Computerworld 1995-01-23: Vol 29 Iss 4

145 Pages·61.4 MB·English

The Newspaper of Information Systems Management
COMPJanuary U23,1995,T Vol. 29E, No.4, R140 PageWs, $6/COopy, $48R/Year LD
Middleware HP unifies line
to go mobile
Workstations, servers to be linked via HP/UX 10.0, new PA-RISC chip
By Jean S. Bozman and Mark Halper boost symmetrical multiprocessing perfor-
By Craig Stedman and Suruchi Mohan PALOALTO,CALIF Seeking the lead mance on systems from the midrange to the |
HP hopes to leverage high end of the Unix server line. It will also al-
Seeking yet another avenue into the IS main- In a series of announcements beginning next itselfas a $25 billion low HP workstations to support multiprocess-
stream, IBM, Digital Equipment Corp. and oth- month, Hewlett-Packard Co. will forge the final vendor against ing for the first time.
er vendors of message-oriented middleware links needed to bridge its Unix workstation and $5 billion Sun Until now, minor differences between server
plan to use the emerg- server architectures, industry analysts and us- Microsystemtso take and workstation versions of HP/UX have been
ing technology to con- ers said last week. the Unix workstation an administrative headache for users. The new
nect corporate road HP plans to launch a barrage of products this lead. One hitch in its Unix version will unify HP’s product lineup
warriors to their quarter that will leverage the HP/UX Version plans, analysts agreed, from the low-end HP 712 workstations to the
home office networks. 10.0 operating system as a common element for would be late delivery high-end T500 Unix servers.
IBM is designing a its entire Unixline, sources said. of HP/UX 10.0. But HP’s ambitious plans may already have
slimmed-down, mo- This latest version of HP/UX is expected to HP, page 129
bile version of its
MQSeries middle- OS/2 users flirt with Windows
ware that should be
ready for beta testing
late this year, officials
confirmed last week. Chicago Mercantile’s
Meanwhile, _ Digital Steve Goldman: Mobile By Ed Scannell when the commitment to deliver prod-
plans to get its DEC- middleware would IBM’s vulnerability on the OS/2 ucts for the two Microsoft Corp. environ-
messageQ software in allow trading floor While many key OS/2 shops are sticking front is underscored by the ments is growing among the leading ap-
shape for wireless prices to be sent from with plans to roll out development proj- overwhelming presence of plication and object tools developers.
data transmissions handheld devices ects under OS/2 Warp, some are starting Windows at its customer sites “As we look at the promise of object
this summer. to seriously evaluate Windows NT and Do you use Windows/DOS at technology and where those components
Patience is in order, however, as these mobile Windows 95 as platforms for future de- your organization? will be available, as well as the [availabil-
strategies remain hazy. Nonetheless, the prom- velopment. ity of] personal productivity applica-
ise of mobile support is intriguing to informa- This bout of doubt appears driven by tions, it appears the architecture is going
tion systems executives at several companies renewed concerns about the scarcity of the way of Microsoft,” said Joseph Cor-
Middleware, page 15 robust 32-bit OS/2 applications. Also reira, a vice president in the information
problematic is systems department at The Travelers
Cybershoppers cruise the lack of a de- Cos. in Hartford, Conn., which has de-
tailed road map ployed about 9,000 copies of OS/2.
No— 2 %
for OS/2’s_ fu- “IBM has not done a good job at laying
past Internet retailers «tur.e.. T.hi:s sl<ack Base: 93 OS/2 users out plans for specific functionality be- |
direction yond Warp. So ifI am a corporate devel- |
SForuarmcien: ghCaomm,p uMtaesrsw.o rld Database Division, OS/2, page 16
By Ellis Booker But retailers and virtual mall
owners acknowledge they have Chargeback methods
Lots of foot traffic but precious lit- yet to witness any rush of new Client/server costs hard to divvy up
tle buying. sales through this electronic chan-
That’s the story at cyberspace nel. Some merchandisers have
stores these days, according to = withdrawn from the Internet
analysts and operators of GO entirely after what seemed By Rosemary Cafasso migrated to a client/server financial system
electronic storefronts and a \A) an encouraging start. from Platinum Software Corp. in Irvine, Calif.
so-called cybermalls. €9 q Consider The Vermont | That old-fashioned business of chargeback — “We don’t believe that the way we are doing |
Dozensofelectronicmalls MS Teddy Bear Co. in Shel- tracking computer system usage and billing us- Client/server, page 129
have made splashy appear- bs aca eae burne, Vt., which set up a er departments for it — is just not the simple
ances in recent months, of- World-Wide Web page last math it used to be.
fering Internet surfers the summer with _ Digital As information systems managers struggle INTERNETt oughG UYS
ultimate convenience of popping Equipment Corp. Within four to get a grip on client/server and distributed
into a widening assortment of hours of public availability, the computing costs, the need to better record sys-
stores to buy goods on-line or via page received 13,000 visits. tem usage grows more critical. Many users are
800 numbers. Cybershoppers, page 26 now looking for ways to carry over mainframe
chargeback methods to the distributed world.
