AST Strives to Lead the Pack in Computing : Advances: The Irvine company has several innovative concepts on the drawing board and won’t ‘be surprised by changing technology.’
If you ask Safi Qureshey and Thomas Yuen where the next big advance in computing will come, they may shrug their shoulders. But ask them which company will put those advances into practice and they will promptly answer AST Research Inc.
Not content with sales expected to reach $680 million for its fiscal year ending June 30, AST’s co-founders say the company is working on many fronts to ensure that it remains on the industry’s cutting edge.
“A lot of things are happening here in parallel,” Qureshey, AST’s co-chairman and chief executive, said in an interview this week. “We are not going to be surprised by changing technology.”
Consider:
* AST has been quietly spearheading an industry group to develop technology standards for so-called multiprocessing computers, which link together many processors to perform calculations simultaneously and with much greater speed than a single processor.
* The company is hiring additional marketing staff in Tokyo and plans to launch a new Japanese-language PC model as part of a continuing effort to crack the tough Japanese market.
* AST is developing notebook-size computers that use new handwriting recognition technology, and is preparing to launch a line of easy-to-use computers for first-time computer buyers.
Many industry observers believe that multiprocessing computers pose a significant threat to the $40-billion-a-year minicomputer industry. Minicomputers, the level of computers between personal computers and the smallest mainframes, are typically used by medium-size businesses and academic institutions.
Increasingly, however, less-expensive personal computers that can be hooked together in networks within a corporation or institution are cutting into the traditional minicomputer business of such companies as Digital Equipment Corp.
AST views multiprocessing technology as an excellent way for the company to take corporate sales away from minicomputer makers. While some PC makers such as Advanced Logic Research Inc. in Irvine have already introduced multiprocessing computers, AST has chosen to delay its entry in hopes that a clear industry standard will emerge, Qureshey said.
“The impact of a standard will be long-lasting in multiprocessing,” Qureshey said. “It is a strategic market where initial sales volume is less important. It would allow us to sell more personal computers to companies that buy the multiprocessors.”
AST started organizing the industry group in late 1990. The companies involved in the talks include computer manufacturers Hewlett-Packard Co., Sequent Computer Systems, Olivetti & Co. and Digital Equipment Corp.; software companies Microsoft Corp. and Santa Cruz Operation, and Novell Inc., a supplier of computer networks. Corollary Inc., an Irvine firm that licenses its multiprocessing technology to computer manufacturers, is also involved in the group.
AST also plans to introduce a multiprocessing computer that could support at least four of semiconductor manufacturer Intel Corp.’s most powerful microchips. The initial machine would be priced at less than $20,000, an AST official said.
If the consortium cannot agree on standards for the multiprocessing technology, Qureshey said AST may go ahead and introduce its own so-called symmetric machine, possibly at the Comdex trade show this November in Las Vegas.
After a slow start in selling PCs in Japan over the past year, AST plans to introduce a new model later this year. It will be based on a Japanese-language standard developed by International Business Machines Corp.
AST’s plans in Japan suffered a setback when the company it had lined up as a distributor, electronics giant Sharp Corp., pulled out of the venture and AST’s top executive in Japan resigned.
The company’s original model was the first made by a U.S. computer company to be compatible both with the Japanese-language standard used by NEC Corp., the dominant player in the Japanese market, as well as the IBM PC standard that is dominant in the United States.
AST has hired Harry Yonei, a manager experienced in the Japanese market, to head its Japan division. AST is planning a new model that would be based on IBM’s popular Japanese-language standard, which IBM agreed to license to a consortium of companies in March. By licensing the standard, IBM hopes to challenge NEC’s dominance.
“The dealers in Japan are locked into the domestic manufacturers,” said Yuen, co-chairman and chief operating officer. “We hope our patience and product will open some doors. With the IBM standard, now we see a very good opportunity in Japan, which is the second-largest PC market.”
Meanwhile, Yuen said the company’s original model is gaining more acceptance in markets outside of Japan, mainly because it is used by Japanese nationals living abroad who are often bilingual.
For its next generation of notebook-size computers, AST expects to have color displays and memory capacity of at least 80 megabytes, Yuen said. Those machines will be out this year at the Comdex show.
