Computers Displayed By Compaq

The New York Times

May 1, 1985

Two companies taking on the International Business Machines Corporation in the office market - the Compaq Computer Corporation and the Xerox Corporation - introduced computer systems yesterday.

Most of the enthusiasm was reserved for the Compaq announcement, which involved both a portable version of the I.B.M. PC-AT and an AT-compatible desktop computer.

Like the AT, the first of a new generation of I.B.M. machines, Compaq's machines use the Intel 80286 microprocessor, which is much faster than the chip used in the original I.B.M. Personal Computer.

The introduction puts Compaq, easily the most successful of the I.B.M.-compatible makers, among the first to turn out products based on the AT design. The portable version, the company said, will run up to 30 percent faster than I.B.M.'s AT, and includes a 20-megabyte hard-disk drive.

A megabyte is a million bytes, or characters, of information.

The Deskpro 286 is a more sophisticated version of Compaq's first desktop machine. Industry experts and dealers who have seen the machines in the last few weeks say they could fill a critical gap, because I.B.M. is still struggling to produce the AT in volume, after numerous troubles in obtaining parts from vendors.

Both new machines carry a base price of $4,499. ''These are really aimed at the replacement market,'' said Bill Murto, who heads Compaq's marketing efforts. ''A lot of people are beginning to replace their first generation PC's, and we think that will offer an expanding market opportunity.''

The portable, he noted, is so far the only such machine on the market, but Compaq has continued to lead the market for portable PC's, even after I.B.M. introduced its own.

Xerox, which until now has had mixed success in office automation, introduced personal computers and high-speed printers.

The personal computers are enhanced versions of the personal computer built by Ing. C. Olivetti & Company, S.p.A., the Italian equipment maker, and marketed by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company.

Although the A.T.&T. machine, known as the PC 6300, has sold poorly, Xerox said it hoped to have more success with its machines since they would be presented to customers as parts of an integrated system.

With an eye toward linking products, Xerox also said that it had agreed with A.T.&T. to market the hardware used in A.T.&T.'s Starlan network.

The two companies are reportedly working on a technique whereby customers on a Starlan network could exchange information with customers on Ethernet, Xerox's network.

Xerox said it was pursuing a number of other business relationships with A.T.&T. and Olivetti.

Separately, the NCR Corporation introduced a new personal computer that it said was compatible with the PC-AT. It also introduced a machine to compete with I.B.M.'s XT, and a point-of-sale terminal.

The Data General Corporation, meanwhile, dropped the price on its DG-1 portable computer by $600.