IBM to Launch New Line; Digital Readies for Battle

International Business Machines Corp. is expected to launch a major new family of mid-size computers next week, and its nearest rival is preparing for a long, hard fight for customers.

Digital Equipment Corp., the world’s No. 2 computer maker, sent executives to meet the press Wednesday and prepare the groundwork for a response to the IBM computer family code-named Silverlake.

The skirmishing indicated the importance of next Tuesday’s announcement to the vast midsection of the computer industry, the machines that fit in between personal computers and giant mainframes.

“It will be probably the broadest announcement that IBM has ever attempted” in terms of the number of customers who will be affected, said Robert Djurdjevic, an IBM watcher who is president of Annex Research Inc. in Phoenix.

“The big news is that IBM is going to make the mid-range market exciting again, win or lose,” said Donald Bellomy, an analyst for International Data Corp. in Framingham, Mass.

Single Family of Machines

Silverlake--the code name apparently comes from a park area in Rochester, Minn., the city where it was designed--has a demanding role to play in the IBM product line.

Silverlake is supposed to unify two distinct mid-size computers, the System 36 and System 38, into a single family of machines while simultaneously halting and even reversing the erosion of IBM’s mid-range market share.

IBM’s share of worldwide mid-sized computer shipments by U.S.-based companies slid to 23.6% in 1987 from 27.2% in 1984, while Digital’s rose over the same period to 18.9% from 15.2%, according to International Data Corp.

Each percentage point represents nearly $300 million in annual sales.