Newsgroups: biz.dec Path: sparky!uunet!decwrl!pa.dec.com!mrktng.enet.dec.com!price From: price@mrktng.enet.dec.com ("Dave Price, UNIX Press Relations 25-Aug-1992 1737") Message-ID: <9208252137.AA11538@enet-gw.pa.dec.com> Subject: DECnews/Digital Introduces PC Family Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 14:38:20 PDT X-Received: by usenet.pa.dec.com; id AA00884; Tue, 25 Aug 92 14:46:50 -0700 X-Received: by enet-gw.pa.dec.com; id AA11538; Tue, 25 Aug 92 14:37:45 -0700 X-Received: from mrktng.enet; by decwrl.enet; Tue, 25 Aug 92 14:38:20 PDT X-To: mail11:;@enet-gw.pa.dec.com (@decnewslist) X-Apparently-To: distribution:;@enet-gw.pa.dec.com (see end of body) Lines: 243 |||||||||||| DEC n e w s |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Digital Equipment Corporation Maynard, Massachusetts 01754-2571 Editorial contact: Edward J. Canty Digital Equipment Corporation 508-486-6387 or Peter Basmajian Digital Equipment Corporation 508-486-6406 Business Strategy Enhances Digital's Competitiveness... DIGITAL INTRODUCES PC FAMILY BASED ON INTEGRATED WORLDWIDE BUSINESS STRATEGY MAYNARD, Mass.--August 25, 1992--Digital Equipment Corporation today introduced a family of high-performance, upgradable desktop PCs and launched a new, worldwide strategy to increase the profitability of its PC business. Components for the DigitalR-built, industry-standard DECpcTM LP (Low-Profile) family will be manufactured at the company's world-class facility in Taiwan and assembled and tested at seven Digital "integration centers" worldwide. Digital launched a full range of 386- and 486-based desktop systems, starting at $899. The family includes a 66-MHz 486DX2 system that uses Intel's fastest 486 processor, released earlier this month. Five of the six new models offer extremely high-performance graphics technology and plug-in processor upgrades. The business strategy, according to James J. Liu, vice president, Personal Computer Group, is designed to increase Digital's competitiveness, market share and profitability, and to provide customers with the highest-quality products at extremely aggressive prices. "We will achieve these goals by implementing a worldwide `franchise model,' under which all Digital regions follow similar business practices, and by tightly controlling all aspects of our entire process of product engineering, manufacturing, and worldwide distribution to reduce costs," he said. One advantage for customers is that Digital can provide a consistent product on a worldwide basis. For many large companies, product uniformity is an important purchasing criterion, because they invest heavily in computer-related training and need to install applications, networks and upgraded equipment uniformly throughout the world. Digital said it will target FORTUNE-class 1000 customers and the 5,000 largest enterprises worldwide for its new family. Products will be shipped directly to customers from integration centers in Springfield, Mass.; Kanata, Ontario, Canada; Tokyo, Japan; Taoyuan, Taiwan; Sydney, Australia; Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Ayr, Scotland. DECpc LP Family Models The six modular PC family models are configured and priced to serve a wide range of applications and users. The models are: o ENTRY-LEVEL SYSTEM: DECpc 333sx LP uses a 386SX processor running at 33 MHz, which typically is 32 percent faster than competing 25-MHz 386SX machines. o CPU-UPGRADABLE SYSTEMS: DECpc 340dx LP, DECpc 425sx LP, DECpc 433dx LP, DECpc 450d2 LP and DECpc 466d2 LP are 386- and 486-based units with clock speeds of 40 MHz, 25 MHz, 33 MHz, 50 MHz, and 66 MHz, for demanding desktop business and technical applications. U.S. catalog prices range from $899 for the DECpc 333sx LP to $2199 for the DECpc 466d2 LP. The family is shipping today, with limited availability for the next 45 days, Digital said. Digital will market the new PCs in the United States through its direct sales force, resellers, and Desktop DirectTM, its telephone ordering system. Three-Way Upgradable PCs DECpc LP models can be upgraded in three ways: The 386 40 Mhz model can be upgraded to any of the 486 models; 486 models can be upgraded to faster 486 processor speeds, and the speed of the 486 models can be doubled through the addition of a clock-doubling chip. The upgradable systems also include industry-leading technology specifically designed to run Microsoft WindowsTM four times faster than similar machines without the technology. Local-bus video directly connects the video processor to the CPU, which allows them to communicate at speeds up to 33 MHz, instead of 8 MHz on conventional machines. The systems also incorporate GUI (graphical user interface) acceleration, which recognizes commands used by Microsoft Windows and runs them faster. The