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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rupert1 who wrote (38750)	12/5/1998 10:24:00 AM
From: rupert1	Respond to of 97611

Compaq Reduces Its Reliance on Intel-Internet Week by: hlpinout techweb.com

To: rupert1 who wrote (38750)	12/5/1998 10:28:00 AM
From: rupert1	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

Compaq Rules RAID Products by: hlpinout December 07, 1998, Issue: 820 Section: Inside Spending Compaq Rules RAID Products Joseph F. Kovar Compaq Computer Corp.'s acquisition this past January of Digital Equipment Corp. propelled the Houston-based vendor to the lead of the RAID products category in the latest CRN Inside Spending brand-preference survey. With help from Digital's StorageWorks Division, Compaq was the clear winner across the board in the survey, which polled MIS managers at large, midsize and small businesses. Among large companies, Compaq- or Digital-branded RAID products were installed at 40 percent of firms, followed by 13 percent for Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto, Calif., and 12 percent for IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y. In the midsize-business environment, Compaq and Digital RAID products were found in one of every four companies, compared with 17 percent for HP and 12 percent for IBM. The small-business race was the tightest. Compaq and Digital still led, with RAID products installed in 13 percent of all companies surveyed. IBM followed with 5 percent, while HP had 3 percent. Compaq's success, according to Rick Nagengast, storage manager for the North America region, is due to the company's product architecture and a "go to market" strategy. In terms of product, the company offers what Nagengast called a "Lego architecture." That architecture, he said, allows storage sub-systems to scale from the desktop to the data center across multiple platforms, with prices ranging from $2,500 to $10 million, all using the same interchangeable parts. According to Nagengast, the Lego approach allows VARs to sell the same data storage products to small, midsize and large businesses, and even to different sizes of departments and business units within the same organization. "A VAR can go into a workgroup using Novell and install a $15,000 sub-system," he said. "Then he can walk up the hall, find a department using an HP application, and sell a $75,000 system. Then he can go further up the hall,see a Sun system, and sell an enterprise sub-system valued from $250,000 to $5 million . . . with the same product family." In the past, if VARs wanted to sell storage for three different platforms, they would need to sell three different products and get training from three different vendors, he said. Now, Compaq's storage products can be sold as workgroup, department and enterprise solutions. The vendor employs a "go to market" strategy that includes specialized programs for VARs and other channel partners, Nagengast said. Compaq's channel storage managers focus on industrial distributors, commercial distributors or corporate resellers, he said. They use tools such as rebates to create demand on the channel side. At the next level are marketing development managers, whom Nagengast also called "VAR rampers." They look for storage VARs, and use tools such as rebates, incentives and demos to "lunch them, train them and get them to work with us."

To: rupert1 who wrote (38750)	12/5/1998 10:30:00 AM
From: rupert1	Respond to of 97611

Phenomenal Growth Ahead for Data Storage Industry by: hlpinout techweb.com

To: rupert1 who wrote (38750)	12/5/1998 10:36:00 AM
From: rupert1	Respond to of 97611