#BXBBIF TtekkkkkkekkeR S-DIGIT 48102 But the old methods do not translate easily.
Traditional chargeback procedures fail to
HUIV?PZESOOMONS9039% 9016113102 take into account the variety of new system
UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS INT 0017 components for client/server computing. Even
UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS INT O011 6 X worse, few chargeback software tools have
SERIAL PUBLICATIONS been redesigned for the distributed world.
300 N ZEEB RD “We are tryintgo resolve this problem,” said
NewANsHp aARpBeORr MI 48102-1553 Terry Tung, a senior IS manager at Morrison-
Knudsen Corp. in Cleveland. The company has
What's Inside
A PUBLIICATDION GOF
January 23, 1995
who claim that their applications “snap in” to Executive Briefing
Geta high-end network management platforms.
GRIP Page 57
Don’t throw out that old chargeback system you
on
LARGE SYSTEMS used to measure mainframe resource usage by your
your
wA lawyer offers advice for negotiating solid client departments. Many users are exploring ways
software deals. Page 65 to carry over mainframe chargeback methods toa
distributed world. Managers say they recognize
APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT the need for chargeback but that the tools to do it
= PowerBuilder 4.0 is not exactly perfect, but are lacking. Page 1
ENTERPRISE NETWORK MANAGEMENT will overall it gets good reviews. Page 73
Kmart names Virginia A. Rago as its new CIO. Rago,
rapidly change from a centralized setup
MANAGEMENT who joined Kmart as vice president of store systems
to a distributed framework. The major
=Pennsylvania’s Agile Web and California’s development six months ago, will face decisions
vendors are rolling out new strategies CommerceNet haven't yet delivered on prom- such as whether to continue plans to overhaul the
this year, beginning with Sun Microsystems ises of increased responsiveness and competi- troubled retailer’s information systems. Page 8.
next Monday. Find out how users rate tive advantages for members. Page 81 Meanwhile, Computerworld editor Bill Laberis
this shift in CW’s GuiDE To ENTERPRISE MARKETPLACE lauds Rago’s predecessor, David M. Carlson, who
recruited Rago and continues to praise her. Page 32
NETWORK MANAGEMENT. PAGE 88.
=Network management tools often go un-
used because of tough learning curves and dif-
Hewlett-Packard is forging the final links needed to bridge its
NEWS ficult installation. Page 119 Unix workstation and server architectures and is planninga bar-
= Novell tries to shore up a weakness in its COMMENTARY rage of product announcements designed to leverage the HP/UX
Version 10.0 operating system as acommon element for its entire
“pervasive computing” strategy: application Bill Laberis says Kmart shouldn’t blame its Unix line. Page 1
servers. Page 4 problems on its very capable former CIO, David
When The Vermont Teddy Bear Co. set up a World-Wide Web
aIntel’s Pentium replacement process shifts Carlson. Page 32
page last summer, the page received 13,000 visits in four hours.
into full gear. Page 6 =Attorney Robert Charles warns that libel But six months later, the page is gone and the toy maker is concen-
=The utilities available in Microsoft Ex- suits will force users and on-line service pro- trating on more traditional marketing. That’s howit goes with cy-
change are not enough for users; they want viders to consider the dangers of life in an on- bershopping, where operators of electronic storefronts have found
SNMP. Page 10 line world. Page 33 lots of foot traffic but little buying. Page 7
=The Solitaire purge is on, with = Laurence Best says companies should stop The Software Engineering Institute drafts a five-step blueprint for
government agencies joining the building software with the learn-from-disaster improving the neglected area of “people management” in appli-
crackdown on PC games in the office. method. Page 33 cation development shops. Page 73
Page 12 sJean Bozman says Digital users may find On site this week: Campbell Soup has begun its most aggressive
= Videoconferencing and standards battling themselves boxed in when making the tough de- IS project ever: a $30 million client/server-based customer service
will be all the rage at ComNet. Page 14 cision about migration from the OpenVMS op- system that is expected to save the company $18 million annually.
erating system. Page 47 Page 4. Bank subsidiary Liberty Payment Services and UPS World-
# Vendors scramble to extend the life of Token
wide Logistics are leveraging each other’s business and technical
Ring networks. Page 14 acumen as together they create a niche in the check-clearing
| Don’t miss...
