Alpha Platform Gets Vote Of Confidence
-- Automatic Data Processing awards
Digital $100M contract for AlphaServers, services
By Martin J. Garvey
Not everyone is concerned about the long-term viability of the Alpha
platform.
The dealer services group of Automatic Data Processing Inc. will shell out
$100 million over the next three years for several thousand Digital Equipment
AlphaServers, with an option to extend the contract through 2003. The
group, which services more than 18,000 car and truck dealers worldwide, is
buying the 64-bit Digital Unix servers to speed processing of monthly sales
reports, accounting, inventory, customer service, factory communications,
and other processes.
Activities that took three hours with the group's old Motorola 88110-based
servers, such as end-of-month data backups, are expected to take about 20
minutes with the Alpha systems. The dealer services group will use the Digital
servers in two configurations:The Millennia3 Series 9200 scales from eight to
350 users, and the Series 9300 supports from 350 to 1,700 users.
"We'll continue to purchase the latest, highest-megahertz processors and
expect to work with Alpha for the foreseeable future," says Miles Lewitt, VP
of global systems for ADP's dealer services group. He says he's confident
that Compaq Computer will continue to support the platform following its
purchase of Digital and that Intel will drive improvements to the chip now that
it's responsible for Alpha manufacturing.
Lewitt says his team evaluated all the major server vendors before choosing
Digital. In addition to performance, he says, "we wanted a commitment to
Windows NT and Unix, a commitment to Intel, and a vendor we could
purchase desktop systems, NT servers, and Unix servers from." The ADP
unit says it also likes Digital's Unix-to-NT integration services.
Laurie McCabe, an analyst with Summit Strategies in Boston, says the Alpha
platform is secure. "There's a large installed base out there," she says, "and
nothing will happen to pull the rug out from under everyone."
Copyright (c) 1998 CMP Media Inc. |
