About 3,500 engineers, business managers, and other professionals who use computer technology produced by Digital Equipment Corp. – which is now owned by Compaq Computer Corp. – were expected to pass through the Rhode Island Convention Center last week. It was the first time the DECUS conference has been held in the Ocean State in its 38-year history, according to Paula Morin, a Compaq employee who helped put the five-day show together. The DECUS – which stands for Digital Equipment Corporation Users Society – conference is held twice a year around the country, according to event organizers. For roughly the last 10 years, however, the show has been held outside of New England.
Compaq (NYSE: CPQ) acquired Digital and Tandem within the last year-and-a-half and decided to continue working with DECUS members, said Richard J. Calandrella, a public relations manager from Compaq. Participants come to see new technology unveiled, learn to use existing programs, and get a chance to meet some of the computer company’s engineers and executives face-to-face, Calandrella explained.
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That last aspect is most important to the company because it provides the company with an opportunity to interact with customers and find out exactly what their needs are, he added.
“I think basically the highlight of this event is the interaction between Compaq customers and engineers and executives,” Calandrella said. “That’s extremely critical for customers, otherwise they’re talking to someone from an 800-number.
“The customers and end-users learn a lot about what Compaq is doing, but vice versa we learn what’s in demand,” he said.
For instance, about a year ago Compaq announced plans to discontinue the OpenVMS operating system, which was a proprietary system produced by Digital Equipment, but customers who appreciated the system’s reliability objected strenuously, Calandrella said. There are about 10 million OpenVMS users around the world, including many organizations that require 24-hour a day reliability from their systems, according to Calandrella. Among the industries where OpenVMS is used: stock exchanges, banks, lotteries, telecommunications companies, as well as state and local governments.
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“The company actually revisited its decision, because of customer demands,” said Calandrella, adding many of those demands were heard at programs like the DECUS conference.
So at this conference Compaq executives decided to announce plans to keep the operating system alive and introduce some additional OpenVMS products.
Among the new products rolled out during the June 12-17 conference: newly enhanced OpenVMS Web-enabling software products, enhancements to several Open VMS application development tools, and the new OpenVMS AlphaStation XP900.
Tools that Web-enable OpenVMS systems are an integral part of the new product launch, Calandrella said. The company announced at least seven different programs that would help support Internet commerce.
“With the meteoric rise of the Internet and the corresponding expansion of global competition, availability of corporate information has taken on a new level of importance. To compete effectively vital business applications and data must be available at all times, from all places,” stated Rich Marcello, vice president of Compaq’s OpenVMS Group. “OpenVMS AlphaServers provide customers ultra-high availability access to data and information – and with today’s announcements, customers can access that same data and information via the Web through use of these newly enhanced, Web-enabled tools.”
The show included a four-day trade show; five days of conferences; speeches from some of Compaq’s top executives, who were expected to discuss the company’s strategy for the 21st century; and symposiums designed to address issues facing information systems workers around the globe. Among the featured panel discussions during the week was a session on women who’ve been successful in high technology professions.
