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Articles
about DEC
mgmt memo
.
Volume 6, #7 October,
1987
Wall Street Reactions To DECWORLD '87 by Mark
Steinkrauss and Brad Allen, Investor Relations
An
Outsider's
View Of Digital vs. IBM
Vice
Presidents
Build Long-Term Relationships With Key Customers
Digital
Exceeds
FY87 Customer Satisfaction Goals
The
Role
Of Strategic Relations
European
Research
Laboratory Opens In France
Gift
Supports
Creation Of Doriot International Information Center
Geoff
Shingles
Honored By Queen Of England
EMC
And
Digital Agree To Settle
Litigation
Progress
In
U.S. College Recruiting
Digital
Honored
For Technology Executive Roundtable
Organizational
Changes
In European Marketing And Sales
High
Performance
ULTRIX Workstation Group Formed
DECWORLD '87
represented the largest gathering of security analysts Digital has
ever hosted. It served to change the thinking of even the most
cynical of the more than 125 analysts who attended. They came away
saying that Digital is not just the logical alternative to IBM,
but rather an obvious equal.
Analysts who have been
extremely positive regarding Digital were in their glory. It was
as if their upbeat research reports on Digital were played out
before their clients' and their own eyes.
Every analyst we
talked with spoke of the enthusiasm and professionalism of Digital
people, be they demo people, registration people, or those who
handled long lines or provided general information. They also
recognized and applauded the customer focus of DECWORLD and were
favorably impressed by the manner in which we interacted with our
customers.
Susie Petersen of
First Boston, who maintains a cautious near-term outlook for
Digital, said in a report dated September 14: "Now that the
stardust from DECWORLD has settled, we remain highly impressed
with the conference's breadth and still cautious about Digital's
spending outlook for the first half of fiscal 1988.
"What we saw at
DECWORLD wasn't a happening; it was a siege. Digital has
progressed from a minicomputer vendor serving the scientific crowd
to a full-line information systems company equally comfortable
with corporate America. The breadth of the product exhibits —
publishing, medical, legal, financial services, government,
telecommunications — were overwhelming and could have been staged
by only one other, highly Blue competitor. When IBM claims it
can't justify the cost, we point out that Digital's $25 million
party added over $1 billion to the firm's market capitalization in
two daysl
"But Digital did more
than just strut its product stuff at DECWORLD. Digital is
convinced that it has the one true faith: networks of computers
which distribute their processing power into the hands of the
people who use it. This commitment to 'peer-to-peer' networking
which links equals together, rather than IBM's 'hierarchical'
approach, which maintains a central mainÂframe with smaller
computers communicating through the mainframe, is reliÂgion to the
Digital employees I met in Boston.
"At the product
introductions on Wednesday, when Ken Olsen was asked what Digital
would do with its $2.2 billion in cash, he answered, 'When the
message finally gets across, we're going to need all the cash we
can get to handle the growth.' DECWORLD was Digital's $25 million,
sugar-coated way of beating that message of peer-to-peer
networking into us, even if we didn't want to hear it.
"We agree with Mr.
Olsen that there is enormous opportunity for Digital to leverage
its emerging status as the other company besides IBM a customer or
supplier or software house has to do business with into
above-industry growth for the next decade. Our theme of caution
remains focused on differÂentiating between the short term and the
long term; in the short term, Digital needs to build a broader
foundation of people and plant to complete its transition from
minicomputer star to global information galaxy of the 1990s."
Along the same lines,
Jean Orr of Drexel Burnham Lambert noted in a report dated
September 15: "With the DECWORLD '87 trade exposition, heavy media
exposure, and a large number of new product introductions,
together with gains in revenues and earnings while the industry
struggles, and a clearly enunciated and understood approach to
computing, Digital is the talk of the industry.
"If an ideal computer
system for an entire company is described, given current
technology and consideration of costs, and then compared with what
is available in the market today, Digital's product line comes out
as close as any supplier to this ideal system. The company's
computer system is clearly closer to the ideal than those of IBM
and virtually every other competitor while many of those companies
are working toward a more DEC-like solution. Digital is recognized
as the number two vendor in the industry and as the leader in
terms of distributed data processing, compatible computers
throughout the product line and the ability to network.
