SAN MATEO (02/18/2000) - Unisys Corp. and Compaq Computer Corp. are teaming up to deliver 32-processor servers for Windows 2000 Datacenter, a high-end version of the operating system that is due for release about 120 days after Windows 2000 launches.
Although Microsoft Corp. is pinning its enterprise hopes on Windows 2000, company officials and observers say Windows 2000 Datacenter is the heavy-duty system that is critical if the company wants to be a serious player in the line-of-business and e-commerce arenas.
Unisys officials said the deal will net $400 million to the company over the next two years. Unisys will build the systems, which will be sold under Compaq's ProLiant brand and will feature Unisys' Cellular Multiprocessing (CMP) technology.
The systems will make the Wintel platform a serious player in the high-end enterprise market by offering the same performance as Sun Microsystems' products at a much lower price, according to Unisys officials.
"This will drive Microsoft and Intel into that high-market area just the way the Sun Enterprise 10,000 did for Sun," said Donald Johnson, vice president and general manager for e-@ction enterprise servers at Unisys.
Compaq CEO Michael Capellas said the Houston computer maker was enlisting Unisys to manufacture the 32-way servers, which will be integrated with Compaq's storage products to "fill a specific need in the market for a specific time."
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, Capellas said.
The final agreement between Unisys and Compaq will be hammered out in the next 60 days, officials at the two companies said.
Unisys is scheduled to release its ES7000 server next month, Johnson said.
Unisys Corp., in Blue Bell, Pa., is at www.unisys.com. Compaq Computer Corp., in Houston, is at www.compaq.com. Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., is at www.microsoft.com.