Computer Consoles on Fast Track : Irvine Factory Will Fill Orders for New Business Model
Two years ago, five engineers were hand-picked from among the technical types at Computer Consoles Inc. and set up in offices in Irvine with orders to design and develop a supercharged business computer that would make an already-crowded market take notice.
Today, that ambitious task is remarkably close to complete, and Computer Consoles is well on its way to diversifying a product line that was feeling the effects of age.
Earlier this month, the Rochester, N.Y., company’s commercial products division took one of the final steps toward accomplishing its goal, by contracting to build a 150,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Irvine’s newest high-tech office center, Spectrum.
The $10-million facility will allow Computer Consoles to consolidate its Orange County operations, currently scattered among four offices, in a single plant.
By the end of the year, the division, which has grown from 70 to 250 employees within the last nine months, is expected to have at least 300 workers, and to be filling a backlog of orders already nearing $150 million, according to Joseph Perry, vice president and general manager.
Yet, noted Perry, who oversees the division, “We’re one of the best-kept little secrets hidden down here in Irvine.”
But not too hidden. Among the early purchasers of the systems are Lucasfilm Ltd., creator of the “Star Wars Trilogy,” which will use the computer to build advanced graphics; Gov. George Deukmejian’s Sacramento office, which uses the machine to handle routine paper work; and Sperry Corp., which will take about $90-million worth of the systems over the next three years, to be sold under its own name.
The creation of Computer Consoles’ commercial products division, analysts say, came at a crucial time for the company. Sales of its main product line, the directory assistance systems used by 60% of the nation’s telephone companies, had slowed as the telephone market matured.
Recognizing its position, the company, which had sales of $131 million and profits of $6.3 million in 1984, decided it needed a new product to rekindle sales spark.
That initial group of engineers was instructed to develop a high-powered, mid-sized business computer that operated at twice the speed of those of the industry leader, Digital Equipment Corp., yet would cost no more.
Although the machines have earned rave reviews from financial analysts and early customers, Computer Consoles’ move into business computer manufacturing is still riddled with risk.
Sales of mid-size, or “mini,” computers, as they are known in the trade, has slowed in recent years as sales of smaller desk-top, or “personal” computers, have assumed a sizable portion of the office workload. The result has been intense competition among the market leaders, Digital, Wang Laboratories Inc. and Data General Corp.
On top of all this, sales throughout the computer industry have let up since the beginning of the year, as business leaders try to sort out the market’s direction.
‘Tough Going’ in Industry
“It’s tough going out there,” said Elizabeth Kent, an analyst with Hambrecht and Quist in San Francisco. “But they are going great guns.”
According to Perry, Computer Consoles’ computer was designed to help the company in two ways.
On one level, the computer, which uses the UNIX operating system developed by American Telephone and Telegraph Co., will work in tandem with Computer Consoles’ directory assistance machines and the equipment already installed at most telephone companies. Yet, Perry said, the machine is such a powerful “data cruncher” that it should find a home in the government, financial and legal-services markets.
