AT&T Introduces a Personal Computer Designed to Compete With IBM's PC AT

By Peter W. Barnes, Staff Reporter
Wall Street Journal

New York -- October 10, 1985 -- American Telephone & Telegraph Co. introduced a personal computer designed to compete against International Business Machines Corp.'s most powerful personal computer, the PC AT.

AT&T said its new PC 6300 Plus model will operate as much as 25% faster than the PC AT and will be compatible with IBM's XT personal computer, meaning that both machines can run the same software. The PC 6300 Plus will be manufactured by Ing. C. Olivetti & Co. of Italy, which also makes the regular PC 6300 for AT&T. Shipments of the PC 6300 Plus will begin immediately, AT&T said.

The list price of the basic model PC 6300 Plus, including a keyboard, monitor, 512,000 units of internal memory and two disk drives of varying capacities, is $5,095. The list price of a similar base model PC AT, with a comparable monitor but 256,000 units of internal memory and one disk drive, is $4,520. A version of PC 6300 Plus that includes 20 million units of hard disc storage and a comparable PC AT model with the same amount of storage both are priced at $6,320.

But the PC 6300 Plus faces nearly two dozen other computers using the same high-speed microprocessor, introduced recently by most major personal computer makers. The competitive battle appears likely to be at least as severe as the earlier fight between the basic IBM PC and compatible models made by other companies. AT&T's entry in that race, the PC 6300, has managed to increase its market share in recent months, but only through costly promotional tactics, and still trails well behind IBM.

What AT&T touts as the principal advantage of its newest product, an ability to run software designed under two operating systems, may prove of limited appeal to most personal computer buyers. AT&T's unusual positioning of the product -- priced comparably to the top-of-the-line PC AT, but designed for compatiblity with the older PC XT -- could also present a marketing challenge.

"On the surface it's a very glamorous announcement," said Richard J. Matlack, president of InfoCorp, a Cupertino, Calif., market research concern. "But under the surface it's confusing. It's not clear to me that anyone needs" two different operating systems on the same machine, he said. Other analysts questioned the pricing of the new AT&T computer in light of discounting by many other manufacturers.

AT&T said it made the PC 6300 Plus compatible with the IBM XT, rather than the PC AT, because of the widespread use of the XT and the IBM Personal Computer in offices. "That base is enormous and we want to protect (customers') investment," said James Edwards, president of the Computer Systems Division of AT&T's Information Systems unit.

The PC 6300 Plus will run on an MS-DOS operating system similar to that used in IBM personal computers.

But AT&T also intends to introduce software in the 1986 first quarter that will allow the PC 6300 Plus to simultaneously run MS-DOS programs and programs based on AT&T's standard operating system, Unix. The feature will allow customers to run several software programs at once, AT&T said. The company has been trying to stimulate user interest in Unix as a standard for office automation.

AT&T also introduced other products, including a new model of its 3B2 minicomputer, additional Unix software programs and enhancements for current computers.