= BellSouth ditches Oracle in favor of Sybase market. Page 66
for a lucrative interactive TV system. Page 16
@ just perfect! A 10-year study reveals that
DESKTOP COMPUTING 25% of those in the workforce are perfec-
tionists to some degree — a state that can
= Motorola introduces a new personal digital eventually lead to health problems. Page 107 The 5th Wave by Rich Tennant
assistant (PDA), while Hewlett-Packard pre- BBj ob hunting? Recognize that the differences
pares a fall release of a new class of PDAs. between on-line resumes and traditional
Page 37 paper versions are subtle but important. Atthayh Phil enjoyed owning, a multifunction
WORKGROUP COMPUTING a Burtt, Tone PDA, fie wished the vibrating pager had
® Lotus will use its Lotusphere meeting to pro- been riore elegantly designed.
Qt, Ropim
mote Notes as an application platform. Page 47
ENTERPRISE NETWORKING Burnt out? Need to get
away? Veteran business and
= Users are in for a rude awakening — travel writer Melanie
if they believe third-party vendors Menagh offers some choice
tips on where to go on
vacation to unplug and
How do you measure up? unwind.
Cumberland
How does your IS department compare to the Island, Georgia Management, page 84
Computerworld Premier 100? Fill out the Premier 100
survey and we’ll send you a free report showing how
your operation compares to the Premier 100 averages. COMI ais c ciscinick istic kt RE
Consolidated information from the surveys we collect
Company IndeX ..............0s0cseeseeee Page 126
may be published in a future Premier 100 issue. Send
a request on company letterhead to Paul Gillin, Editor, Editorial/Letters to the editor........ Page 32
Computerworld, 375 Cochituate Road, Framingham, Jan. 20 Stock Ticket.............s0000 Page 127
Mass. 01701 or E-mail to [email protected].
How to contact Computerworld ... Page 130
2 COMPUTERWORLD JANUARY 23, 1995
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News
Mmm, mmm, cost-effective
breed” approach rather than focusingon
one supplier.
For instance, instead of going with a
Campbell’s system revamp on front burner for $18 million in annual savings Unix-based system, Campbell gave the
nod last June to an AS/400 vendor — Chi-
cago-based System Software Associates,
By Ellis Booker A reduction in paper processing and ourselves and our customers means Inc. — as the corporate standard for its
often-duplicated administrative ‘steps more accurate invoicing and improved 30 manufacturing sites worldwide.
The recipe for their information systems will equate to faster and more accurate customer service,” Wallaesa said. “That Campbell will use System Software’s
overhaul will cost $30 million, but Camp- orders, she explained. By integrating is, delivering what the customer wants, BPCS/AS products.
bell Soup Co. executives said last week their supply chain systems, the various when he wants, at the price he expects.” “To make the transition to [client/serv-
they expect a sweet reward: annual sav- units can move inventory more ef- er manufacturing] would have been a
ings of more than $18 million. ficiently. And by more carefully monumental process,” Wallaesa said,
“This is the most aggressive project managing promotions, the compa- adding that he is confident the company
we've ever undertaken,” said Harry Wal- ny can reduce selling costs, she ean achieve interoperability without a
laesa, vice president of MIS at the Cam- added single integrated system. The goal is to
den, N.J., food manufacturer. And he said link disparate systems with networking
he can beat his 18-month timetable for From hours to minutes and middlewaarned eventuallayn enter-
deployment. As part of the project, Campbell prisewide system.