"In addition to the
momentum that Digital is currently exhibiting, the company is
strongly positioned for the next several years. Users are moving
to distributed data processing, more networking and communication
between various computers within the organization and fewer
(ideally none) converÂsions from one operating system to another."
Finally, Carol
Muratore of Morgan Stanley and Company, a long-time supporter of
Digital, had the following to say, "Digital Equipment's offerings
disÂplayed at the DECWORLD exhibition toll another warning for the
other general purpose minicomputer companies. The Firm's weapons
in this area are its sales and service strengths and superior
product and market strategy. This combination will be hard to
beat; 1988 should be another year of marketshare gain for Digital,
and I continue to recommend purchase of this Morgan Stanley model
portfolio selection."
She continued,
"Digital is riding an applications-market wave that should last
for several years, and it's momentum is likely to continue
throughout 1989. The company is filling a broad need for networked
solutions and has a strong focus on industry segments. Its success
stems not from a new hardware cycle, but from a well-implemented
marketing strategy backed by good proÂduct .
"We left DECWORLD
impressed by three observations:
1) the breadth
and functionality of Digital's products — solutions, network, and
hardware;
2) the
company's attunement to the needs of its customers and prospects;
and
3) Digital's
leap in sophistication and industry marketing and executiveÂlevel
selling."
On July 24th, the
Gartner Group's Small Computer Systems organization issued a
report to their clients on “Digital Equipment Corp, vs. IBM,"
answering questions that clients had posed. The following are a
few of the client questions and Gartner Group responses as they
appear in the report.
o How has Digital
succeeded in invading IBM's turf (Aetna, Citicorp)?
Three primary features
make Digital competitive with IBM, even on IBM's own turf. First,
Digital has a single, compatible architecture in hardware and
software, while IBM has a proliferation of incompatible midrange
archÂitectures. Second, Digital's applications development
environment is genÂerally more productive. Third, Digital has
superior connectivity, includÂing VAXclusters, PC support, LANs
and mainframe connectivity.
o Can a single,
compatible architecture provide the necessary functionality over
the wide performance range?
We see no reason why
not. We believe Digital has the right answer. It will probably
rewrite VMS [software] so it can be configured (probably at
sysgen) to suit the system (VAX, MicroVAX, symmetrical
multiprocessor) on which it runs. For example, for a uniprocessor
the instructions and code dealing with multiprocessing would be
dropped, eliminating unnecessary overhead while retaining the
advantages of a single, compatible architecÂture from desktop to
enterprise-level computer.
o Does Digital have
the resources to develop and sell both minisupercomÂputers and
high-end commercial systems?
We believe it does.
The appropriate comparison at the high end is between Digital and
IBM. Digital's sales and R&D resources are more substantial
than they appear (compared to IBM's), because they focus on a
single product architecture. IBM spent $5.2 billion in R&D in
1986, but the funds
went to product
development for several different architectures. Digital spent
$810 million on R&D in 1986, primarily to move the VAX/VMS
archiÂtecture forward.
In the
minisupercomputer market, start-ups spent $20 million to $30
million in their development phases (over several years), and were
starting from the ground up, rather than integrating an add-on
processor to an existing sysÂtem. Even the entire $20 million to
$30 million, spread over several years, would be a very small
portion of Digital's $810 million annual budget. The
minisupercomputer start-ups had to build sales forces, whereas
Digital can use its existing sales force.
The Executive
Partnership Program, now a year old, has paired 49 Digital vice
presidents with 91 of Digital's largest accounts to help account
managers develop senior-level business and personal relationships
with these customers. Improved business relationships are already
resulting in more opportunities to compete for major sales
projects. The program also gives these vice presidents insight
into the needs and concerns of customers, which helps in setting
marketing, service and product strategies.
Each vice president is
assigned to one or more accounts "for life." In each case, the
Corporate Account team is responsible for getting the executive
partner involved. Bill McHale, manager, U.S. Strategic Sales,
coordinates and supports the program.
It is recommended that
each executive partner visit the assigned customers one or two
times per year, host the customers at DECWORLD and other
headÂquarters visits, participate in account plan reviews twice
per year and participate in Executive Partner training.
An executive partner
serves as part of a Corporate Account team, which includes people
from Field Service and Software Services, as well as Sales.
