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12:17:03
27-Aug-1992

<><><><><><><><>  T h e   V O G O N   N e w s   S e r v i c e  <><><><><><><><>

 Edition : 2648            Wednesday 26-Aug-1992            Circulation :  7783 

        VNS COMPUTER NEWS .................................  152 Lines
        VNS TECHNOLOGY WATCH ..............................   13   "
        VNS UK SPORTS REPORT ..............................   19   "

        Please send subscription and backissue requests to CASEE::VNS


VNS COMPUTER NEWS:                            [Tracy Talcott, VNS Computer Desk]
==================                            [Nashua, NH, USA                 ]

    Monday's Market                               Digital Fair Market Value
      Quote     Change                              2-Dec-1991   $60.6875
 IBM	85 1/8	-  7/8				   29-May-1992   $42.4375
                                                   85% of lower  $36.250
    Tuesday's Market	   Dow Jones    Change      1-Jun-1992   $40.750
 DEC	36	+1	   3227.63	- 0.54

 Digital - Will build new PCs in Taiwan
	{The Boston Globe, 25-Aug-92, p. 47}
   Marking its debut as a personal computer maker, Digital said yesterday that
 it would begin manufacturing six new PCs in Taiwan. The machines will be
 assembled at seven locations worldwide, including Springfield.
   Since 1989, Digital has built a fast-growing PC business by reselling
 machines made by Ing. C. Olivetti & Co., Tandy and Intel. Analysts praised the
 new homemade machines, noting that their carefully considered cost structures
 should enable the $14 billion company to stay competitive in this brutal
 segment of the computer business. The financially ailing company reported a
 loss of nearly $2 billion for the quarter ended June 27.
   "I think they will do extremely well," predicted Andrew Seybold, VP and
 chief analyst of technologies at Dataquest Inc., a market research firm. "The
 question will be whether any of these large companies can play long-term in
 this market on a profitable basis."
   Seybold said he suspected that - as in just about every other segment of the
 computer business - Digital would end up making most of its money not on 
 selling the computers, but on offering such subsidiary services as networking
 and systems integration.
   Digital officials said last February the company intended to begin making
 its own PCs. But apparently Digital did not arrive at the details of its new
 PC strategy smoothly. Last March, John T. Rose, VP of the personal computing
 systems group, resigned, saying Digital founder and president Kenneth H. Olsen
 had rejected his plans, which called for making PCs in the United States.
   But analysts said yesterday that it appeared Rose's highly regarded internal
 computer designs survived him, and that the company had figured out how to
 marry those designs to its efficient manufacturing and shipping capabilities.
   James J. Liu, current VP of Digital's personal computer group, stressed that
 the company's machines are highly standardized, meaning that the basic
 platform of each machine is the same. "Its benefit is in being able to reduce
 the cost of inventory, and the cost of building the product," he said. The
 systems are also easily upgradeable, Liu noted.
   To cut down on import duties and other shipment costs, Digital will ship
 subassemblies, rather than finished products, to the assembly centers. Only
 higher-cost components - such as microchips, the brains of a computer - will
 be shipped via air.
   "Using this business model, we have removed a few hundred dollars in cost
 from our PCs," said Roger Matus, director of marketing for the PC business
 unit.
   Rose remains unconvinced. Reached at his Pepperell home yesterday, he warned
 that "you have to watch your costs carefully when you have materials on the
 water for 4-6 weeks." He noted that competitors such as Compaq Computer and
 Dell Computer have already come out with modular products. "Others have
 beaten Digital to the marketplace," Rose said.
   Nonetheless, analysts seem to think that Digital has "something that
 customers are going to find very attractive," said Randall Giusto, senior
 analyst at WorkGroup Technologies Inc., a market researcher in Hampton, N.H.
 "They are getting some very attractive pricing."
   Digital's modular strategy is aimed at appealing to multinational
 corporations that can now "buy the same product anywhere in the world, with
 the same consistent product quality," Liu explained. "Very much like
 McDonald's, where you get the same French fries. It is simple and
 straightforward." He said that Digital has gotten favorable results since test
 marketing the strategy since February in the Pacific Rim.
   The machines range in price from $899 to about $3,000. "These are very
 price-competitive machines," said Jack Karp, VP of Meta Group, Inc., a
 research firm in Westport, Conn. "DEC is not a well-known player in PCs, but
 this is going to make things interesting."
   And, if possible, even more bloody. Prices of PCs have plummeted 50% in the
 last year. Even as Digital was making its PC announcement, two lesser-known
 PC makers - including Westborough-based Leading Edge Products Inc. - announced
 cheaper PCs.
   Liu refused to provide figures on how big Digital's PC business is, but
 analysts believe the company sells some $750 million worth of PCs annually. In
 July, a market research ranked Digital as the fastest-growing PC maker, based
 on a survey of 27,000 buyers.
   In the mid 1980s Digital made an abortive entry into the PC market with
 several models that sold poorly. It has been more successful with its more
 recent campaign.

 Parametric Technology - Signs new distributorship agreements
	{The Boston Globe, 25-Aug-92, p. 44}
   Parametric said it signed new agreements with Cybernet Systems Co. of
 Tokyo and Toshiba Engineering Corp. of Kawasaki, Japan.

 Merisel - Said it will distribute productivity software made by Applix Inc.
	{The Boston Globe, 25-Aug-92, p. 44}
   Merisel is a software distributor based in Marlborough.