: hlpinout December 07, 1998, Issue: 820 1999: The Year Of The Hybrid Sales Model? Robert Anastasi For the past dozen years, we have cited two key attributes of the indirect model that promised to push an increasing portion of computer-industry sales through t. The first was a lower cost of customer acquisition. The second was the inherent ability to independently provide a multivendor solution. The secret to lowering selling costs was straightforward. Because a reseller sold across vendors, it had the potential to be inherently more efficient in the sales process. Brand was not an issue since the reseller carried most brands. Until this year, this method worked very well, as evidenced by lower selling costs and rising profitability on average for domestic computer manufacturers, following nearly a decade of shrinking margins. The apple cart was tipped this year by Dell's success in direct selling major accounts and by the Internet's promise to more cost-effectively reach smaller accounts. Although Compaq and IBM have launched direct-sales initiatives aimed at large accounts in an effort to duplicate Dell's success, they have not duplicated Dell's low-cost structure. We estimate that Dell sells about $8 billion per year to major U.S. accounts through a domestic field-sales force that numbers perhaps 400. This is a highly productive model and not the same as was common in the computer industry 20 years ago. For the most part, these salespeople work out of their homes and are backed up by inside or factory reps that outnumber the field by two or three to one. Dell's field infrastructure costs are low. For example, drive through any major regional headquarters city. In Atlanta, I am within 10 minutes of the Compaq and Hewlett-Packard buildings and the IBM campus. I've never seen one for Dell because it doesn't exist. If the idea is to play the game Dell's way, it might make sense to be similarly equipped or "virtually" equipped. As we see it, Compaq's direct initiatives with major accounts look less like Dell and more like Digital Equipment's. Along those lines, kudos to CompuCom for taking a chance on blowing up its field infrastructure and moving toward a lower-cost virtual-office concept similar to Dell's. With what should now be a cost-edge relative to other resellers and manufacturers, coupled with the ability to provide a multivendor solution, the company has a good shot at winning in this new game. On the small and midsize business front, the game has changed since the Internet provides a tool for manufacturers to cost-effectively reach even the smallest customers. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you're a distributor), fulfillment, credit and other services that distributors provide-not the least of which is broad assortment-will keep them around for a long while. Our prediction for 1999 is more modest declines in component prices, coupled with substantially reduced channel inventory, will narrow Dell's cost advantage and provide a bigger boost to indirect-selling PC manufacturers than their direct relationships. Moreover, the very high cost of direct sales and strained channel relationships should more tightly bind these initiatives and create hybrid-not direct-models.

To: rupert1 who wrote (38750)	12/5/1998 10:40:00 AM
From: rupert1	Respond to of 97611

More on Compaq/Digital Financial Services/GE Capital Corp. by: hlpinout December 07, 1998, Issue: 820 Compaq adds Digital finance unit Warren S. Hersch Stamford, Conn. -- Another chapter of the Compaq Computer Corp.-Digital Equipment Corp. merger has been written as Compaq moves to pump up its financial services business. Compaq Capital Corp., a finance unit and wholly owned subsidiary of Compaq, has acquired the Digital Financial Services (DFS) assets of GE Capital Corp., a unit of General Electric Co. Digital Equipment operated its own North American leasing unit until 1993, when the company sold the business to GE Capital and entered into a private-label, service-provider relationship. "The acquisition is a natural step in Compaq's integration of [Digital]," said Irving Rothman, Compaq Capital's president and chief executive. "[The deal] eliminates confusion and gives Compaq's end customers the advantage of in-house financing for all of Compaq's products, including now Digital's." Stephen Bennett, general manager and president of Vendor Financial Services Corp. (VFS), the Stamford-based GE Capital unit that sold the DFS portfolio, said: "The transaction made sense for both parties. Generally, we're a buyer, not a seller, of assets. But Compaq's acquisition of Digital Equipment changed the playing field." Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but DFS' value totaled about $500 million, or 5 percent of VFS' $10 billion asset base, said Bennett. The acquisition, by contrast, doubles Compaq Capital's size, said Rothman. The deal affects nearly 2,000 customers, most of them large enterprises financing IT purchases or leases of Alpha Generation, VAX, desktop and other Digital products under Compaq's financing arm. Compaq Capital will concentrate on end customers for now, with channel finance offerings for resellers and integrators in the works. "We'll likely unveil them by year-end," said Rothman. The new products, he added, may include inventory and accounts receivable financing, asset-based lending and other vehicles. Since Compaq's buyout of Digital, both Compaq Capital and DFS have vied for the same customers interested in financing or leasing both Compaq and Digital equipment, executives said. For VFS, securing Digital business had become increasingly difficult, Bennett said. The unit's sale frees VFS to devote more resources to expanding GE Capital's business with other OEM customers and channel partners, among them Apple Computer Inc. and Toshiba Corp., Bennett said. VFS will continue to finance IT purchases made through Compaq's Government and Education division, he said. DFS offers several finance products under the umbrella name LeaseWorks. These include TPOptions, TBOptions, Equity Upgrade Option and SLG Upgrade Option. Among other features, the lease offerings let customers upgrade or add to their computer systems and provide equipment credits and trade-in options at market prices. The acquisition follows Compaq Capital's September buyout of CC Finance LLC from Dana Commercial Credit Corp. (DCC). Separately, Compaq Capital has established its own sales and service operations to focus on enterprise computer customers. Compaq formed Compaq Capital in January 1997 as an in-house IT equipment finance and leasing unit. Operating in 24 countries in North and South America, Europe and Asia/Pacific, the unit offers services ranging from financial asset management and technology refresh to end-of-life equipment disposal.

