New Software by Digital to Link Office PCs

BOSTON — Digital Equipment Corp., which has seen its sales slump, introduced a system of office software Tuesday designed to let computers made by different companies share information and work together.

The action marks the latest move toward equipment that is compatible throughout the computer industry, easing some of the confusion for customers who have had to struggle with diverse systems, analysts say.

“With any large company, the most important and hardest business problem is that they have all these different types of desktop computers, and they want all these people to work together,” said Henry Ancona, company vice president for business and office information systems.

The new system will be compatible not only with Digital’s VAX computers but also with popular systems from International Business Machines Corp., Apple Computer Inc. and Microsoft Corp., the company said.

Workers using this system “can share computing software, and transmit data, documents and pictures,” Kenneth Olsen, president of the Maynard, Mass.-based company, said in a prepared statement. “It’s just common sense.”

Links Computers

The software, which was presented Tuesday at an office computer convention in New York, will be available next year.

Digital, the world’s second-largest computer company behind IBM, was long known for the compatibility within its VAX system, pushing the slogan “Digital has it now.”

Meanwhile, IBM this year introduced software that can run across the full range of its machines.

But company officials and analysts say Digital’s move takes compatibility further by linking computers from different companies.

“We believe that reflects the reality of the market,” Ancona said. “It would be arrogant to tell a customer that if you buy our computer, you have to throw out everything else you’ve invested in.”

Terry Shannon, an analyst with International Data Corp., a computer market researcher based in Framingham, Mass., said, “I think DEC’s made a very significant step forward.

“Digital is saying if you don’t have a Digital PC (personal computer), it’s fine,” Shannon said. “Their concern is the underlying system.”

Computer software, which runs the programs, is representing a more lucrative market in comparison with the machines themselves, which are becoming less expensive, Shannon said.

Also, Digital can employ the integrated system to introduce its products to customers using other computers and possibly persuade them to use more Digital computers, said Sonny Monosson, publisher of the Monosson Report in Boston, which monitors activities at Digital.

The introduction of the new system comes as the company tries to reverse a sales slump.

Digital’s earnings slid 22% for the year that ended July 1, and the company has frozen salaries and transferred hundreds of employees from manufacturing to sales jobs.

Last week, John J. Shields, who was in charge of sales and was long regarded as the No. 2 man at Digital, resigned from the company.