"Basically, our executives are investing time to build
relationships with senior customer executives and are thereby
opening the doors, helping our Sales organization compete for more
business," explains Bill McHale.
"In addition, through
this program, our vice presidents, from all functions, are getting
a better feel for how our Sales organization works, how our
customers respond to us as a company and the kinds of problems
that cusÂtomers face. This high level feedback — from senior
executive to senior executive — helps shape our thinking and
decision-making.
"Purchasing decisions
on $10 or $20 million projects aren't made by departÂment
managers. To compete for that business, to even know that those
opporÂtunities exist in time to compete for them, we have to talk
regularly to senior executives. Our own senior executives can help
us do that."
To illustrate the
level and variety of customer contacts and their importÂance to
Digital, Bill cites nine examples:
Bill (B.J.)
Johnson, vice president , Distributed Systems, and partner to
NYNEX and GTE. B.J. helped "open the door" by hosting a
meeting in Stow for NYNEX' s vice president of Science and
Technology, who had previously been inaccessible. At that meeting,
the Corporate Account Team convinced the customer to develop
applications under VMS software rather than UNIX. A month later
Digital received an order for $1.3 million for a VAX 8550 system
and related tools.
In the case of GTE,
Digital already had an excellent position in the governÂment
projects area, but had little visibility into their end user
business. B.J. met with the President of GTE's Government Systems
Group and helped convince him to let Digital offer a broader set
of solutions, specifically aimed at the end-user community.
Bob Palmer, vice
president. Semiconductor Operations, and partner to Intel and
Motorola. Bob is a member~FT the board oT the~Semiconductor
Industry Association CSIA), on which senior executives from Intel
also serve. He has helped the Corporate Account Team meet with the
senior Intel executives, in particular, the senior vice president
of Worldwide Manufacturing. This level of contact has enabled
Digital to reinforce its commitment to Intel, as Intel embarks on
a significant investment to update their factories.
John Alexanderson,
vice president, Peripherals and Supplies Group (PSG) and partner
to the U.S. Navy. In the~area ofgovernment business, It is
imporÂtant to ~get into ~the sales cycle early enough to influence
the customer’s request for proposal (RFP) before it is published.
An ex-Navy officer himself, John has been very helpful in that
regard. He also helped to put the Account Team in touch with the
Assistant Secretary of the Navy and a Rear Admiral who together
set up the approval process for the Navy's annual multi-billion
dollar data processing budget. John was their host for a day at
DECWORLD '87.
Al Mullin, vice
president, Corporate Relations, and partner to Barclays Bank.
Tn the space~ofr_:five months,—Al has“met
with—a variety of Barclays' senior executives on
several occasions and has worked with the Corporate Account
Manager headquartered in London, as well as with the U.S>
Account Manager. This team effort led one Barclays' executive to
remark that they "feel closer to the heart of Digital".
Jerry Witmore, vice
president, Basic Industry Marketing, and partner to Tenneco. Jerry has visited Tenneco
twice in the past few months. At Tenneco, Inc., he met with a
vice president and three of his executive directors. This
meeting was instrumental in setting Digital's strategic
direction within Tenneco Companies and receiving that vice
president's support for these goals. As a result, 18 people,
representing each of the Tenneco director and executive director
of Technoloyg, who also gave a presentation at DECWORLD. Tenneco
is also committed to Digital's six-month Artificial Intelligence
(AI) Fellowship Program which is being attended by one of their
senior internal consultants.
Jerry also visited
Tenneco's Newport News Shipbuilding, meeting with senior
management and received their commitment to give Digital equal
consideration for future major projects.
Harvey Weiss, vice
president, U.S. Sales Operations and Government Systems Group,
and partner to TRW. Harvey helped tne Corporate Account Team
influÂence TRW's plans in the realm of software productivity. TRW
had been trying to persuade Digital to port various VAX/VMS tools
and ADA to ULTRIX. Harvey presented a strategy that provides TRW
with a superset architecture (built around VMS and DECwindows
software and the POSIX standard), giving them the end result, as
well as an architecture to which future products can be added.
Harvey's input was timely and important in competing for a large
workstation opportunity.
