Alpha Micro Reports a Profit, Shows New Lines
Computer maker Alpha Microsystems Inc. on Wednesday reported a slight profit in its second quarter ended Aug. 25 and introduced several new lines of computers to expand its presence in the business computer market.
The company reported net income of $68,000, or 2 cents a share, contrasted with a loss of $1.2 million, or 41 cents a share, in the same period last year. Revenues fell 13% to $11.7 million from $13.5 million a year earlier.
David Young, chief financial officer, attributed the revenue decline to the recession as well as to a company decision to put less emphasis on product lines that were generating marginal profits.
Douglas J. Tullio, president of Alpha Micro, said he is kicking off an 11-city tour this week to launch the company’s new products, which are aimed at businesses that need as few as several computers to as many as hundreds of them.
The products are aimed at extending the company’s appeal to customers who want computer systems that are compatible with the generally accepted Unix operating system and other operating systems, so that they can run a variety of software from different manufacturers.
The company will sell a family of systems that can accommodate a number of users at once based on Intel Corp. microprocessors, or the brains of a computer. The systems will run software based on the Pick, Unix and Business Basic operating systems.
The company also introduced a series of $1,300 diskless workstations for computer networks. The machines are aimed at staving off the advance of personal computer makers into the market for corporate networks of computers, which is the fastest growing part of the computer market.
And the company will sell a Series 9000 line of computers based on RISC microprocessors. The RISC (reduced instruction set computing) microprocessors are based on a different architecture than standard Intel microprocessors and are a favorite in the technical workstation market because of their higher speeds. The Series 9000 computers will support hundreds of users in a network.
The new products notwithstanding, Young said the company will stay focused on its basic market: supplying minicomputer systems based on a proprietary operating system called AMOS.
