SAN FRANCISCO (02/16/2000) - Compaq CEO Michael Capellas outlined a e-commerce future Tuesday that relies heavily on clustered servers, Windows 2000 and an array of non-PC devices.
At the Windows 2000 Expo here, Capellas used his keynote speech to tout a vision that embraces what he said customers want the most - cheap, effective, Internet-based computing.
Capellas outlined a three-pronged initiative, dubbed "eGeneration," that actually began last year, when Compaq rolled out its eight-processor ProLiant servers, which Capellas said recently were clocked at more than 100,000 transactions per minute.
The second step will arrive in a few months, when Compaq "scales out and scales up" with Cellular Multi Processing (CMP)-based 32-way servers, which Compaq is building with Unisys. Highlighting a deal announced earlier Tuesday, Capellas said the company will enlist Unisys to manufacture the 32-way servers that will be integrated with Compaq's storage products and sold under its own Proliant brand name. Due by the middle of the year, the servers will provide a relatively affordable alternative to high-end servers currently on the market, and allow businesses to grow their computing infrastructures quickly to keep pace with the explosion in Internet usage, he said.
The third phase - called "breakthrough enterprise economics" by Capellas - won't happen until at least 2001, he said.
Capellas sang the praises of Windows 2000, which Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates will formally launch on Thursday. Capellas bragged that Compaq offers the widest array of Windows-based hardware, and also plugged the $499 iPac, an Internet device that runs Windows 2000 and foregoes legacy connections for USB ports.
He also disputed the suggestion that corporations will suffer unduly from compatibility problems and bugs migrating to Windows 2000.
"With every OS there has been some level of problems going out," Capellas said.
"If you have any legacy (systems), if you don't have problems you aren't pushing the envelope."
Compaq Computer Corp., in Houston, is at http://www.compaq.com. Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., is at http://www.microsoft.com/.
Bob Trott is an InfoWorld associate news editor based in Seattle. James Niccolai of the IDG News Service contributed to this article.