To: rupert1 who wrote (38750)	12/5/1998 10:44:00 AM
From: rupert1	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

Compaq Acquisition Expands reach of Financing Umbrella by: hlpinout December 07, 1998, Issue: 820 Section: Service & Support Compaq acquisition expands reach of financing umbrella Jennifer Mateyaschuk Special from InformationWeek -- Compaq Computer Corp.'s financial arm, Compaq Capital, last week acquired the Digital Financial Services assets from GE Capital Corp. The move reflects Compaq's efforts to consolidate its financing businesses under one umbrella. Digital Equipment sold its licensing unit to GE Capital, the services arm of General Electric Co., in 1993. Executives at Houston-based Compaq said the acquisition is a natural next step following its $8.4 billion acquisition of Digital earlier this year. Compaq Capital made a similar deal when it acquired CC Finance LLC from Dana Commercial Credit (DCC) in September. DCC had created CC Finance in the spring of 1997 to deliver Compaq-branded financial products to resellers nd small to midsize-business customers. Compaq Capital, which had established its own sales and service operations to focus on enterprise customers, now can offer leasing arrangements for all ompaq computer products to businesses ranging from small companies to large corporate customers. The agreement "gives all of Compaq's resellers and customers the advantage of in- house financing for their information technology and services," said Irving Rothman, president and chief executive of Compaq Capital, in a statement. Digital ran its own leasing division prior to selling it to GE Capital and entering into a private-label service-provider relationship. Compaq Capital secured its first major financing partnership this fall when it signed a deal with Entex Information Services Inc., Rye Brook, N.Y., covering both leasing and end-user financing. The acquisitions are part of an ongoing effort by enterprise vendors to offer more creative purchasing options for customers directly, and for channel partners to offer indirectly. IBM Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. had a head start on Compaq Capital, as both owned financial subsidiaries that each is able to leverage in order to bundle hardware, software and service sales together. After winning the Entex deal, Compaq Capital was talking with "all the major players," Rothman said, without disclosing who the potential partners were. Entex's financing relationship with Compaq Capital will cover Compaq and non-Compaq products and soft costs such as software, installation and training on equipment and services worth $1,000 or more, the companies said. Entex had a leasing and financing partnership with IBM Credit Corp. but decided not to renew it when IBM Credit eliminated its channel marketing group. In Entex's case, about 12 percent of its product revenue is generated from leasing and about 45 percent to 50 percent of its accounts ask for leasing as an option. InformationWeek is a CMP Media publication.

To: rupert1 who wrote (38750)	12/5/1998 10:47:00 AM
From: rupert1	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