Bob Glorioso, vice
president, High Performance Systems, and partner to Texas
Instruments (TI) and Bellcore. Bob went to TI and met with
the president, five executive vice presidents, two senior vice
presidents and three vice presidents. Because of his strong
technical background, he readily estabÂlished a strong bond with
the vice president of Information Systems, who has long been a
user and strong advocate of IBM systems. In April, Bob and this
vice president co-hosted the first technical review that Digital
has ever held at TI. A total of 67 TI people attended the
technical session and 17 TI executives attended an executive
session. At these sessions, Bob handled technical, business and
management questions on Digital's products and strategies. His
comments from a user standpoint were particularly valuable to TI.
His presence, support and interaction with TI have greatly
furthered Digital's relationship with that customer.
In addition, Bob helps
direct monthly management meetings of the Bellcore Corporate
Account Team. Bob understands and interprets the need for product
enhancement for intelligent telephone networks. He was also
instrumental in setting up a meeting between Ken Olsen and the
president of Bellcore.
Russ Gullotti, vice
president. Computer Special Systems (CSS), and partner to the
U.S. Air Force. Russ helped set up a combined meeting of the
Canadian Air Force and people from the U.S. Tactical Air Force who
are interested in "Mission Planning." This meeting, at DECWORLD
'87, involved discussions about adapting a product that CSS has
already provided the Canadian Air Force, for a major project in
the U.S.
George Chamberlain,
vice president, Finance for Engineering/Manufacturing/
Marketing, and partner for American Express and Grumman.
George helped set up a meeting with the president of American
Express Travel Related Services and two other American Express
executives. During the meeting, they asked for Digital's help on a
number of projects. George has also been very active with
Grumman's Data Systems and Aircraft Systems Divisions. Recently,
he hosted a two-day executive conference with 14 of the top
executives of these divisions.
Worldwide FY87
Customer Satisfaction scores (for overall satisfaction) increased
in all three surveys — Sales, Field Service and Software
SerÂvices. The overall, weighted average score was 8.1 (on a scale
of 10) —i compared to the FY86 score of 7.8.
Digital's field
organizations conduct these surveys annually, asking cusÂtomers to
rate the performance of the company and its representatives in key
areas such as systems availability, product capability,
professional attiÂtude, responsiveness and technical competence.
"It is the customer who is the ultimate judge of Digital's
industry leadership," notes Jim Pitts, Field Customer Satisfaction
manager. "These surveys give us a way to measure our progress in
customer satisfaction. They also provide insight into how we must
all focus on the quality of our products and the way we work
together. Every Digital employee has an important role to play in
this effort."
In the Sales survey,
overall satisfaction increased to 7.9 from 7.7 on a worldwide
basis. Scores for all questions increased worldwide and within
each geography. For the second year in a row, the highest scoring
section was "Digital products."
In the Software
Services survey, all three geographies had overall satisÂfaction
scores in the 8.0 to 8.3 range. Professionalism and technical
competence of personnel were the highest scoring questions in both
the U.S. and GIA.
In the Field Services
surveys, Software Product Services (SPS) exceeded its corporate
goal of 7.3 in all three geographies and received its highest
overall averages on "attitude and manner" (8.3) and "installation
quality" (8.1). Hardware Product Services (HPS) received highest
overall scores on "engineer attitude and manner" (9.0) and
"uptime" (8.9), which reflects the reliability of Digital's
computer systems as perceived by customers.
Digital is committed
to the goal of becoming number one in customer satisÂfaction in
the computer industry. An important part of our effort to achieve
that goal is the Order Management Architecture and the Order
Transaction Process (OTP). OTP is the administrative path an order
follows through the company on its journey from quotation to the
customer to Digital's collecÂtion of the invoice.
To ensure this is a
smooth process, an OTP committee has been chartered by senior
management to tackle order transaction issues. Composed of
repreÂsentatives from organizations responsible for different
segments of the total process, it is co-chaired by a manager from
the Field and one from Manufacturing: Dave Beresford of Customer
Finance and Administration and Anil Sitole of the
Field/Manufacturing Strategic Business Center.
Historically, the
business practices that brought Digital to the multiÂmillion
dollar level proved ineffective at a multi-billion dollar level.
