The Big Do

Even in the computer industry, which is known for its hype and hullabaloo, the trade show that Digital Equipment Corp. opened in Boston last week is a happening. It is the largest and most lavish extravaganza ever held by a single computer manufacturer, and not even all the hotels in the Hub could accommodate the 50,000 executives, financial analysts and journalists from 25 countries who are expected to attend the $25 million, eleven-day affair. To house the overflow crowd, the Queen Elizabeth 2 and the Star/Ship Oceanic luxury liners were docked alongside the spacious World Trade Center on Boston Harbor, where DEC put up a raft of electronic exhibits and unveiled a new line of machines in the midsize or "minicomputer" class.

By staging such a show, DEC seemed to be sending a message to archrival IBM: look out. Big Blue has a leading 17% share of the $18 billion annual market for minicomputers, compared with 13% for DEC. But in the past two years, DEC has introduced a dizzying array of new machines that could thrust it in front. During its last fiscal year, DEC increased its sales by nearly 25%, to $9.4 billion, and doubled its profits, to $1.14 billion. In the past 18 months its stock price has tripled, to 190, surpassing the cost of an IBM share, which closed last week at about 160.

DEC's new computers, priced from $75,000 to $180,000, are extensions of its successful VAX line and represent the company's most aggressive assault yet on IBM. Traditionally, DEC has focused on the scientific and engineering markets, but the firm is now targeting such IBM strongholds as financial services, government and aerospace. For its part, IBM recently introduced a line of computers dubbed "VAX-killers." But industry analysts believe DEC's latest machines, which are twice as fast as IBM's, may be invulnerable to Big Blue's best shots.