in Digital facilities worldwide to
meet global customer demand.  Magnetic disk drives, solid state disks, DLT tape
drives and mini-libraries are produced in Colorado Springs, Colorado; initial
design and production of magnetic disk and DLT drives and mini-libraries takes
place in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.  Magnetic disk drives are also produced in
Digital's new storage manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, which opened
in June 1994.  Electronics modules for AVASTOR's solid state disk drives are
manufactured by Digital in Singapore.

    AVASTOR, a business of Digital Equipment Corporation, provides leading
storage components for computer and subsystem vendors, resellers and
distributor markets worldwide.  Headquartered in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts,
AVASTOR develops and sells high-performance magnetic disk drives, solid state
disks, and DLT tape drives.  The industry's fastest growing disk manufacturer,
AVASTOR leverages technologies, such as its performance-enhancing ASABET
silicon chip set, to provide storage components that set new standards in
reliability, capacity and speed.


# # #

CORP/94/511
Digital, the AVASTOR logo, and ASABET are trademarks of Digital Equipment
Corporation.

(800) DSP-DISK?  They couldn't get (800) AVASTOR?

    Have a store ??

    I think it's AVASTOR, as in AVACOFFEE - no thanks, I've just had one.
    
    Sounds to me as if this unit is being 'positioned' to be able to go it
    alone.
    
    Maybe our new slogan should be "Digital 'av it now" - ungrammatical but
    punchy.  The only trouble is our detractors would alter the slogan to
    "Digital has had it now"
    
    Martin

    
    I think the name is remarkably close to AdStar -- which I think
    is IBM's storage division.
    
    Glenn

I guess this name was devised by the same people who brought you Fuddrucker's
and POLYCENTER.

Paul

    
    Serious potential here,
    
    AVABOX, AVACHIP, AVAFIX, AVACON .....
    
    and things are rolling until somebody suggests POLYAVAWORKSLINKS.
    
    Me, i'm off to start a landscaping business, AVAGARDENER.
    
    Cheers.

And it just occurred to me that if we're trying to make "Digital" a household
name, why are we renaming the successful parts of our business?

Paul

	Available Storage

		(Ever Available Storage)
		(Always Accessible Available Storage)

From the last lines of note .5

>>CORP/94/511
>>Digital, the AVASTOR logo, and ASABET are trademarks of Digital Equipment
>>Corporation.

Is "ASABET" someone on the BOD's sense of humour surfacing - one last roll of 
the dice?

-Steve ;-)

    well, I read it as aVAStor as in 'A Vast Storage', which seems to
    conjure up the right image for the group. 
    
    But then again, that's just me.
    
    Andy

    
    
    You lot......your AV'ing a laugh  (Cockney accent!)

I may just be cynical but

> [...] to further emphasize its leadership in the storage components
>industry, its OEM Storage Business has been renamed AVASTOR.  

I have problems understanding that there is any causal connection
here.  How does this renaming emphasize our leadership?  Or,

>The AVASTOR
>identity positions the business to compete in worldwide markets with
>independent storage providers. 

how does this "identity" manage to position a business?  Damn, I can't
even figure out that there is an identity.  The name says nothing
to me.

    I assumed it was a play on the word "avatar". The embodiment of
    storage, or something like that.
    
    Then again, it might be a stretch to assume marketing is conversant
    with Sanskrit...

    
    	Is it true that Bob Palmer is going to cahnge his name too. So as
    not to be confused with the "real" Robert Palmer?
    
    		the Greyhawk

Hmmm ... sounds a lot like NAVASTAR ... wasn't that what
International Harvester changed their name to a few years
back?

Re: .20

That was Navistar.  I don't think there will be any confusion.

I don't have a problem with AVASTOR.  I presume a "non-Digital" name was
chosen so as to make some vendors who compete with us in the PC space feel
better about using a Digital product.

IBM has done the same with Ambra, and we've also got our Dorio terminal line.

				Steve

    re .14 ASABET is the name of a river in the Marlboro area, I believe.
    There is a node called asabet. Maybe it's based in Marlboro. I seem to
    remember going down rt. 495 which runs through most of what's called
    the GMA and going over the Asabet River. (Seemed more like a medium
    sized brook or a very small creek.) That's where ASABET comes from.
    
    Phil

    re:20
    
    It was ... and it did a whole lot of good (?) for them too.
    
    

The river is the Assabet.  For obvious reasons, the node name had to be
shortened.

    I think we'd have a little difficulty in the storage field with the
    name Digital, after all, a *major* player there is Western Digital.
    
    Laurie.

    Well, between Singapore, and Malaysia on the one hand,
       and Massachusetts on the other, we could've named this unit...
    
    
    			*** Eastern Digital ***

Isn't the Assabet river the one that runs by the Mill? That would explain the
name, although its relevance will soon be gone :-(

    I thought it was A-lpha VA-x STOR-age.  AVASTOR.
    
    ????
    
    -j

    How about?
    
