T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
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1502.1 | Wang-IBM alliance | FUNYET::ANDERSON | VMS: First and Last and Always | Wed Jun 19 1991 12:52 | 105 |
1502.2 | Another article | FUNYET::ANDERSON | VMS: First and Last and Always | Wed Jun 19 1991 12:53 | 45 |
| There is a companion article in the Boston Globe, also reprinted without
premission, to the one announcing the new Wang/IBM agreement.
IN THIS CASE, GOLIATH PROVED TO BE THE WINNER
by Charles Stein, Globe Staff
David buries the slingshot and signs a truce with Goliath.
That's how An Wang might have described yesterday's agreement between Wang
Laboratories Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. The late An Wang
always thought of the two companies that way, with Wang playing the role of the
scrappy little David to IBM's lumbering Goliath. Wang Labs' first television
advertising campaign actually used the David and Goliath theme to promote
Wang's line of word processing machines.
"There is one thing that the heads of all the computer companies in the world
have in common," Wang wrote in "Lessons," his autobiography. "We have to deal
with IBM either as the company that already dominates our market or as the
Goliath that might at any moment enter it."
The Wang-IBM relationship actually goes back 40 years to the earliest days of
Wang Labs. IBM expressed an interest in buying An Wang's patent on magnetic
core memories, a key piece of computer technology Wang invented at Harvard.
The two companies argued about the sale for several years. The negotiations
were difficult, with IBM using its legal muscle to strike a favorable deal. An
Wang came away with an impression of IBM he clung to for most of his career:
"Although they are formidable and aggressive," he wrote of IBM, "they are
highly bureaucratic and as a result they are slow to react."
Wang exploited that weakness in the 1970s with its success in word processing,
a market IBM dominated. As Wang grew, An Wang continued to delight in the
gains he made at IBM's expense and continued to use IBM as the yardstick to
measure his success. By the early 1980s, Wang actually carried around a small
piece of paper in his pocket that showed a graph with two lines: one
representing Wang's growth rate, the other IBM's. The graph showed that if the
two companies kept growing the way they had been, Wang would overtake IBM in
sales sometime in the 1990s.
It never was to be. Wang's annual sales peaked at $2.9 billion and have
declined since then. IBM's sales last year reached $62 billion.
In this version of the story, Goliath proved too formidable a competitor.
|
1502.3 | | SDSVAX::SWEENEY | Patrick Sweeney in New York | Wed Jun 19 1991 13:46 | 5 |
| What does this have to do with the Digital style of working?
In any case, this ought to be discussed in MARKETING note 1593, but if
you're going to discuss it here, the title of the note might reflect
the fact that it is discussing IBM and WANG.
|
1502.4 | Industry trends will affect Digital too | FUNYET::ANDERSON | VMS: First and Last and Always | Thu Jun 20 1991 00:05 | 9 |
| Patrick,
Being a Massachusetts-based minicomputer manufacturer, as is(was) Wang, these
industry trends could predict future changes at Digital. How would YOU feel if
we decided to get out of the hardware business?
I've also changed the title of this note to be more descriptive.
Paul
|
1502.5 | Apple courting a risKy partner? | GLDOA::MORRISON | Dave | Thu Jun 20 1991 02:26 | 8 |
| A comment on Apple - since they're in the title.... It seems that
Digital would be the likely partner of Apple considering the previous
relationships we have struck. Their "computing style" and our's seem
to be very complimentary. They are supposedly talking with MIPS as
well as IBM in their search for RISC processors. The talk that their
OS might be ported to Intel HW as well as RISC is a sad thing to
contemplate. I think Apple is walking into the lion's den by courting
IBM - problem is; they are not Daniel.
|
1502.6 | Doomed | SDSVAX::SWEENEY | Patrick Sweeney in New York | Thu Jun 20 1991 13:29 | 4 |
| All "Massachusetts-based minicomputer companies" are doomed.
The only hope for Digital is to transform itself into a world-wide
supplier of computing solutions.
|
1502.7 | software, software, software | MRKTNG::SILVERBERG | Mark Silverberg DTN 264-2269 TTB1-5/B3 | Thu Jun 20 1991 14:59 | 14 |
| simply an aggressive extension of IBM's stated goal to be the leader
in software. After spending hundreds of millions on key 3rd party
application software, the next logical step in the software game is
to go after specific niches, and getting the MAC O/S and Wang VS on
IBM RISC systems will drag along thousands of more applications as well
as Apple & Wang developed software. Compare this agressivness with
our ISV etal efforts and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to see
who will win the software game. While we spend our time convincing
sw vendors to port to Alpha, OSF/1, ODT, Rdb, etc., IBM is out getting
access to non-IBM software NOW!!!