Vendors: Assembly Partner Overload by: hlpinout December 07, 1998, Issue: 820 Section: Systems Assembly Vendors: Assembly partner overload -- Slowing Logistics Plans, Re-Engineering Craig Zarley Las Vegas -- Major PC vendors now are openly acknowledging that too many channel assembly partners make it increasingly difficult to implement new supply chain logistical models. IBM Corp. currently has 16 U.S. channel assembly partners. Hewlett-Packard Co. and Compaq Computer Corp. have 10 and eight channel assembly partners, respectively. "We have too many [channel assembly] locations," said David Boucher, IBM's general manager, Advanced Fulfillment Initiative. That was one reason that IBM delayed implementing processor plug-in as part of its channel assembly program, Boucher said. This requires testing capabilities and systems that not all channel assemblers have. Therefore, all partners must be up to speed on processor plug-in before it can be incorporated into IBM's Build From Parts program, he said. "All have to be equal or we create an uneven playing field," Boucher said. Information systems also must be tweaked so the channel and the vendor have an end-to-end view of the supply chain. "We must link business systems [with the channel]," said Josh Brenkel, HP's worldwide group marketing manager, Personal Systems Group. Likewise, Ray Robidoux, Compaq's vice president of Optimized Distribution Model operations, agreed that channel assembly works best with fewer partners. Compaq launched its channel configuration program (CCP) with nine original partners, but that number dropped to eight when Electronic Data Systems Corp. dropped out and ultimately signed a supplier relationship deal with Pinacor Inc., another Compaq CCP partner. Building the electronic infrastructure to support channel assembly has slowed progress to date, said Robidoux. But Compaq now has at least one channel assembly location certified for each of its CCP partners, he said. Likewise, despite some delays, HP is ramping up its channel assembly efforts. Tom Tarasoff, general manager of HP's Computer Products Organization, said HP expects 20 percent of its U.S. desktops to flow through channel assembly facilities by the end of this month. "We are totally focused on execution," Tarasoff said. "The winner will be the first [vendor] who gets it right."

To: rupert1 who wrote (38750)	12/5/1998 10:49:00 AM
From: rupert1	Respond to of 97611

Compaq Throws SMBs A Direct Initiative by: hlpinout techweb.com

To: rupert1 who wrote (38750)	12/5/1998 10:53:00 AM
From: rupert1	Respond to of 97611

Excerpt From Market Monitor- ompaq $60.00 Next Year by: hlpinout YASTINE: .....in late April of this year. You gave us ................ new recommendations were Compaq (NYSE:CPQ) Computer which you gave us at 29. It's 38 and change now. Intel. What do you think? ELIAS: We would definitely be buyers of those stocks in any type of pullback. We think that all three of those stocks have the opportunity to go to all-time .....Compaq has the potential to go to 60. YASTINE: So you stay with these sorts of large caps that everybody's... ELIAS: Absolutely. YASTINE: ...been riding all the way up on this thing. ELIAS: Absolutely. I think that over the next three to five years, the large caps will continue to outperform small caps. Now there might be a quarter or two, where the small caps will outperform. But over a long period of time, and if you're a long-term investor, such as we are, you want to stay with the large cap. FULL STORY fast.quote.com

To: rupert1 who wrote (38750)	12/5/1998 10:57:00 AM
From: rupert1	Respond to of 97611

Wintel Servers go Upscale by: hlpinout infoworld.com

To: rupert1 who wrote (38750)	12/5/1998 10:59:00 AM
From: rupert1	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 97611

ThreeForOne-Beta 3 Windows 2000 Out in February or March by: hlpinout This is as close as MSFT can get. By Bob Trott InfoWorld Electric Posted at 1:02 PM PT, Dec 3, 1998 Microsoft is telling Windows 2000 beta testers to expect Beta 3 of the next-generation operating system in late February or March 1999, according to sources Thursday. "March is more likely, but February is not entirely out of the question," said one West Coast developer and Windows beta tester, who requested anonymity. Beta News, a Web site for testers, reported that Microsoft was shooting for February to release Beta 3. Microsoft officials had no comment on the beta schedule or the time frame in which it hopes to ship Windows 2000, which consists of three server pieces -- Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server -- and Windows 2000 Professional, the former NT Workstation. Although Microsoft has said Windows 2000 will be released sometime in 1999, speculation about the technology's debut has ranged anywhere from March 1999 to 2000. The company has said Datacenter Server, a new product aimed at high-end enterprises, will be available 60 days after the other Windows 2000 offerings ship. Beta 2 of Windows 2000 was released in August, when it was still known as Windows NT 5.0. Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at www.microsoft.com. Beta News can be found at www.betanews.com.. Bob Trottis a senior editor at InfoWorld, based in Seattle.