The head of Compaq Computer Corp, Rod Canion, secure in the knowledge that his company has increased turnover by 69% over the past year, can now reveal the secret of its success: an established dealer network, and company credibility. This was part of the message Canion gave at a press breakfast yesterday to celebrate Compaq […]
The head of Compaq Computer Corp, Rod Canion, secure in the knowledge that his company has increased turnover by 69% over the past year, can now reveal the secret of its success: an established dealer network, and company credibility. This was part of the message Canion gave at a press breakfast yesterday to celebrate Compaq Computer Ltd’s fifth birthday and to announce the opening of a new headquarters for the UK subsidiary in Richmond. Following the news of the distributor Businessland’s split from Compaq in the US over differences in philosophy (ie Businessland started advocating IBM’s Micro Channel to clients) it is perhaps unsurprising that Canion should claim that Compaq is the closest and best partner that dealers have and to stress the part the company’s dealer network plays in its growth. It also came as no surprise to hear that Compaq’s championing of Extended Industry Standard Architecture illustrated the company’s credibility among users. Canion argued that had IBM opted for a compatible upgrade path with its architecture, the rest of the industry, including Compaq, would have followed. As it was, however, Compaq was driven by customer needs to develop Industry Standard Architecture, while alack, alas, IBM’s market share was doomed to decline with Micro Channel sales failing to keep up with the market growth rate. The Group of Nine was reported to be in good shape with the new Extended Architecture still on schedule for release in late 1989, supported by 100 vendors. Furthermore, Canion not only pledged that 1,000 add-on board types would be available at that production announcement but that a number of specific boards taking advantage of the Architecture would be also be available then. Compaq went on to claim a vast overall system performance advantage for Extended Industry Standard Architecture over Micro Channel in preliminary benchmark tests, adding that those buying Micro Channel are making a brand, rather than an informed technical, decision. Compaq said it was looking to the 80386 market to sustain its challenge to IBM in the personal computer market and would be focussing on the penetration of the white collar market in Europe after 1992 where it predicts that demand for computers as productivity tools will rise sharply. At present there are no plans afoot specifically to target the Unix market but the company sees Santa Cruz Operation’s Open Desktop, a competitor for IBM’s Presentation Manager, as the natural way forward for 80386 micros running Unix. Finally, Canion said that Compaq’s future growth would be organic and denied that the company was in the market for acquisitions – although it does have a substantial minority stake in diskmaker Conner Peripherals Inc.
