| Wall Street Journal, 5-27-95
Hewlett-Packard Discloses Chip Flaw In Some of Its Workstations, Servers
Hewlett-Packard Co. yesterday disclosed a chip flaw in some of its
workstations and servers that could result in computer crashes and data
corruption for as many as 20,000 corporate customers.
The Palo Alto, Calif., printer and computer company said that after
investigating two customer complaints, it discovered that the flaw was caused
by a glitch at a plant that had changed its manufacturing processes to increase
output of fast chips. H-P declined to identify the plant but said the error
had been corrected.
Most of the computers possibly affected are HP9000 workstations shipped
since November. The flaw may also affect "a small percentage" of HP9000
servers and HP3000 servers shipped after October, H-P said. It will repair or
replace the faulty chips free. Customers can call 1-800-500-1176 for help.
H-P said it doesn't expect the flaw to have a significant impact on
earnings.
This is the third time this year that H-P has reported a manufacturing
flaw. But unlike the first two, which affected individual users of printers,
the latest flaw threatens servers, which companies depend on to store and
distribute vital data to a network of other computers. If data are corrupted
in a single server, it can pass along the corrupt data to any member of the
network.
"That is a black eye," said S.G. Warburg & Co. analyst David Wu. "They
better go and replace [the faulty chips] really fast, because that's not the
kind of thing people tolerate."
An H-P spokesman confirmed "there is a possibility" that a faulty H-P
server could pass along corrupted data, but added that not a single customer
has reported that happening. He emphasized that the affected servers are low-
to mid-range products that are typically used to store data for a single
department, not an entire company.
H-P is in the midst of publicly marketing its 9000 series servers and
workstations as "killers" of competing products from International Business
Machines Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. In a March 31 news release, H-P said
it had used the products to successfully woo away more than 200 IBM customers
in the last six months, including French auto maker Renault SA and
Bristol-Meyers Squibb Co.'s $200 million hair-care products division, Matrix
Essentials.
Indeed, contrary to H-P's efforts yesterday to play down the importance of
the possibly flawed computers, the news releases portrayed the 9000 series
architecture as a network that stores important corporate information.
Renault, for instance, recently used the machines to replace its "entire"
information systems computer network, the news release said. The company's
truck manufacturing, leasing and transportation units also use the
architecture, the release said. It wasn't clear when those systems were
shipped. Renault couldn't be reached to comment late yesterday.
Matrix Essentials is using HP9000 products to run a manufacturing-production
system, the news release said. The company couldn't be reached to comment late
yesterday.
Analysts said H-P tends to be overly cautious in disclosing possible
glitches. And like several other technology companies, it has become even more
confessional since Intel Corp.'s Pentium problems, in which the chip maker was
blasted by its customers for not disclosing a mainor flaw in its high-end
chips. The problem was exacerbated when Intel balked at replacing the chips.
Andrew Allison, an industry consultant based in Carmel, Calif., applauded
H-P for quickly disclosing and offering to fix the problem. "They've taken the
exact opposite approach [from Intel], and good for them," he said.
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| Two things that caught my eye in this article was that H-P said that
the flawed products are largely used in a single department, i.e not a
big problem. Of course if the affected department is Accounts
Receivables (AR), then you've got BIG problems.
Also, the "killers" only killed IBM and SUN products. No mention of
Digital.
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| >>Andrew Allison, an industry consultant based in Carmel, Calif.,
>>applauded H-P for quickly disclosing and offering to fix the problem.
>>"They've taken the exact opposite approach [from Intel], and good for
>>them," he said.
Duh! I think *everyone* in the world realized that Intel blew it from the
start, and eventually changed their replacement policy...So HP learned from
Intel's stupidity, big wow, let's applaud them...NOT!
re:.3 Many :^) 's....thanks I needed that!!!
/Charlie
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