    Advanced Storage

    AVASTOR
    
    AVAPC
    
    and, 
    
    AVE MARIA

Re: .29

Not likely - the whole idea is to open up the market for Digital's disk
drives for non-Digital systems.  The DSP drives already enjoy a good 
reputation in the marketplace (some people find that they can buy a DSPnnnn
drive which is essentially identical to an RZxx drive for less money).

				Steve

    I like the idea.
    
    Look, kids, "Digital" the brand name carries as much elan as, say,
    "Studebaker".  In the storage business, it reminds people of DSSI, DSA,
    R80s, CI, closed VAXBI and all the other horrors perpetrated by
    Charlie's predecessor.  Plus it is attached to a dying dinosaur.
    
    AVASTOR is neutral and safe.  It isn't associated with the past, but
    instead with the highest-density SCSI disks in the business, plus other
    high-quality products that they _now_ turn out.
    
    Plus, with its own name, it can be sold or spun off more easily.

    AVAST - "A nautical term to stop or cease" - Websters

>    Look, kids, "Digital" the brand name carries as much elan as, say,
>    "Studebaker".  In the storage business, it reminds people of DSSI, DSA,
>    R80s, CI, closed VAXBI and all the other horrors perpetrated by
>    Charlie's predecessor.  Plus it is attached to a dying dinosaur.

SCSI, Fiberchannel, ESCON, etc, are all trying to reproduce the capability
that all those dinasaurs delivered starting about 15 years ago.

And storage has clearly learned a lot from the past decade and a half.  Out
of TK50s we now have DLT.  Out of HSCs (which must rank as the most successful
product family in DEC's history) we have the follow-on HSx with support for
CI, DSSI, and SCSI in a wide variety of form-factors.

Actually, HSC's deserve special note.  They sold with relatively minor changes
for a period of well over a decade and were very difficult to replace
functionally.  And throughout their entire life they were powered by a PDP-11
with few products that could match or beat their performance in terms of
thruput, connectivity, reliability, availability.

    
    if you play it backwards.......it's ROTSAVA!
    
    

    
    	Which means "Robert-Our Total Sales Aren't Very Accurate"
    
    		makes sense to me - Digital's "Abbey Road"
    
    			the Greyhawk

    re:33 
    
    Hey, I own a '54 Studebaker Champion and it is a great car.  If I can
    only get rid of the vapor lock problem it has right now ... but I
    digress.
    
    It is a good example.  The Studebaker was a good product, poorly
    marketed.
    
    Chuck

    
    
    re. 38.
    
    Then Alpha must be an Avanti.
    

    The name may start with "A" to list it first in directories. Many small
    business play this game, "AAA Cleaning", "AAA Rental" to be listed
    first in the yello pages. Gee, do people look up disk drive companies
    in the yello pages?
    
    Fran
    p.s. my first note here...
    

    re .39 
    
    	much like the avanti when Digital goes under the stamping
    	plates will be purchased by another company and product
    	will continue from a different manufacturer.
    
    
    Brian V
    

This game has been played before by General Motors.  A number of joint
ventures with foreign auto makers did not pan out when sold from the
Chevrolet division.  People tended to ignore the fact that the Chevrolet
Nova was exactly the same as the Toyota Corolla and was a few thousand
dollars cheaper.

Hoever, General Motors then created a new division, Geo, which sold the
Prizm (among others).  As you might guess the Prizm is the Nova is the
Corolla.  It appears to be working for them.  It might work for Digital.

					Michael

re:                     <<< Note 3186.38 by BSS::C_BOUTCHER >>>

<    Hey, I own a '54 Studebaker Champion and it is a great car.  If I can
<    only get rid of the vapor lock problem it has right now ... but I
<    digress.
 
    try putting half a grapefruit over the fuel pump!  
    
    
    worked for me!
    
    8*)

    re: .43 (more rathole)
    
    And I thought *my* advice (wrapping the fuel lines in tin-foil) was
    borderline ;-)

Hey, who needs fuel pumps when gravity works just fine?? :-)

Dave (1924 and 1926 Studebakers)

ps - okay, they have a vacuum pump and tank, but the final feed to the carb is 
gravity fed....)

    RE .43 - .45 Grapefruit rinds wrapped in tinfoil did the trick for my
    mother's '63 Mercury Comet with vapor-lock!  And I thought my brother
    was crazy!  Just an engineering genius, I guess...

    I was told, long ago, that the grapefruit trick works best if you also
    stick a maraschino cherry in the center of the fruit.

      John

    p.s., Good luck to AVASTOR. Can I buy a 4GB SCSI drive at EPP discount?

    I know this isn`t the place for this question but...do you have a hard
    time finding spare parts for your "baker" and if no where do you get
    said parts from? 
    
    Thanks

    For Studebaker parts contact Dave Thibeault in Maynard, MA. He's a
    ex-DECie that's making a full time business out of his Studebaker hobby
    and I probably the largest distributor of Studebaker parts in the US.
    