Wallaesa is referring to Project Com- last week announced a $3.1 million Wallaesa said he will achieve cross-
pass, which kicked offa couple of months contract with Industri-Matematik, platform integration as he makes the
ago. Its charter is to streamline Camp- Inc. in Tarrytown, N.Y., for its Sys- transition from the SNA corporate net-
bell’s customer service, order manage- tem ESS. ESS, which uses an Ora- work to TCP/IP and through the use of
ment and logistics systems across four cle Corp. database management message-oriented middleware.
business units in the U.S. and Canada by system, is an integrated, Unix- Campbell’s will be able to move inventory more Campbell has not disclosed that mid-
efficiently with integrated supply systems
moving them off 25-year-old mainframes. based order management system. dleware strategy yet, although Wallaesa
The biggest savings will come from Campbell said it expects the new revealed he has picked IBM’s Integrated
“pulling together all the aspects of the software platform to reduce the time it The result of this will be improved cy- Systems Solutions Corp. to handle the
business around a united order manage- takes to process and validate a customer cle time, the IS executive added. systems integration job on Compass.
ment and supply chain system,” said order from hours to minutes. Industri-Matematik beat out SAP That contract has yet to be signed, and
Jane Biddle, a senior industry analyst at The company is counting on more fo- America, Inc.’s R/3 system for the bid, its worth was unavailable. Separately,
Benchmarking Partners, Inc. in Cam- cused and better customer information company officials said. But Wallaesa Campbell has put client/server applica-
bridge, Mass. She has been consulting and is planning to add an information said the Industri-Matematik system is tions in its sales and marketing organi-
with Campbell on the project for the past componert to the customer relationship. just one piece of the Compass project, zation using a relational database from
eight months. “More accurate transactions between which is deliberately aimed at a “best-of- Sybase, Inc. in Emeryville, Calif.
AT&T GIS to resell NetWare, UnixWare
4% of information systems managers said they will use
NetWare as their database/application server by 1996.
Novell’s database server strategy consists of porting
By Laura DiDio months or it will lose momentum to Microsoft in the databases to run as NetWare Loadable Modules (NLM)
short term and, worse, risk user defection over the long from 14 vendors such as Oracle Corp. in Redwood City,
@ Novell, Inc. will soon take its first long-overdue term. Specifically, Novell needs to entice several inde- Calif., and Sybase, Inc. in Emeryville, Calif.
steps toward shoring up the most glaring weakness in pendent software vendors to write a broad range of Bob Sakakeeny, an analyst at the Aberdeen Group in
its “pervasive computing” strategy — applications back-office services, including database, messaging, Boston, said the strategy has not resulted in a large
servers — by inking a deal under which AT&T Global communications and multimedia. number of user installations. “There’s no critical mass.
Information Solutions will resell NetWare and Unix- The upcoming UnixWare The database NLM users do
Ware. announcements may augur What are your 46% seem to be reasonably satis-
the beginnings of that strate- database application fied thoughhe s,a”id .
Also, at the ComNet show in Washington tomorrow, gy. “It’s about time,” said One such user is Bob Kline,
server operating
Novell and IBM’s Networking Systems Group will jointly Steve Austin, MIS manager at systems engineer at Caterpil-
system plans?
announce that IBM’s NetView will be able to manage No- Helicopter Support, Inc. in Or- lar, Ine. in Peoria, Ill., which
vell’s UnixWare servers. ange, Conn. “We wanted to see uses Novell’s OracleWare
Dayton, Ohio-based AT&T GIS’s decision to resell and an applications strategy from Ea Standard in 1994 NLM as its primary database
market NetWare and UnixWare marks the first time a Novell last year. It’s disap- El Standard in 1996 server.
major systems vendor has lined up behind the Unix- pointing that it’s taken so “The OracleWare NLM
Potential standard
Ware platform. The AT&T GIS reseller agreement also long.” in 1996 database server is fast, very
evens the score somewhat for Novell because AT&T GIS Developing applications stable and cost-effective. Net-
has been selling Microsoft Corp.’s Windows NT Server, quickly and efficiently is cru- work performance has _in-
said Novell’s Bill Mason, director of partner marketing cial to Helicopter Support’s creased since Caterpillar in-
at the NetWare Products Group. continued growth, Austin stalled the OracleWare NLM,”
Taken separately, neither of these announcements is said. If “Novell doesn’t have Kline said.
earth-shattering. But they are must-do action items applications or database OSs/2 NetWare Unix Windows Other users and analysts
that lend “tremendous credibility” to Novell’s long-dor- server solutions, someone said Novell’s 14OEM database
mant overall applications server strategy, users and an- else wiTlhel do.or i s definitely BASE: 50 SENIOR IS MANAGERS partnerships are not enough.
