NCR Selling First Software Developed by Consortium

NCR Corp., the computer and business machines firm, introduced Tuesday the first commercial product based on technology developed by a research consortium founded five years ago to compete with Japan.

NCR said that the new product, a computer software program that assists engineers in the design of computer chips, is proof that research done by the consortium, Austin, Tex.-based Microelectronics & Computer Technology Corp., will help U.S. companies remain competitive against Japan.

The software package, called Design Advisor, “represents the first example that MCC-developed technology is appropriate and needed by its participants,” said James Van Tassel, vice president and general manager of the microelectronics division of Dayton, Ohio-based NCR.

But computer analysts, noting that many other companies already have developed similar software programs, known as artificial intelligence or expert systems, said it still was too early to tell whether MCC’s work will boost U.S. technological prowess.

“Consortia are always tricky stuff,” said Ulric Weil, a Washington-based consultant, echoing the belief of many in the computer industry that a cooperative research venture funded by competitors could prove too unwieldly to manage.

MCC’s 10 original founders, which included NCR, Digital Equipment Corp. and Honeywell Inc., formed the venture in response to Japan’s “Fifth Generation” program.

The project, sponsored by the Japanese government, brought together Japan’s biggest computer companies in an effort to develop a new generation of artificial intelligence computers that could “think” like human beings.

The Fifth Generation program sparked widespread concern in U.S. government and business circles that Japan would overtake the United States as the leader in advanced computers and software. This, they worried, would leave the U.S. dependent on Japan for critical military and industrial technology.

Many in the computer industry doubted, however, that U.S. computer makers could match the cooperative spirit of the Japanese. In addition, MCC had to lobby heavily to convince Congress that it would not violate antitrust laws.

But after some initial setbacks, including the loss of members and its first chairman, Adm. Bobby Inman, the consortium has 20 paying participants and a 1987 budget of $75 million, up from $65 million last year.

MCC’s new chairman, former Texas Instruments Inc. executive Grant Dove, said the consortium has several other projects in the works that members would soon introduce as commercial offerings.

NCR’s Van Tassel said that Design Advisor is expected to reduce the costs of developing integrated circuits by about 20%.