    Nick
    

    I have not had problems getting parts for the Studebaker but they have
    been pricie - $180 for a new water pump still in the original
    packaging.  
    
    re:49	Do you have a number for David's shop??
    
    Sorry to  all those talking about AVASTOR, but this gives me much
    relief from the normal stress of the day.  We now return you to your
    locally scheduled VTX programming.

Actually, all this discussion of Studebaker does have some relevance to digital-
Studebaker produced some of the most advanced cars of its time - the first with
disk brakes, for example, - but had poor marketing and consumer perception.

And digital produces some of the most technologically advanced systems. Alpha;
our disk drives; etc. But we have poor public perception. This has to be
corrected before we go the way of Studebaker.

>Studebaker produced some of the most advanced cars of its time - the first 
>with disk brakes, for example, - but had poor marketing and consumer 
>perception.

Yes, but there were also times when they stuck to tradition and got behind the
new technology.  In the mid 20's when front wheel brakes were hitting the 
market, Studebaker spent *millions* of dollars on campaigns to discredit the 
benefits of this new system.  They eventually went along with the flow and 
started using 4 wheel brakes around 1927.  As a result, my 3300lb '24 and 
4500+lb '26 get along with two rear brakes only.  It's *real* fun when it 
rains out.....

Gee, who would want a PC??

Dave

    parking in the back seat of a '53 Studebaker was quite interesting...

Please keep to the subject of the topic, which was ....Uhhhh....hmmmmmm....
Oh yeah, AVASTOR.

Bob - Co-moderator DIGITAL

    Saw this recent press release:
    
    >SHREWSBURY, MA -- June 21, 1994 -- Digital Equipment Corporation's newly
    >named AVASTORt business today set new standards in desktop computing
    >performance with the announcement of three disk drives in its new Capella
    >Series of 3.5-inch, one-inch high, 5400 rpm products.  Designed for
    >high-performance desktop computing applications, AVASTOR's Capella 3221 2.2
    >GB magneto-resistive (MR) drive incorporates its advanced ASABETt silicon
    >chip technology and provides the desktop industry's fastest net host user
    >data transfer rate, of 7.5 MB per second, and seek time of 8 milliseconds
    >(ms).  In addition the drive provides one of the highest MTBF ratings of
    >800,000 continuous operation hours.  ...
    
     800,000 hours  =  91.26 YEARS !!!
    
    HELLO - MARKETING???  How about offering it with a life-time guarantee?
    

>HELLO - MARKETING???  How about offering it with a life-time guarantee?
    
People don't want life time guarentees - they want mean time between
failure numbers. A disk failure can often cost more in terms of
down time, lost data, rescheduling costs, management headaches, etc
than the cost of the hardware. If the manufacturer cheerfully sez
"Return it to us with the proper paperwork, in triplicate, and we'll
be glad to send you another one in a month or two", so what?

    People don't want lifetime guarantees? 
    
    Howcum every PC network adapter I've bought in the past year (the
    latest one claiming a "demonstrated MTBF of 400 years") comes with a
    lifetime guarantee? (unfortunately, the ones that got toasted in the
    lightning strike were 'older'..)
    
    Howcum my modems both have lifetime guarantees? (and metropolitan is
    darned glad they do!).
    
> than the cost of the hardware. If the manufacturer cheerfully sez
> "Return it to us with the proper paperwork, in triplicate, and we'll
> be glad to send you another one in a month or two", so what?
    
    Uh-oh.. DECthink again.. First off, the normal "PC" way to do it is
    "Here's your RMA. Send it to us with a check for $15 for handling, and
    we'll either fix it or replace it and it'll be on the FedEx truck
    within 24 hours of receipt." (I've done it, and it's true.) Second, 
    customers concerned about downtime and data loss have spares and a backup 
    procedure. Yes, it is downtime - and I'm not saying "hey, let's give a 
    lifetime guarantee instead of an MTBF" - but saying "Lifetime guarantee" 
    is a strong message to the non-technogeeks who happen to buy AN AWFUL LOT 
    of the stuff on the commodity market.
    
    But, of course, there would have to be an appropriate marketing splash
    to go with such an offer; done with the traditional Digital Stealth
    Marketing(tm), it would be all liability and no benefit.
    
    ...tom

    Why do RMA/Warranty repairs at all on commodity stuff? Seriously, Chipcom 
    did and it saves them millions, if something breaks call them up, they'll 
    look up your service contract online and if it's valid a new part goes on 
    the truck that day and they ask you to throw away the old one.  

    Most warantees are just a form of advertising, and bear little relation
    to the quality of the product.  A customer wouldn't be thrilled to
    find that their disks die every 6 months even if Digital does replace
    them.
    
    Very high MTBF ratings, perhaps coupled with a warrantee, would be
    a plus.
    
    					Steve

By the way, has anyone determined the (politically) correct way to pronounce
AVASTOR?

-steve-