family's Super VGA video supports resolutions up to 1024 x 768 pixels. "Windows and menus appear to snap open, and graphs and diagrams appear instantaneously," said Roger Matus, director of marketing for the Personal Computing Group. Ergonomically designed, family models feature a compact footprint, offer one of the quietest fans in the industry, and support flicker-free 72Hz monitors that reduce eyestrain. All models run under Digital PATHWORKSTM, NovellR NetWareTM, and BanyanR VINES PC networking software. Strategy Further Detailed Liu highlighted several key measures that have enabled Digital to realize substantial cost reductions throughout the PC business cycle. These include design modularity of the LP family (80 percent of components are common to the family members), utilization of the ISO 9000 quality process at its MRPII Class A Taiwan facility to ensure high quality and to reduce component waste; new packaging techniques, and new shipping procedures for system components. "We were able to borrow from the 'just-in-time' concepts of matching inventory shipments to actual orders," he said. "The result is that we can reduce the costs of transportation and inventory, while keeping product quality and reliability high." For example, Liu said Digital's new shipping procedure calls for standard bulky components such as monitors to be shipped by sea and high-value items such as motherboards and daughterboards to be air-freighted. "By setting up the pipeline in this way, we enable our regions to mix and match their inventories more easily and react to changing local market conditions more quickly," he said. Franchise Model Liu said that Digital has established a franchise model to govern the operation of the company's regional marketing organizations and the seven integration centers that serve them. "The franchise model ensures that the regions follow Digital's worldwide business practices," Liu said. "As a result, customers enjoy major benefits when they buy PCs from Digital." "For example, large customers can get the same models everywhere. These customers save on testing and training, because application software works everywhere, network compatibility applies everywhere, the customers' internal training is valid everywhere, and upgrades are available everywhere," he said. The franchise model also provides speedier sales, service and support, Liu said, because "each Digital region stays close to its customers, and that's better for local customers than dealing with large, monolithic suppliers. On the other hand, our regional operations follow world-class business practices, and that's better for large customers than dealing with small, local suppliers. In short, our franchise model offers customers the best strengths of large and small vendors," he said. Liu said Digital test-marketed the business strategy earlier this year when it introduced a 386-based PC in Asia, Australia, South America, and Canada. "We achieved tremendous cost savings using the model, and product quality was superb. We knew we were successful when we competed against the Asian clone makers and won a major order for 2,000 PCs with the Hong Kong stock exchange," he said. Recent Successes Digital recently began selling PCs through its Desktop Direct telephone sales operation and recently acquired 800-SOFTWARE, a large PC software distributor that handles thousands of world-class application packages. Digital is seen increasingly as a leading competitor in the PC market, according to Liu. The company has been recently rated as the fastest-growing supplier of PCs in the U.S., according to Computer Intelligence of La Jolla, CA. Also, Merisel, Inc., one of the world's largest PC distributors, recently expanded its distribution agreement for Digital's PC products. Merisel will carry the new DECpc LP family, Digital said. Digital Equipment Corporation, headquartered in Maynard, Massachusetts, is the leading worldwide supplier of networked computer systems, software and services. Digital pioneered and leads the industry in interactive, distributed and multi-vendor computing. Digital and its partners deliver the power to use the best integrated solutions -- from desktop to data center -- in open information environments. # # # Note to Editors: DECpc, Desktop Direct, PATHWORKS are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation. Digital is a registered trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. NetWare and Novell are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. Banyan is a registered trademark of Banyan Systems, Inc. CORP/93/781 ============================================================================ DECnews is sent as a courtesy to members of the press. 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