Compaq Computer Corp certainly doesn’t want to get its hands dirty by dabbling in the manufacture of next generation technologies, but now that it has thrown off the personal computer design shackles imposed by IBM Corp, it very definitely does want to push back the barriers. A couple of years ago, it rallied a team to set a new standard for super-high-density floppy disk drives, and it has now turned its attention to flat panel displays. It has brought in Mitsubishi Electric Corp and its Advanced Display Inc subsdiary to give form and substance to its ideas, creating flat panel displays for desktop machines that are to be available worldwide later this year. It claims that by getting into bed with Mitsubishi Electric and Advanced Display – which makes glass substrates and is 20%-owned by Asahi Glass Ltd, it will be able to offer one of the industry’s lowest total costs of ownership in flat-panel monitors. Compaq says that its initial target markets for the flat panels will be the financial services and the health-care sectors, which it reckons place a premium on saving valuable desktop space without having to sacrifice the readability possible with large viewing areas.