alysts said last week. open for NT Server to gain a “I don’t see us switching
Novell, they said, must do this within the next 12 to 18 foothold here,” Austin said. Source: Forrester Research, Inc., Cambridge, Mass. from NetWare because we
“The announcements are a have 44,000 users committed
good start; two years is too lotno wgai t for Super NOS,” to it worldwide, but we are evaluating NT Server,” said
Correction | | said Richard Buchanan, an analyst at Forrester Re- Joe Lawless, a systems programmer at United Parcel
search, Inc. in Cambridge, Mass. Service, Inc. in Mahwah, N.J. UPS does run an Oracle
A recent Forrester Research report, “Server Operat- NLM in stand-alone mode as a dedicated database serv-
The Jan. 16 In Depth article erroneously reported ing System Shootout,” predicted that Unix and Win- er, but it ““won’t deploy NetWare as an application serv-
that United Parcel Service, Inc. was using soft- | dows NT Server will compete for the market lead in da- er” because the strategy is not clear, Lawless said.
ware from Remedy Corp. in Mountain View, Calif. tabase and applications servers with NetWare lagging Kline added that the low cost of NT Server and the
for help desk and trouble-ticketing functions. far behind (see chart). That is because the underlying seamless integration between Microsoft's FrontOffice
UPS uses software from Indianapolis-based Soft- architecture of NetWare cannot “match NT or Unix in and BackOffice suites provide a compelling argument.
ware Artistry, Inc. for those tasks. the application server arena,” Buchanan said.
The report, based on interviews with 50 users, said Choosing NT over NetWare: some case studies. See page 57.
4 COMPUTERWORLD JANUARY 23, 1995
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News
Pentium swaps accelerate
The new math
By Jaikumar Vijayan Pentium installations. to the system,” said Ernie Pitarelli, a
According to figures from Work- scientist at Computer Sciences Corp. he latest Pentium math is just in.
Four weeks after Intel Corp. said it Group Technologies, Inc. in Hampton, in Greenbelt, Md. One floating-point flaw plus thou-
would replace all flawed Pentium pro- N.H., an estimated 412 million Pentium- However, those who are less knowl- sands of angry users equals $475
cessors unconditionally, the company based systems had been installed edgeable about a computer’s innards million.
has shifted into high gear. worldwide — 1.9 million in the U.S. — are advised to have a professional re- Intel last week said it would be setting
Last week the chip maker said it had by the end of 1994. place the chip, analysts said. aside that amount in a onetime charge to
finished lining up third-party service Intel expects the entire replacement Worldwide, there are hundreds of cover replacement costs associated with
providers, in the U.S. and other parts process to take another two months, manufacturers of Pentium-based sys- its flawed Pentium processor. Last week,
of the world, to handle processor re- although analysts predict it will take tems that use a wide variety of heat the chip maker said the charge, taken
placements (see chart). longer. sinks, sockets and motherboards. against fourth-quarter earnings, would
A spokeswoman “Nothing much is Many systems vendors have custom- cover all material and replacement costs.
at the Santa Clara, = 7" | being heard about ized designs that would make the re- Some analysts argued that Intel was
Calif., company Trheepslea cecmoemnpta niine st hew ilUl. S.h andle Pentium the replacement placement process vary. being overly cautious in its estimates.
claimed the manu- process, so I guess A case in point is Dell Computer “Intel is just making sure that it
facturing cutover @ Digital Equipment Corp. things must be go- Corp.’s Pentium-based systems. The doesn’t have to take another charge be-
to the updated pro- @ Bell Atlantic Business ing well,” said Dean heat sinks that Intel supplies along cause of this problem some time in the fu-
cessor had already System Services McCarron, an ana- with its replacement processor are not ture,” said David Wu, an analyst at S. G.
been completed Mi Dow Jones Service lyst at Mercury Re- sufficient for the air flow characteris- Warburg& Co. in New York.
and that high-vol- @ Tandy Retail Services search, Ine. in tics of the Dell design and could fry the Chip analysts such as Dean McCarron
ume shipments to Division Scottsdale, Ariz. processor if not properly installed. at Mercury Research in Scottsdale, Ariz.,
systems vendors, © For general information call: [phone]. | For those adven- Similarly, differences in sockets, elec- however, maintained the figure was in
service providers (80F0or) i2n4s3t-r6uc0t6i6o.n s on how to replace chips call turous enough to trical specifications and accessibility line with earlier estimates.
and customers are attempt it them- of the processor make the task of re- Mercury Research, which had project-
under way. So far, Intel claims to have selves, Intel has outlined a seemingly placiitd nifgfe r in each case. ed a $500 million charge, estimated it will
“shipped thousands of updated pro- simple replacement process. In gener- “We are asking that customers get cost Intel $100 in material costs per chip
cessors,” although firm numbers were al, users need to open the system, en- their processors replaced by a compa- and another $150 in associated replace-
not available. sure proper grounding to avoid static ny-authorized service provider,’ a ment costs per chip. The company also
electricity, lift a lever, remove the old Compaq spokeswoman said. Like oth- estimated that Intel may have to replace
Answering user pleas chip, insert the new chip, close the le- er major desktop vendors, Compaq is as many as 2 million flawed processors.