To achieve the productivity and simplicity needed from the
different organizaÂtions participating in order transaction
management, traditional "stoveÂpipe" methods of operation needed
to change. To remedy these problems, the committee adopted a set
of principles and directions as the cornerstones of the OTP
effort:
o Purchasing any of
Digital's products and services should be a simple and easy
process for companies large and small.
o Management of the
Order Transaction Process should result in complete predictability
with regard to the expectations set with all customers.
o We should administer
an order once, through a consistent, disciplined process in which
accountabilities and responsibilities are aligned to achieve
maximum productivity and employee job satisfaction.
Guided by these
principles, the commmittee identified the need for a number of
major programs at various points throughout the transaction
process. To some degree, these programs will affect the work, the
operating philosoÂphies, and the policies and procedures of all
organizations involved. Taken together, they are the basis of a
whole new way of doing business within Digital — a significant
step towards providing excellent customer service.
Because of the
magnitude of effort needed to bring these programs to fruiÂtion,
the committee addressed those portions of the overall process they
felt could yield measurable improvements in customer satisfaction
within a three-year period.
Changes are being
implemented now, organized into 16 programs. Many of these changes
are coming together in a significant milestone known as "Weekly
Ships": the commitment to a customer of product shipment during a
specified week. A phased implementation has begun which is
currently limited to MicroVAX II orders in the Maryland/Virginia
District. Expansion will then occur on a number of fronts:
geography, product, process steps and systems, as experience
dictates.
At a recent quarterly
review, the program teams showed they had made subÂstantial
progress in meeting their goals. Recent milestones include direct
international invoicing, which replaces the time-consuming process
of invoicing through intermediaries. In addition, the U.S.
installation of the FOCUS order-entry and order-management system
(replacing the 15-year old OASIS system) for all ordering modes
and all products has been completed. Europe has significantly
increased its OTP-related activities. GIA has a substantial
structure already in place, and is measuring progress toward its
goals.
Implementing such
changes to Digital's business practices moves the company much
closer to achieving its customer satisfaction goals.
Strategic Relations, a
new group managed by Henry Crouse, vice president, helps develop
relationships with engineering and manufacturing companies that
can add processes or products to complement Digital's products and
architecture. This group is part of the
Manufacturing/Engineering/Product Marketing organization,
reporting to Jack Smith, senior vice president.
"Ours is not a
procurement organization," explains Henry. "These are complex
relationships that call for customized terms. We're involved in
investments and joint ventures that require Executive Committee
and the Board of DirecÂtors approval. Our job is to facilitate
negotiations and on-going seniorÂlevel relationships.
"The projects we're
involved with are similar to past agreements with Ericsson in
Europe and Trilogy and Gigabit. For example, we are responsible
for managing Digital's relationship with Cray Research.
Negotiations with Cray started long before our group came into
existence, but now it is our role to keep that relationship
healthy and growing.
"It's naive to think
that Digital can do everything it needs to succeed in the world.
We appreciate what other companies can do to add value to our
product set, and we look for ways to develop mutually beneficial
relationÂships. We have an outstanding relationship with Cray,
which is leading to growth for both of us.
"Our goal is not just
to take on some projects, but rather to serve as change agents for
the company, helping Digital expand and leverage its investments
with other companies' financial and technical resources. We want
to encourage these other companies to develop skill sets which
will be complementary and add to our own."
The Strategic
Relations Group consists of less than a dozen senior technical or
business people who understand how to deal with senior managers of
other organizations and can play consulting roles. For example,
Paul Curtin focuses on new computing structures. He helps evolve
the Cray relationship and also works with Floating Point Systems,
a company which supplies an accelerator for VAX systems for
applications in the scientific marketplace. Howard Fineman works
with Dom LaCava's Low End Systems and Technology (LEST) Group and
Bill (B.J.) Johnson's Networks and Communications (NAC) Group,
developing business relationships of interest to them. Nils Noren
and Regis Kaufman (who also works for Software Acquisition) focus
on software. Walter Dunham deals with components and manufacturing
processes. And Joe Skillings focuses on superconductivity and
other manufacturing processing opportunÂities.
In addition, key
people in Finance, Legal and Treasury organizations serve as part
of the team that helps in complex negotiations. And other groups
within the company are assigning people to the similar task of
developing and managing strategic relationships.
