New IBM PCs Prompt Rival Product Lines
Several major computer companies launched new computers Tuesday, with Italy’s Olivetti becoming the first major firm to promise products to compete with International Business Machines’ new personal computers announced last week.
Motorola, Wang Laboratories, Unisys and Honeywell Bull all launched new products, although they were seen as only modest advances in product lines.
In Detroit, Unisys Corp. said it is offering eight new models of its A15 large-scale mainframe computer. The new models improve system performance by an average of 20%, the company said, and range in price from $2.9 million to $8.4 million. The new machines are intended to compete with other large mainframes, including IBM’s 3090, or so-called Sierra.
Motorola Inc., the Schaumburg, Ill.-based electronics and semiconductor company, said its microcomputer division launched two new computers.
It unveiled the Model 2616, a 32-bit system that it calls a department computer, available immediately and selling for $14,000 to $25,000. Motorola also introduced a smaller microcomputer, to be available in June for $2,250, based on the AT&T-developed; Unix operating system.
Wang Offerings
Wang Laboratories of Lowell, Mass., said it has added two entry-level 32-bit minicomputers to its Tempest product line. The VS 5T and VS 6T were priced at $13,500 and $21,500, respectively, and maintain software and peripheral compatibility with all VS systems.
Honeywell Bull, the computer company formed March 27 by Honeywell Inc., Compagnie des Machines Bull of France and NEC Corp. of Japan, introduced a line of high-performance computers for medium and large companies.
The company said its new line includes five models in the DPS 7000 family of 32-bit systems that support as many as 600 terminals. Prices will range from $127,000 to more than $1 million.
Olivetti Chairman Carlo De Benedetti said at a news conference in Milan that the company plans to announce specifics on its new competitors for IBM in June. The leading maker in Europe, Olivetti develops and manufactures personal computers in the U.S. market for American Telephone & Telegraph, its 25% owner.
De Benedetti, who has in the past called IBM “enemy No. 1,” took another swipe at the U.S. computer giant Tuesday, saying the new IBM personal computers were merely “copies” of some Olivetti machines.
‘More for Less’
In another product announcement, Storage Technology Corp., the Colorado-based company reorganizing under federal bankruptcy codes, unveiled an impact printer that can output up to 2,100 lines a minute. The company said the new printer, the 5000 Series Model 21, will have a list price of $35,000.
The spate of new products reflects a trend in the industry to speed up offerings that boost the amount of computing power available per dollar of investment, without promising any big breakthrough, analysts said.
“They’re updated machines, in a new product cycle, delivering more for less,” said Michael Geran of E.F. Hutton and Co.
The launch of a product with follow-up refinements down the road is replacing the “breakthrough” style of an earlier era when big research teams, sometimes in the same company, vied for major developments.
