Compaq commits to Alpha with Wildfire launch

Compaq has reaffirmed its commitment to Alpha with today's launch of its high-end Alpha server, codenamed Wildfire. But analysts warn that making the product a success could be difficult.

Compaq said it expects to generate around $1bn in revenue from sales of the new AlphaServer GS series this year and is hoping to double its Unix market share in the next three to four years.

AlphaServer is aimed at companies building ebusiness infrastructures. Compaq claims it has already received around 200 pre-orders for the servers, including one from Lego. Fifty per cent of these orders have come from this side of the Atlantic, said the company.

Werner Koepf, vice president and general manager of Compaq Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said: "If our commitment needs a proof point then this is it. The hardware is using a new generation of processors, and we have already announced there will be major upgrades of the Alpha chips in late 2000 and 2003."

He said the recent departure of Enrico Pesatori, the former head of Compaq's enterprise division, had not caused any problems leading up to the launch of the latest servers, despite speculation which suggested otherwise.

"There is always going to be change and he [Pesatori] did a good job. He just decided that he wanted to become chairman and chief executive of a startup," said Koepf.

"Our strategy is still to grow our enterprise business, this is one our key businesses. To put it into perspective for enterprise computing, this is the second most important announcement we have ever made - 10 years ago we announced the first PC server," he added.

"This is another quantum leap from where we've come so far."

However, some analysts said it is not going to be an easy ride for Compaq. David Burman, director of research for UK-based Butler Group, said: "It's been a long time coming and it's going to be difficult for them because of the march the Suns of this world have made on them."

"One of my concerns is that Pesatori has gone. It makes you wonder if there's something in the cupboard we don't know about. Compaq also have to communicate their expertise in networking and fault-tolerant computing that they got from the acquisitions of Digital and Tandem. They need to articulate this to customers."

However, Burman said the level of investment Compaq has made in the development of Alpha shows it has a commitment to the technology.

"It is a good opportunity for Compaq and the machines are very impressive. I don't think its too late for them, but its going to be harder than it otherwise would have been," he said.

The GS series supports 8-way, 16-way and 32-way configurations and includes the latest versions of Tru64 Unix V5.1 and TruCluster Server V5.1, OpenVMS and Open VMS Galaxy software, as well as Linux.

Pricing ranges from £50,000 to £2m, and the servers will begin shipping in the UK next month.