861208 IBM 9370

This internal "Competitive Update" from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), dated December 8, 1986, provides a competitive analysis for DEC's sales and support teams regarding major rival products. The primary focus is to equip DEC personnel with arguments to position VAX/MicroVAX and VAXcluster systems as superior alternatives.

The document covers four main areas:

1. IBM Strategy Around the 9370 Series:

   • IBM's new 9370 series is a direct strategic attempt to counter DEC's successful VAX line in mid-range departmental computing, aiming to improve IBM's price/performance and create F.U.D. (fear, uncertainty, doubt) among potential VAX customers.
   • DEC's advantages include the 9370's late availability (late 1987), more competitive overall cost of ownership for VAX/MicroVAX systems (despite IBM's improved hardware pricing), and the VAX's unified VMS operating system and VAXcluster technology.
   • The 9370 suffers from architectural inconsistencies (multiple OS, incompatibility with System/36/38), lack of true peer-to-peer networking (unlike DECnet/Ethernet), and questionable claims of "unattended" operation due to high system management staff requirements. DEC's integrated office applications (ALL-IN-1) are also highlighted as superior.

2. Replacing Burroughs B1900's, B1800's and B1700's:

   • A significant opportunity exists to replace Burroughs' 7,000 installed B1x00 systems, as customers are highly dissatisfied due to dropped OS support, lack of new applications, and a costly, architecture-changing migration path to Burroughs' A Series.
   • DEC's VAX 8500/8200 VAXclusters offer a superior remedy with lower cost of ownership, better performance, easier expandability, proven networking (Digital Network Architecture), and a richer software ecosystem (applications and development tools). DEC also provides clear migration paths and communication tools.

3. Meeting the Challenge of Convex:

   • Convex's new minisupercomputer products (C-1 XP, CXSI) attempt to enhance their offerings and shed a single-product image.
   • However, Convex systems still exhibit weaknesses, including poor scalar price/performance (where VAX excels), issues with shared system performance (unupgraded vector unit, time-slicing problems), and limited language/application support (primarily FORTRAN for vector capabilities). DEC recommends aggressive competition by highlighting VAX's strengths and questioning Convex's overall integration and financial stability.

4. Meeting the Challenge of Elxsi:

   • Elxsi offers multi-processor System 6400 systems targeting scientific/engineering fields.
   • Despite Elxsi's claims of scalability and VMS user interface emulation (EMS), the document argues that significant configurations are very expensive, their systems are more like superminicomputers than true minisupers, they lack integrated vector processing, and their "write-back" cache complicates parallel programming for users (requiring manual data consistency management, unlike VAX's automatic "write-through").
   • DEC's VAXcluster offers superior redundancy and a simpler, more robust approach to parallel application development. Elxsi's financial stability (low shipments, no profit, shrinking staff) and quality of support are also raised as concerns.

In conclusion, the document asserts that while competitors are introducing new products and making aggressive claims, DEC's VAX/MicroVAX and VAXcluster solutions consistently offer a superior value proposition due to their integrated architecture, robust networking, better total cost of ownership, and proven reliability, making them the preferred choice in the competitive landscape.