Most of the major systems vendors — ver and replace the system chassis. treating the replacement as a stan- Despite the substantial charge, Intel
such as Gateway 2000, Inc., Dell Com- Some users with a technical back- dard warranty issue and sending tech- posted record revenue of $11.52 billion
puter Corp., IBM and Compag Comput- ground who have attempted the re- nicians to sites to replace the chip. for 1994, up 31% from the $8.78 billion for
er Corp. — said last week they are placement process called it a cinch. IBM, which was the first to announce 1993. As a result of the $475 million
shipping bugfree systems to custom- “Tt took me about 20 minutes total to ano-questions-asked replacement pol- charge, earnings dipped slightly to $2.29
ers and replacing flawed processors replace the chip since I was being very icy, said last week that it was sending billion from $2.30 billion in 1993 — rough-
for users upon request. Estimated re- careful, and I had to pull out a card to technicians to Pentium customer sites, ly 70 cents per share.
quests for replacements have ranged get better access to the CPU. ... It was even if those sites had not actually —Jaikumar Vijayan
from 5% to 10% of vendors’ respective easier than adding an expansion card asked for replacements.
Compaq tries to regain notebook throne
e@ The Contura 410, an upgrade to the val-
ue-class Contura line. Available in Eu-
rope, this product features a 25/50-MHz
By Michael Fitzgerald said that while Compaq’s problems are paq is “absolutely going to pick up our 486DX2 processor and brings the prod-
“not killing them,” his company was pace” in 1995, with new and refreshed uct family in line with the competition in
Compaq Computer Corp., which created looking at other vendors’ products as a products. Several of these will come out the high-volume value part of the market.
the high-end notebook market, lost its result. in the next few weeks, she said. @ Later in the first quarter, a new high-
grip on the highly profitable market last Sharon Francia, a end LTE Elite that will include a 10.4-in.
year, possibly alienating corporate users senior business Worldwide notebook market leaders (by shipments) active-matrix color screen. IBM PC Co.
in the process. The world’s largest PC manager at Compaq, used a 10.4-in. screen on its high-end
maker is now actively revamping its ef- acknowledged that 16% B 1993 notebooks to grab market share last
forts, which may signal good things for “there [was] a lot of 14% Mi 1994 year, and other competitors have fol-
users in the year ahead. dissatisfaction” 12% lowed suit.
Houston-based Compaq slipped from among Compaq’s eA new Pentium notebook, due in mid-
No. 1 to No. 2 in the market in 1994 (To- customer base, par- 8.6% year, with a built-in CD-ROM drive built
shiba America Information Systems, Inc. ticularly over its by Inventec Electronics Co., a Taiwanese
took the lead), and third-ranked IBM is bumbling transition clone maker. This is Compaq’s first
hot on its heels. Compaq’s market share to the Elite. After in- agreement in several years to relabel an-
for the year actually grew, but it sagged troducing the prod- other manufacturer’s notebooks.
badly in the second half, analysts said, uct, Compag stopped Francia declined to comment on prod-
indicating that users began to turn away. shipping the Lite but uct specifics but said users could expect
Compaq not only fell behind the tech- then couldn’t get the Toshiba Compaq IBM NEC Apple to see a 10.4-in color screen on a Compaq
America Computer Corp. Computer,
nology curve last year but badly botched Elite out the door on Information Corp. Inc. notebook this quarter and that the Con-
its high-end shift from the LTE Lite to the time; it also had bugs Systems, Inc. tura 410 would come to the U.S. market.
LTE Elite line, leaving customers waiting with the product for Source: International Data Corp., Framingham, Mass. Part of Compaq’s comeback may also
up to several months. most of the year. involve an executive shake-up. “Compaq
In response to analyst claims that the Among them are the following, accord- tried to recruit me, and the recruiters
Grass is always greener... company had become complacent in the ing to the sources: were talking to me about moving some
One information systems manager at a notebook market, Francia pointed out e@ Arefreshed Contura Aero subnotebook other people out,” said a vice president-
large multinational food company said that Compaq in 1994 revamped its high- and a possible complete redesign and re- level marketing executive at a rival PC
his company is sticking by Compaq but end and value-class corporate notebook naming of the product. This will address maker who requested anonymity.
the vendor’s performance in the last year lines and introduced two products, the the Aero’s main problems in the market, Users contacted said their doors are
“is a big disappointment to me.” The Aero subnotebook and Concerto pen- includinga subpar color screen and un- not closed to Compaq as long as the com-
manager, who asked not to be named, and-keyboard convertible. She said Com- derpowered chip. pany addresses its quality issues.
