Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!gandp!rg
From: rg@gandp (Dick Gill)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ncr
Subject: Tower Alternative
Message-ID: <314@gandp>
Date: 1 Oct 90 02:20:14 GMT
Reply-To: rg@gandp.UUCP (Dick Gill)
Organization: Gill & Piette, Inc.
Lines: 73


Dear Tower Folks,

I have a business/technical problem that could use the
perspective and insights that readers of this group have shown
over the last year.

A year ago NCR dealer marketeers starting telling me about the
new corporate strategy to move from the Tower product line to
Intel based systems; now it is clear that the Tower product
is on its way out. Computer Systems News says that "Over the
next three years, NCR will phase out its Motorola Inc.
680X0-based Tower family..." and that "it plans eventually to
replace the Tower line with a family of 80486-based file servers
that will be positioned against systems such as Compaq Computer
Corp.'s SystemPro."

My firm has been selling our business software on multi-user Unix
systems since the early 80's, and we have been a small Tower dealer
since the introduction of the line.  Our customers like the NCR
name, the reliability, performance and service; we like the
quality, consistency and growth of the product, the
professionalism of the NCR technical staff, the limited
distribution channels and our ability to make a reasonable
profit selling in small quantities.

We now find ourselves in the unhappy situation of having to
replace our principal hardware platform.  Our competitors are
increasingly hitting us with NCR's own announcements that the
Tower line is dead, so we need to do something promptly. The NCR
Intel products are ok if I wanted a PC or a file server but I
don't.  Besides, everyone and his brother is selling 386/486
boxes and small-business clients believe that any machine that
can run MS-DOS should be a cheap commodity.  More important, my
(limited) experience makes me skeptical that they are the right
platform for a 5 to 50 user business system.

What I want is a complete and solid unix machine for 5 to 50
users sold through distributors and delivered intact along with
the OS, and I want all hardware and system software supported
nationally by the manufacturer or by a well known 3rd party
maintenance firm. Just as important, I need a manufacturer whose
name is well known to the business community and who has
demonstrated strength and committment to multi-user unix
solutions.  Finally, I need a product line that I can buy in
small quantities and that isn't being sold below my cost at the
local drug store.

NCR's president says that the new open architecture "based on
the client/server model, will play a major role in bringing NCR
into the Fortune 1000 accounts" and I hope NCR makes zillions
selling to the big guys. However, since I have no Fortune 1000
clients and am not sure just what a "client/server model" is, it
appears that NCR has written me out of their script.

It is time to revise my hardware strategy and I am looking for
your opinions. The question is: Which manufacturer you think is
likely to deliver what I need now and will need through the 90's? 

Please e-mail and don't be afraid to blow your own (or your
company's) horn or plug your favorite rising star. I will not
use your name without permission but will summarize to the net
if there is interest.

Thanks for your time and opinions.

Dick Gill

-- 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dick Gill     Gill & Piette, Inc.      "I can be a humble guy when I need to." 
(703)761-1163   ..uunet!gandp!rg                                  Donald Trump