kapkan - <Merced and Alpha will be competing in the same market of high-end servers. Which platform will Compaq favor? If your answer is Merced, then I have a nice bridge for sale too <G>.>
I don't think they are purely competing in the same markets. One is NT, one is UNIX. I would anticipate CPQ trying to remain OS agnostic. CPQ is still a huge MSFT house, deriving most of its revenues form that side, actually. At this early stage I don't believe CPQ would take such a firm stance against one of these markets. That would be really irresponsible form a business perspective. If you want to see CPQ's stock plummet, let them announce overtly that they are going full bore with Alpha on Linux.
How do you get the impression that CPQ is so love with Alpha? It has done very little for them since they acquired it from DEC. If Proliant server sales go through the roof, which I believe they might, do you still think CPQ is going to abandon Merced? I actually think you will see incentives form CPQ to upgrade to Merced form IA32 Proliants.
Alpha has an installed base of customers on TRU64 and Open VMS. These markets may be enough to keep Alpha alive, along with trying to grow Alpha in the nascent Linux market, read, niche segments. But reading into this that CPQ is going to snub the IAxx and MSFT markets which provide the lions share to CPQ's bottom line is not realistic, IMHO.
I might of expected such a strategy as an outside chance when Pfiefer was CEO, but not with Rosen back in the drivers seat, as I believe him to be much more pragmatic. in fact, such delusions of grandeur may have cost Pfiefer his job in the first place.
PB |