6 CompuTeRWORLD JANUARY 23, 1995
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News
Judge balks at plan
News Shorts
to settle Microsoft suit
IBM shuffles execs in PC manufacturing group
In an internal shuffle that analysts say should shore up IBM PC Co.’s prob-
By Mitch Betts “wall” between Microsoft’s oper- lem-plagued manufacturing operations, IBM last week named Joseph For-
WASHINGTON ating systems staff and applica- michelli head of manufacturing operations, reporting directly to Richard
tion development staffs and re- Thoman. Formichelli replaces John McClelland, who left to join a competi-
At a feisty and unusual court quiring disclosure of operating tor that IBM would not name. Formichelli was formerly in charge of the
hearing late last Friday, a feder- system instructions that give Mi-
mobile computing unit.
al judge repeatedly suggested crosoft a competitive advantage.
the government’s proposed anti- But Anne K. Bingaman, head of Intel goes into Overdrive
trust settlement with Microsoft the U.S. Department of Justice’s
Corp. should be broadened to Antitrust Division, fiercely ob- Intel Corp. today will announce its long-awaited Pentium Overdrive pro-
cover other complaints raised by jected to the judge second-guess- cessor. Based on 3.3V, 0.6-micron technology, the processor can be used to
competitors. ing her discretion. She said the upgrade most 50-MHz Intel SX2, DX2 and 25-MHz 1486-based systems. The
“While we’re cleaning up this judge should quickly sign the ac- processor will operate at 66 MHz — roughly two times the performance of
[licensing] mess, it would seem cord. Sporkin responded sarcas- existing 486 processors.
to make sense to clean up these tically, “Can I sign with my own
other issues,” said U.S. District pen, or does the government sup-
Court Judge Stanley Sporkin. ply that? I’ve got to have some Acer readies LAN servers new version of its Object Cobol compiler that
Just before the hearithne gju,dg e role. It makes a mockery of the After a strong showing in the PC market last uses a 32-bit engine and is available for OS/2
ordered the parties to consider system if have norole.” year, Acer America Corp. is making a bid to and Microsoft’s Windows NT. The compiler is
his own list of possible remedies, Bingaman said she opposes increase its presence in the highly competi- intended to give Cobol programmers access
such as barring Microsoft from adding new elements to the set- tive LAN server marketplace. Last week, the to object-oriented programming techniques
engaging in ‘vaporware” an- tlement. “I don’t mind suing Mi- company announced two network servers and allows Object Cobol applications to be
nouncements that mislead com- crosoft, but I can’t sue Microsoft based on Intel Corp.’s 90-MHz Pentium pro- tightly integrated with other Object Linking
petitors about new products. for someone else on charges that, cessor, with an entry-level price tag of $3,118. and Embeddin2g.0 applications, accordintgo
Other remedies Sporkin sug- in my heart, I can’t support at this The company also introduced new network company representatives. Palo Alto, Calif.-
gested include establishing a time,” she said. and server management software, incorpo- based Micro Focus says it will ship the $1,500
rating a point-and-click user interface to Odject Cobol 3.3 this quarter.
Kmart picks new CIO manage system activity.
