Digital Equipment Corp will be trailing far behind IBM Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co by the time it gets its Alpha-based hardware out, according to Butler Bloor Ltd’s Open Systems report, published this week. The research company assessed 16 companies for architecture, hardware range, top end performance, Unix implementation, development software and support. At the top of the class is Hewlett-Packard Co in terms of its attitude towards Unix. The report claims the company is clearly the vendor that the others respect most. It was the only company to provide perfect scores for its architecture and its hardware range according to Butler Bloor’s assessment. Also favoured was IBM which Butler Bloor predicts will attempt to reconcile its mainframe and AS/400 lines with Unix. This will be achieved, it speculates, through OS/2 running on the RS/6000: we rate the RS/6000 architecture highly and expect IBM eventually to assume its natural position as market leader. Despite ICL Plc’s Unix expertise, its choice of Sun Microsystems Inc’s Sparc architecture is brought into question. Pyramid Technology Corp and Sequent Computer Systems Inc score well, along with Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG, in the top end performance ratings for mainframe Unix. Although Sun’s architecture is termed excellent, Butler Bloor claims that its hardware range is not comprehensive enough and that the company still has the feel of a workstation vendor. Still reeling from its ACE nightmare, MIPS Computer Systems Inc’s market presence is seen to only be significant through its OEM customers, according to the Butler Bloor report.
