Computer Reseller News reported Digital's sales of servers have fallen in the wake of the buyout announcement.
Digital strikes back at 'FUD' strategy
Boston Globe
It's FUD-slinging time.
''FUD'' -- for fear, uncertainty, and doubt -- is the business world's
shorthand for the tactics companies often use to take advantage of a
competitor's perceived weaknesses, especially during times of transition, such
as a merger.
No sooner did Digital Equipment Corp. announce plans to be acquired by
Compaq Computer Corp. than its rivals mounted a ferocious campaign to
snatch away some of the Maynard, Mass., company's customers.
By sowing doubts about Compaq's commitment to support users of Digital's
older computer technologies such as its workhorse OpenVMS and Unix
operating systems, rivals such as Hewlett-Packard Co. and Sun
Microsystems Inc., both based in Palo Alto, hope to lure away uneasy Digital
customers.
''Their sales reps are really exploiting the FUD factor,'' said Josh Napua,
senior vice president of Wyle Electronics, the nation's largest reseller of
Digital products. ''If I were HP or Sun, I would do it.''
Because federal laws prohibit companies in the throes of a merger from
speaking publicly about the deal -- or about virtually any aspect of their
business, for that matter -- they are particularly vulnerable to such
competitive assaults.
But in a carefully worded joint advertisement that appeared Thursday in the
San Jose Mercury News, the Boston Globe and several national publications,
Digital and Compaq are striking back. |