Asymetrix to sell off products
Microsoft announces record sales Asymetrix Corp. announced a major restruc-
Virginia Rago moves up from VP job Last week, Microsoft Corp. announced turing last week, saying it will lay off 89 em-
record sales for its second fiscal quarter. ployees and sell off several products in order
Sales jumped 31% over the same quarter last to focus on its core
By Julia King she can do an extraordinary job year, reflecting a strong Christmas showing business. The Belle-
at Kmart,” Carlson said. “She for its home products as weli as good perfor- vue, Wash., compa-
Two months after dispatching has an excellent background in mance by the BackOffice server suite and Of- ny, which is con-
former Chief Information Officer systems and logistics.” fice productivity applications suite, the com- trolled by Microsoft
David M. Carlson to the corpo- Whether Rago will proceed pany said. Profit for the quarter was up 29% co-founder Paul Allen,
rate netherworld of special proj- with a previously announced from the same period last year, rising to $373 will sell off or discontinue
ects, Kmart Corp. last week ap- overhaul of Kmart’s 9-year-old, million. development of its screen savers and the
pointed his replacement. store-based information sys- Compel multimedia presentation product,
The company named Virginia tems remains unknown. Plans ATM to run over copper wire said Vern Raburn, acting president of Asymet-
A. Rago as its new CIO in the for the store systems revamp Santa Clara, Calif.-based UB Networks, Inc. rix. The company, which will retain about 160
midst of a long-awaited execu- were disclosed in September as and Tut Systems, Inc. in Pleasant Hill, Calif., employees, will continue to develop and mar-
tive shake-up at the nation’s sec- industry criticism of Kmart’s in- announced they will team up ket its Toolbook and InfoModeler products,
ond-largest retailer. ventory-handling capabilities to deliver 155M bit/sec. Raburn said.
Analysts said the appointment was on the rise. Analysts had Asynchronous Transfer
of a woman to the top technology blamed miscalculated inventory Mode (ATM) to the desk- SHORT TAKES 3Com Corp. in Santa Clara, Cal-
post suggests the struggling levels for keeping sales down top over standard Cate- if, acquired Integrated Services Digital Net-
company’s willingness to alter during most of last year. gory 3 copper wire. Cur- work development partner AccessWorks
its conservative operating style. rently, ATM runs only over Communications, a Homdel, N.J., company
“Retail systems has historical- Holding the line more expensive — and less common — Cate- that makes products that provide high-speed
ly been a man’s world, but Kmart Last week, Rago was not avail- gory 5 and fiber cable. UB Networks will in- access to the Internet. ... Nestor, Inc. in Prov-
has hired someone based on able for comment, but according corporate Tut transceiver chips into its idence, R.1., will announce this week at Lotus-
their superior qualifications to one company source, cost-cut- GeoRim workgroup ATM switch and adapter Sphere that its N’Route software for inbound
rather than their sex,” said Tom ting will most likely put the sys- line, which will ship in March, UB Networks fax routing will be available on Notes. ...
Friedman, editor of “Retail Sys- tems revamp on hold as well as said. Lotus Development Corp. and Motorola,
tems Alert,” an industry newslet- keep overall 1995 IS spending to Inc. will announce today at LotusSphere that
ter in Newton, Mass. “It signals current levels. Kmart’s 1994 IS Apple: Profits up, and 1 million the two will work to bring wireless support to
they’re willing to change.” budget totaled $201 million — up Power Macs out the door Notes and CC:Mail. ... IBM finally got its wish
Rago’s appointment comes 17% from 1993 IS spending. Apple Computer, Inc. last week reported that last week, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
less than six months after she Last December, in the midst of sales for its first fiscal 1995 quarter, ended Second Circuit removed Judge David Edel-
joined Kmart as vice president of its eighth-straight money-losing Dec. 30, 1994, jumped 15% from the same peri- stein from the IBM antitrust case. IBM has
store systems development. She quarter, Kmart disclosed plans od one year ago, to $2.83 billion. Profits surged been engaged in a lengthy feud with the 84-
was recruited to the post by Carl- to cut overall costs by $400 mil- to $188 million, up from $40 million a year ago. year-old judge, who has been overseeing
son, the same person she will re- lion to $600 million this year, fol- Apple attributed much of the increase to Pow- IBM’s effort to repeal the 1956 Consent Decree
place in her new job. Carlson was lowed by another $200 million in er Macintosh sales and said it met its goal of that restricts its outsourcing practices. ...
removed from the CIO post in No- 1996. shipping 1 million Power Macintoshes two IBM PC Co. said it would recall the AC adapt-
vember and remains a man with- Kmart also ousted Joseph E. months ahead of schedule. ers for 152,000 of its ThinkPads because of the
out a title at Kmart. Antonini as chairman last week. possibility of electric shock. The recall affects
Last week, however, Carison Analysts expect Antonini also Micro Focus launches ThinkPad Models 360CS, 755C, 755CE and
applauded Rago’s appointment. will be removed from his other 32-bit Object Cobol compiler 755CD, mostly sold in Europe but also in U.S.
“I’m very proud of her accom- posts as president and chief ex- As promised at its annual user conference models. U.S. customers can call (800) 238-
plishments to date, and [I] know ecutive officer. last May, Micro Focus, Inc. has announced a 1967 for more information.
8 CompuTERWORLD JANUARY 23, 1995