Sun Introduces Powerful Hybrid in Desktop Turf War
For long-suffering corporate purchasing managers, choosing the right type of desktop computers for the office staff is a daunting task already. But the job is going to get even tougher.
Sun Microsystems, the leading maker of “workstation” computers used by engineers and scientists, today is unveiling a new machine aimed squarely at the desktops of office workers, a space traditionally viewed as the protected turf of personal computers. The new Sun machine, which packs the punch of a powerful workstation, is priced at $8,995--not much more than some fully equipped PCs.
“This is the first machine to combine the power of the (technical) workstation with the ease of use of the personal computer,” said Robert Herwick, a technology analyst with Hambrecht & Quist, a San Francisco brokerage firm.
But it won’t be the last. Analysts say the Sun machine is the first example of the type of hybrid desktop system that will become the office machine of choice over the next decade.
And while workstation makers--including all of Sun’s competitors--are developing products for the huge office market, personal computer manufacturers are furiously increasing the power and performance of the once-lowly PC. The result is a blurring of the price, performance and ease-of-use distinctions that once defined the two product categories.
Generally speaking, the two product lines have been defined in the past by performance and price. Workstations, which carry price tags of up to $100,000, are typically needed by scientists and other “macho users,” as analysts call them, to process huge quantities of data quickly or make rapid calculations. These machines can perform several tasks simultaneously.
Personal computers, on the other hand, are designed for simpler tasks, and for the most part can handle only one task at a time. Moreover, their prices rarely exceed $10,000. Still, the two types of machines generally don’t look very different from one another, although some workstations, including Sun’s, use oversize screens for better graphics display.
Analysts say the convergence of the two markets is one of the most important emerging trends in the office automation market and should foster some of the fiercest competition the industry has seen.
Earlier this year, Digital Equipment Corp. turned up the heat in the competition with the announcement of its new 3100 model workstation, a system that uses the latest trend in microprocessor technology. Dubbed RISC--for reduced instruction set chips--the new technology dramatically shrinks the number of steps the computer must execute to complete its tasks. The new Sun system employs the same technology. IBM has offers yet another RISC-based system.
Still, there are several important issues to be resolved before the average office worker, who uses a computer to spin out financial calculations, organize data and write reports, gets a RISC workstation for his desktop.
For starters, virtually no application software for office tasks--such as spreadsheet calculators, word processors and database sorters--exists yet for workstation machines. Further, most of these systems are still quite difficult for the average user to operate, particularly those raised on the visual displays of Apple’s Macintosh personal computer or other PCs.
But analysts say Sun’s plans show that the company is well aware of the challenges and is preparing to overcome them.
Sun’s new “Sparcstation 1,” as the new machine is named, moves to bridge the workstation and PC markets with a new set of user instructions called “Open Look,” a set of visual displays and directions that goes a long way toward mimicking user instructions found on the Macintosh and upcoming IBM personal computers.
In addition, Sun is attempting to start a library of application software for the Sparcstation by actively persuading programmers to develop programs taking advantage of the machine’s power and performance capabilities. The Sparcstation is just one of several new machines the company is unveiling today as it reveals its product lineup for the next 12 months or so.
“With this announcement we’re saying that we are more of a general purpose computer manufacturer,” Sun’s marketing vice president Edward Zander said in an interview. “We’re not just a workstation niche player.”
Zander said Sun firmly believes that the office of the future will contain desktop computers that are able to share information because they are tied together through networks.
He said the advantage Sun and other workstation makers have is that their machines have always been built to work together because network capabilities are built into the machines. Although personal computers can be tied together, they are designed and built to operate as individual, stand-alone machines.
Analysts said Sun is aiming to build--and sell--the Sparcstations at the rate of 2,000 to 3,000 per month. At that rate, the machine would far eclipse any of the company’s other models, which together accounted for sales of 80,000 machines last year.
Zander, who declined to confirm the analyst’s reports, said workers in Sun’s new, highly-automated factory in the Silicon Valley can build a Sparcstation in less than four minutes. Zander said that although desktop computers have traditionally been sold through retail outlets to corporations, Sun is initially sticking with its direct-sales force and dealers. He acknowledged, however, that a retail presence for Sun is probably not far off.
THE WORKSTATION MARKET
Worldwide market share of major workstation vendors, based on total 1988 revenues of $4.11 billion.
Sun Microsystems: 28.30% Digital Equipment: 18.60% Hewlett-Packard: 16.90% Apollo: 13.50% Intergraph: 6.70% Silicon Graphics: 4.40% IBM: 2.60% Others: 9.00%
Source: Dataquest