Related appointments:
Bill Lowe has
rejoined Digital and will support storage external investment,
development and resource activiites for Strategic Relations. Bill
joined Digital in 1969 as an electronic components buver. He moved
to Puerto Rico in 1972 as manager of Purchasing and Distribution,
and on his return in 1974 was responsible for Disk Manufacturing
in Westfield. His last Digital assignment was as the first
Shrewsbury plant manager. After leaving Digital in 1984, he was
involved in two start-up companies. He is a graduate of
Northeastern and attended the Program for Management Development
at the Harvard Business School.
Steve Teicher
is joining Strategic Relations as a strategic technical
consultant. He came to Digital in 1969 as an engineer in the
PDP-12 group. He was the project leader for a floating-point
processor built for the PDP-12, one of the first floating-point
units built for a minicomputer. During the mid-1970s, he managed
the low-end PDP-11 development group which produced the LSI-11
chip set (the first 16-bit microprocessor chip set with
floating-point instructions) and the VT100 video terminal. He
served four years as manager of Semiconductor Engineering and most
recently was manager of Worksystems in the LSI Group. He is a
graduate of MIT's 6A program and was a member of the Division of
Sponsored Research Staff at MIT prior to joining Digital.
In Europe, Eric
Sublet has been named manager of the newly formed Office of
Strategic Business Cooperations, to aid the countries in
negotiating strateÂgic alliances and cooperative agreements with
large European organizations. Reporting to Earl Mason, manager,
European Finance, and David Stone, vice president, International
Engineering and Strategy, Eric will provide guidÂance on the
structure of agreements as well as coordinate the activities of
dedicated project teams. He has worked for Digital for 10 years,
most recently in the U.S. as Western and Central Area F&A
manager. Before coming to Digital, he worked for Emmanuel Deetjen,
an investment banking firm in New York, and for Banque de Gestion
Privee, a private Swiss bank.
Digital has selected a
French research team to launch its European Systems Research
Laboratory. The team is led by Patrick Baudelaire, formerly a
member of the research team at the Xerox Research Center in Palo
Alto, California, and of Tecsi Software Corp., a subsidiary of the
French C.G.E. group.
Over the next two
years, the new center, which is located in the Paris area, will
develop a team of approximately 30 researchers. In addition to
theoreÂtical computer research, the group will be involved in
experimental work for the development of systems prototypes,
especially in areas such as graphics software and hardware
technology, parallelism, program specification and programming
environments. The Paris laboratory also will maintain an open
dialogue with the European scientific community, especially with
university and public research facilities.
Digital has
contributed 10 million French francs (about $1.7 million) toward
the creation of an International Information Center at INSEAD (the
European Institute of Business Administration) in Fontainebleau,
France. The Center will be named in honor of General Georges F.
Doriot and his wife Edna. The General played an important role in
the founding of both Digital and INSEAD.
The Center will pool
all the techniques and data made available by computer science,
audiovisual technology, information storage and retrieval,
printing and telecommunications and will put them at the disposal
of researchers, teachers and students at INSEAD. Construction work
on the Center will cost an estimated 40 million francs (about $6.7
million), and should begin in 1988 for opening in the autumn of
1990.
INSEAD, Europe's
leading business school, has an international focus. Its main
objective is to help European enterprises become more competitive
in international markets. Since its founding in 1959 (two years
after Digital), it has awarded 5,500 MBA (Master of Business
Administration) degrees. Each year more than 300 new students
enroll. In addition, extension programs reach another 2,000
participants a year. Some 4,500 companies from around the world
have sent a total of 15,000 employees and managers to this school.
The faculty consists
of 65 permanent professors (representing 17 different
nationalities) and 50 visiting professors. In addition to
teaching, the faculty devote an important part of their time to
management-related reÂsearch, working closely with businesses.
About 10% of the
budget of the school is now devoted to information processÂing,
based around a local area network and a VAXcluster. Through
ALL-IN-1, students as well as teachers have access to all office
functions, including electronic mail.
Geoff Shingles,
managing director of Digital's U.K. subsidiary, was awarded a
C.B.E. (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) decoration
in the Queen's Birthday Honors List.
The reasons behind
these awards are never made public, but Geoff's C.B.E. is seen as
a recognition of Digital's standing as a major company with a high
growth record and an excellent record of job creation; and also as
a recogÂnition of the company's substantial contribution to the
arts through the "Partners in Dance" program.
