Digital’s $20-Million Computer Show Is Biggest Trade Fair in Boston History
The sultan of Oman’s personnel director was there Tuesday. So were four men from the Taiwanese national Bureau of Investigation, as well as the chief of a data center for an Indiana maker of diesel engines.
They were among the first of 27,000 guests from 25 countries expected to go computer shopping at Digital Equipment Corp.’s 11-day sales pitch called DEC World ‘87, the largest trade fair in this city’s history.
About 15,000 Digital Equipment workers also were on hand.
While they were checking out the goods at the World Trade Center in Boston Harbor, the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 came rolling alongside one of two ocean liners summoned by the computer maker to help accommodate guests.
The event is costing Digital Equipment about $20 million but is expected to bring in $1 billion in contracts, said Digital spokeswoman Elizabeth Slattery.
Boston and surrounding communities are expecting to make some money, too. The exhibition is expected to bring $26 million in direct spending, with a multiplier effect that could pump up to $55 million into the area’s economy.
To put visitors to the convention center in a buying mood, there was soft lighting, soft couches and potted plants.
There were queues of men and women in pin-striped suits waiting for lunch passes Tuesday, and more lines to book their berths on the QE2, where one of the 930 rooms costs $180 a night, per person. The other vessel, the Star Ship Oceanus, has about 1,100 rooms.
Mary Jo Anderson, front office manager of the Bostonian Hotel, said rooms in the city are scarce. She said her 153-room hotel was full for most of the next two weeks and that a check of her computer showed space available at only five of 30 other hotels in the city.
“I expect the others will be filled by tomorrow,” Anderson said.
Digital Equipment, a leading supplier of networked computer systems, will display 400 of its models during the show, and also plans to unveil new products that officials say should help the company maintain its record earnings pace.