just my .02
Mark
|
1502.8 | Maybe we're not doomed.... | JAMBOS::NEIL | Gorgie Wave | Fri Jun 21 1991 06:27 | 80 |
| Amid all the doom, gloom & bitchin, here's some good news:
********************************************************************************
*++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++*
*+****************************************************************************+*
*+** **+*
*+* ENTREPRENEURS NEWS FLASH *+*
*+* *+*
*+* *+*
*+* ENTREPRENEURS NEWS FLASH *+*
*+* *+*
*+* ENTREPRENEURS NEWS FLASH *+*
*+* *+*
*+* *+*
*+* This News Flash is intended to make you aware of something that we can *+*
*+* all be proud of and to provide you with the information you need to *+*
*+* personally brief your team. *+*
*+** **+*
*+****************************************************************************+*
*++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++*
********************************************************************************
From: Pier Carlo Falotti 7 June 1991
To: The European Entrepreneurs.
The European Coaches.
The Country Managers.
The Country Group Managers.
The Area Functional Managers.
Subject: Digital named as one of only six Open Systems vendors by European
Commission!
The European Commission has now finalized its list of approved computer
equipment and services suppliers for Open Systems. These are :
o BULL
o DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION
o ICL
o NCR
o OLIVETTI
o SIEMENS/NIXDORF
Digital is perceived by the Commission as "having done extremely well" in
positioning its products for Commission acceptability with particular
importance being attached to our :
o Systems integration capability;
o Clear commitment to OSI, in particular to open systems
architecture, the client/server model and standards;
o Willingness to incorporate third party products, e.g. APPLE, HP;
o Wide range of related services.
The Commission goes on to say that :
"It is with the above six corporations that general supply contracts will
be concluded to cover the procurement of systems identified as the result
of the Commission's evaluation."
This decision represents two major wins for Digital:
o We are clearly identified as a vendor of Open Systems platforms.
o We are recognized as a major supplier of Open Systems, multi-vendor
Systems Integration Services.
Important though this is, the real significance of being on the list of
approved suppliers lies in the increasing influence the Commission has over
Public Procurement authorities across Europe (EC, EFTA and the Central and
Eastern European countries). Digital should, therefore, greatly benefit
from opportunities in Public Administration, and in any form of Trans-
European Networking as well as from the $21bn IT projects financed from the
EC structural funds and from the EC's new $15bn R & D Framework Programs.
|
1502.9 | | AYOV10::DHUNTER | | Tue Jun 25 1991 08:19 | 13 |
| re: .8
Good news indeed. Given especially, the names that are *not* on
that list.
The more I see and read about Falotti, the more I like his style.
He appears to be the one digital VP (albeit P of DEC Europe) who
doesn't produce ephemeral nonsense. Perhaps since English is
not his first language, he may have a considerable advantage over
his American counterparts.
Don H.
|
1502.10 | E = new management system or way of thinking ? | BEAGLE::BREICHNER | | Wed Jun 26 1991 10:49 | 33 |
| re: Pier Carlo
...since the time he ran around with a tool box and later where
he was my FS district manager, we lost sight....;-)
but from the little I know about Euro happenings, it seems that
he really is driving the entrepreneural model (said to be his
invention) very hard.
Lots of reshufflings and reorgs are going one, but I do not know
how much of it is due to the model or due to the business situation.
My guess is that it is due to the model and beeing accelerated
by the economics (which might be the unplanned part of it).
In any case, many people feel it as new "way of thinking", even
if in their organization, environment the model isn't implemented
yet as such.
(Today still crazy)Ideas emerge that probably wouldn't have emerged
before, such as:
How to get remedial support call work done in a flat,
non hierarchical support structure ?
Entrepreneur exceptions manager puts a price-tag on every call and
lets the folks bid.
If nobody takes it and you do need to get it fixed by others
crank up the price... repeat until....
Entrepreneur resource manager watches his business and the
"call market". When the price is right, he takes.
Risky ? Sure! Effiecient, non-bureucratic ? I guess so..
/fred
|
1502.11 | Hold that bandwagon! | EVETPU::RALTO | Getting the last laugh | Thu Jun 27 1991 02:02 | 6 |
| Before we get too excited about Falotti, let's go back and re-read
his memo announcing the policy on purchases of notebook PC's for
business/employee use: (paraphrasing) "we expect that you'll be
grateful to pay for these out of your own pockets, whether for
business use or not, at our 'favorable' terms". The actual text
is far more disturbing than the above approximation; check it out.
|
1502.12 | | ASICS::LESLIE | Andy Leslie | Thu Jun 27 1991 05:49 | 4 |
| Oh, and by the way, that has been quietly dropped. Weeks later, months
later, I still cannot buy one.
- andy
|