"Obviously, I am
delighted," says Geoff. "From a personal point-of-view, it is
exciting to have received the award; but the more rewarding aspect
is the recognition for a company that started off in a very small
way in the U.K.
23 years ago and has
grown into a major industrial force."
Geoff's connection
with Digital U.K. dates back to 1965 when he joined as Field
Service Engineer. He soon moved into Sales and by 1967 was Reading
Branch manager, becoming U.K. Subsidiary manager the following
year. In 1971, he spent a year in the U.S. on staff assignment
with Corporate Marketina. Then he returned to Eurooe as North
EuroDean Regional manager.
He was appointed
managing director of the U.K. Sales Subsidiary in 1974, and
transferred to Geneva in 1976 as European Marketing Manager. In
1981, he became a vice president of the Corporation and in 1982
was given responsiÂbility for 11 European countries. In December
1983, he returned to the U.K. as managing director.
He holds a B.Sc. in
Electronic Engineering from Leeds University and did Postgraduate
Computer Studies at Philips International' Institute, in the
Netherlands.
Digital and EMC
Corporation of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, have announced the
settlement of the pending litigation between the two companies.
They have been in litigation since 1985 in the U.S. District Court
in Boston, MassaÂchusetts. Digital's lawsuit alleged that one line
of EMC's computer memory products infringe patents on Digital's
SBI computer interconnection and control technology. EMC denied
those allegations. EMC also filed a counterÂclaim alleging that
Digital had violated federal anti-trust laws.
Although the details
of the settlement were not disclosed, the companies jointly stated
that:
o The pending
litigation, including all claims of both parties, will be
dismissed;
o EMC has been granted
a license to utilize Digital's SBI interconnection and control
technology; and
o Digital and EMC will
confer in the future in an attempt to resolve potential issues
between the companies.
EMC Corporation is a
leading manufacturer of computer system enhanceÂment products for
use with selected mid-range and large mainframe computer systems.
*EMC is a trademark of
EMC Corporation.
In FY87, Digital
continued to attract and hire high quality students, according to
a summary report from Corporate College Relations. In the U.S. the
company hired 771 four-year and advanced degree college graduates.
Of these college hires, 32% had graduate degrees and 83% hires had
technical degrees. The vast majority were engineers — 245 software
engineers and 239 hardware engineers. The ratio of acceptances to
offers was 74%. The average grade point average of students hired
in FY87 was 3.4.
Digital recruited at
73 schools. Although the number of hires increased significantly
over FY86 (to 771 from 580), only five schools were added to the
recruiting roster, continuing the trend to focus the program at a
smaller number of campuses.
The top ten schools by
number of hires were: Northeastern, 57; Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, 47; University of Massachusetts, 39; Worcester
Polytechnic Institute, 35; Rochester Institute of Technology, 31;
Boston University, 27; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 25;
University of Lowell, 24; Cornell University, 20; and Arizona
State University, 19.
Of the
four-year/advanced degree college graduate hires, 29% were
minorities and 24% were white females.
To identify
outstanding students, College Relations maintained direct contact
with faculty at selected schools, particulaly faculty members who
received grants through the Digital Faculty Program.
Coop/internship proÂgrams provided an additional resource from
which to attract trained, qualiÂfied students for full-time hire.
Digital's Minority and
Women's Education Program helped in enlisting qualiÂfied women and
minority students. This program, funded by Corporate
ContriÂbutions, provides scholarships to students, and financial
support and equipment grants to educational programs for women and
minorities. A total of 29 permanent hires, including 22
scholarship students, were sourced through that program.
Ken Olsen, president,
has been named 1987's "Master of Entrepreneurial Management" by
Venture Magazine and Arthur Young Entrepreneurial Services. Ken
was honored for his "ingenuity, hard work, and innovation," and,
in particular, for Digital's Technology Executive Roundtable
Program, which is sponsored by the Channels Marketing Group.
The Technology
Executive Roundtable is an organization for founders, board
members and chief executive officers of technology-related
companies with fewer than 300 employees. Roundtable members can
share information, discuss their concerns, and learn from their
peers. There are chapters in five U.S. cities: Atlanta, Boston,
Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, and Santa Clara.
