TRON Challenges U.S. Computers
Working in a cluttered, chilly office at Tokyo University, Japanese computer architect Ken Sakamura dreams of changing the face of high technology.
His ambition is to rewrite the rule books about the way computers work and that his designs will set the standard for a whole new family of super-fast machines.
Sakamura’s project, known as TRON (The Real Time Operating System Nucleus), also has a patriotic purpose--to free Japan from U.S. dominance over operating systems and microprocessor technology.
“Sakamura has been able to get a lot of people involved to reinvent the wheel--and make it a Japanese wheel,” said Carole Ryavec, computer industry analyst at the investment house of Salomon Bros. (Asia).
TRON, which is backed by many of Japan’s biggest electronics companies, aims to develop computer hardware and software that will make machines easier to use and give them increased ability to talk to each other. At the moment, wide diversity of computer design inhibits easy flow of information from one machine to another.
“Until now, Japan has been using technology developed by the United States and doing business with it,” Sakamura said. “Now it’s time for Japan to develop the computer concept and the technology, and let others develop it for business.”
50 in Organization
His plan seemed somewhat academic when he first aired it in 1983. But eight companies, convinced of its viability, got together to form the core of a TRON organization. Now it has nearly 50 members, Sakamura said.
U.S. companies dominate the world market for microprocessors, which are tiny central processing units contained in a single microchip, and for operating systems, the master control programs that govern computer systems.
The market for the latest 32-bit microprocessor generation is expected to grow from $60 million a year now to $400 million by 1991.
Motorola and Intel are refusing to license their latest 32-bit designs for manufacture by the Japanese, and Tom Murtha, a high-tech analyst with the brokerage house of James Capel, said, “The Americans are trying to leave the Japanese one upgrade behind. It puts them (the Japanese) at a distinct competitive disadvantage.”
‘Question of Marketing’
In software, American Telephone & Telegraph’s Unix for work stations and Microsoft Corp.’s MS-DOS for personal computers have established themselves as de facto industry standards.
TRON is fighting back but industry experts and even some of the firms involved in TRON doubt that Sakamura can overtake the Americans. “(Other) systems are evolving to do all the things TRON sets out to do and the market is moving ahead of them,” said Salomon’s Ryavec.
“It’s a question of marketing,” analyst Nick Edwards of the brokerage house of Jardine Fleming said. “Intel and Motorola already have manufacturers using their chips and the software is already being written. TRON may have some impact . . . (in Japan) but it is unlikely to have much worldwide.”
A Hitachi spokesman conceded that the United States has a big head start and said the company does not expect TRON to become a worldwide standard. “The era when one operating system can dominate the world market is ending. We just hope it will become one of several viable alternatives,” he said.
Keen competition among Japanese firms may also keep Sakamura’s vision from becoming reality, said a U.S. Embassy official who keeps an eye on TRON’s progress.
“Conceptually, it’s a very interesting idea, but rivalry will keep the idea from being implemented in a successful fashion,” he said.