 Wang - Wins court approval to spend from receipts to pay for routine expenses
	{The Boston Globe, 25-Aug-92, p. 39}
   ranging from payroll to rent. A cash flow forecast filed by Wang yesterday
 shows that the company, which once claimed more than $2 billion in annuals
 sales, had just over $9 million cash on hand last Tuesday, when it filed
 Chapter 11, citing assets of nearly $1.03 billion and liabilities of $1.3
 billion. Wang forecasts $37.5 million in receipts through Sept. 11, the date
 until which it has permission to spend, according to an order by US Bankruptcy
 Judge William C. Hillman. Wang's projected expense during the period total
 $34.3 million, leaving the company with a projected $12.3 million on Sept. 11,
 a projected gain of $3.2 million over cash on hand at the time of the filing.
 "It's good that they [expect to] have positive cash flow," said Nelson
 Heumann, an analyst for Wertheim, Schroeder. "But I sure hope the company has
 more than $12 million in the till." Wang sought Hillman's release because two
 secured lenders, Chemical Bank and the CIT Group Business Credit Inc., with a
 combined $48 million in revolving credit to Wang, held liens on Wang's
 receivables. Wang last Tuesday successfully tapped Hillman for permission to
 spend $5 million on employee-related expenses, and unsecured creditors are to
 meet with the court tomorrow. Another sign of Wang's hand-to-mouth operations
 was a motion filed by representatives of Toshiba Corp. yesterday to reclaim
 $17,000 worth of chips shipped to Wang within 10 days of the filing. Toshiba
 ultimately settled for an administrative expense claim. "They'll get their
 money when the [Wang] reorganization plan is filed with the court," within 120
 days, said Frank Ryan, a Wang spokesman.

 M/A Com - Has announced plans to consolidate its New England facilities in
	{The Boston Globe, 25-Aug-92, p. 37}
   Lowell, putting 1,200 people into an empty Wang manufacturing facility next
 January.

 Lowell, Mass. - Negotiating with a Defense Department processing center, which
	{The Boston Globe, 25-Aug-92, p. 37}
   would place up to 7,000 workers in a vacant Wang corporate building. The
 government will announce next March who wins the facility.

 Digital - Introduces PC family based on integrated worldwide business strategy
	{Livewire, Worldwide News, 25-Aug-92}
   Digital has introduced a family of high-performance, upgradable desktop PCs 
 and launched a new, worldwide strategy to increase the profitability of its PC
 business.  
   The Digital-built, industry-standard DECpc LP (Low-Profile) 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 six modular PC family models are configured and priced to serve a wide 
 range of applications and users.
  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.

   Components will be manufactured at Digital's Taiwan facility and assembled 
 and tested at seven Digital "integration centers" worldwide:  Springfield, 
 Mass.; Kanata, Ontario, Canada; Tokyo, Japan; Taoyuan, Taiwan; Sydney, 
 Australia; Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Ayr, Scotland. The products will be shipped
 directly to customers from the integration centers.  
   The business strategy for the new PC family will serve as a franchise model,
 under which all Digital regions will follow similar business practices. All
 aspects of the entire process of product engineering, manufacturing, and 
 worldwide distribution will be involved.   
   Digital test-marketed the business strategy earlier this year when it 
 introduced a 386-based PC in Asia, Australia, South America, and Canada. The
 results included tremendous cost savings and superb quality.


VNS TECHNOLOGY WATCH:                           [Mike Taylor, VNS Correspondent]
=====================                           [Littleton, MA, USA            ]

                     Thailand's Stock Exchange Networked

    Thailand's stock exchange now connects with its 40 brokerage firms via
    a one-way satellite network. SET, the Stock Exchange of Thailand, uses
    the network to transmit basic trading information such as orders,
    transactions and confirmation of trades to the 40 firms. It also sends
    trading information to the brokers' head offices, nationwide offices and 
    investors. the network consists of a ComStream broadcast hub, satellite 
    modems, and more than 200 receive-only 3.8 meter earth stations. At
    each of the 40 brokerage firms, a broadcast receiver demodulates and
    demultiplexes the aggregate data stream into multiple real-time
    services. The broadcast service operates at 64 kb/s. 
    {Communication News August 1992}


VNS UK SPORTS REPORT:                             [Ken Merrick, VNS Sports Desk]
=====================                             [Valbonne, France            ]

||| CRICKET
    Former England test batsman Chris Broad has been sacked by Nottinghamshire.

||| FOOTBALL
    Tuesday night results:

    FA Premier League
    Crystal Palace ....... 1  Sheffield Wednesday .. 1
    Everton .............. 1  Aston Villa .......... 0
    Ipswich Town ......... 2  Liverpool ............ 2
    Leeds United ......... 5  Tottenham Hotspur .... 0 [Cantona hat-trick]
    Sheffield United ..... 2  Wimbledon ............ 2

    Barclays League Div. 1
    Charlton Athletic .... 4  Bristol Rovers ....... 1
    Notts County ......... 1  Watford .............. 2

    News: Republic of Ireland international defender Terry Phelan has joined
    Manchester City from Wimbledon for a fee of 2.5 million pounds. 


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<><><><><><><><>   VNS Edition : 2648   Wednesday 26-Aug-1992   <><><><><><><><>


--
rich@tosh.wcc.govt.nz (Richard Naylor )