Digital recognizes
that start-up companies have unique problems — fewer resources, a
need to make fast decisions and little margin for error. By
helping increase the survival rate of start-up companies,
Digital's Round- table strives to expand the scope of the
technology industry.
To optimize staff
resources, Pier Carlo Falotti, president, Digital Europe, has made
several organizational changes. The strategic responsibilities of
Marketing and Sales at the European level have been realigned
under Bruno d'Avanzo, vice president, Marketinq and Sales, EuroDe.
The Corporate Accounts
Office — Europe, the Selling Operations Group, the Sales Program
Office, and the Sales Training and Development Offices now report
to Georges Cassir, manager, European Corporate Accounts and Sales
operations. Reporting to Bruno, Georges is responsible for
enhancing account management within the organization, while
decentralizing to the countries responsibilities for worldwide
business.
Dave Buckingham has
been appointed manager of Strategic Accounts DevelopÂment,
reporting to Bruno. He is responsible for developing long-term
stratÂegic relationships with several accounts. He also serves as
manager of Competitive Sales Programs in Europe.
Colin Allan has been
appointed European Marketing manager — Public Sector, reporting to
Bruno. In this new position, Colin is responsible for
estabÂlishing a Digital Competence Center to support business in
Public Sector markets in Europe. These markets include Education
and Scientific Research, Defense, Health Care and Public
Administration. He also continues to be responsible for Europe's
EEC office in Brussels.
Don McInnis has been
named manager of a new group, High Performance ULTRIX Technical
Workstations. In addition, he continues to be responsible for the
Engineering Systems Group (ESG), reporting to Peter Smith, vice
president, Product Marketing.
Glen Johnson and the
ULTRIX Development Group now report jointly to Don McInnis and
Bill Heffner, vice president, Software Systems. Bob Supnik also
reports to Don for Targeted Processor Development, in addition to
reporting to Duane Dickhut, manager, Semiconductor Engineering
Group. Dom LaCava, manager, Low-End Systems Group, continues to be
responsible for overall VAX Workstation Development Program
activities.
Bob Good has
been named Corporate Field Service Logistics manager, reporting to
Dave Grainger, vice president, Field Service. Bob joined Digital
in 1969 in the Software Services Group. He became a senior Sales
specialist in the Large Systems Group and District Software
Service manager in the PhiladelÂphia District. He was also
Regional Field Service manager in the Northeast, and, for the past
three years, has managed the Corporate Field Service Business
Development Group.
Mike Kalagher
has been appointed to the new position of U.S. Field
AdminisÂtration manager, reporting to Jack Shields, senior vice
president. In this role, Mike is a member of the U.S. Field
Management Team. He will be responÂsible for establishing
Administration as a single, unified organization in the U.S.
Field, and workina with the U.S. Field Manacrement Team to
establish cross-functional business models and policies that will
enable AdministraÂtion to further customer and employee
satisfaction, and enhance Digital's competitive status in the
industry. For the past four and a half years, he managed Customer
Administrative Services.
Mike Mulqueen,
in addition to serving as country Personnel manager for Ireland,
will take on the role of Employee Relations manager for
ManufacÂturing (worldwide), reporting to Linda St. Clair,
Manufacturing Group Personnel manager, and Erline Belton-Willis,
Corporate Employee Relations manager. Mike joined Digital in 1971
as a member of the start-up team for Manufacturing in Europe.
Mick Prokopis
has joined Digital as Manufacturing Finance manager, reporting to
George Chamberlain, vice president,
Manufacturing/Engineering/Marketing Finance, and Bill Hanson, vice
president, Manufacturing Operations. Mick comes to Digital from
Lotus Development Corp., where he was most recently chief
financial officer and senior vice president of Finance and
Operations. He also served as vice president of Finance at Mostek
Corp., a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., and held
financial management positions at Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Group
and the Mitre Corp.
Lee Richardson
has joined Digital as Corporate Contributions manager, reporting
to Nancy Dube, manager of Corporate Community Relations. In his
new role, Lee will be responsible for the management of all
financial, administrative and program operations for the Corporate
Contributions program worldwide. Lee comes to Digital from
Tuskegee University, where he was the vice president for
University Relations.