Conference ricks::dechips

684.0. "Microsoft marketing Alpha NT workstations" by GEMEVN::GROVE () Wed Apr 23 1997 10:43

    Here's an interesting Microsoft press release about a cost of ownership
    study comparing Alpha NT workstations with "competitors' Unix offerings."
    It's good to see Microsoft citing Alpha NT leadership in their
    marketing efforts.
    
    /Rich Grove
    
    PS: As a Digital employee, I want to see us selling all the Digital
    products we can: DPW's, Alphasevers, Alpha NT, Digital Unix and VMS!
    So let's not turn this note into a "Unix vs NT rathole"; we can make
    money in all these areas.
    
http://www.microsoft.com/corpinfo/press/1997/apr97/digital.htm

[Microsoft Home][Products][Search][Support][Shop][Write Us]     [Microsoft Home]
[Press Pass] [Microsoft Press Release]
      [Image]
    Todays Press    Microsoft Windows NT Running on Digital Workstations
     Releases       Offers 39% Lower Total Cost of Ownership Compared to
  Find Past Press   UNIX Workstations
     Releases       Independently Conducted Test Suite Results Prove
------------------- Performance Leadership for Digital Alpha Architecture
   To Press Pass    Running on Windows NT Workstation
     Homepage
------------------- MAYNARD, Mass., and REDMOND, Wash., April 14 - Two
                    independent studies show Digital Personal Workstations
                    running Microsoft(R) Windows NT(R) Workstation offer a
                    lower cost of ownership and dramatically outperform
                    competitors' UNIX offerings.

                    A Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group study of 113
                    organizations concluded that the average three-year
                    total cost of ownership for Digital Personal
                    Workstations running Microsoft's Windows NT Workstation
                    was $63,000 versus $104,000 for comparable UNIX
                    machines: a savings of 39 percent.

                    The detailed study considered acquisition and
                    maintenance costs of hardware and software, technical
                    support costs, and user self-support costs related to
                    workstations. The results suggest that for a group of 25
                    workstations, savings in a three-year total cost of
                    ownership can amount to more than one million dollars.

                    Separately, Pro/E: The Magazine, reported that the
                    Digital Personal Workstation 500a running Windows NT
                    Workstation 4.0 offered the fastest performance of all
                    workstations tested, regardless of CPU architecture or
                    operating system. In the study, six of the ten fastest
                    systems were running Windows NT Workstation.

                    In a technical workstation environment lead by
                    traditional UNIX machines, Windows NT Workstation now
                    provides similar functionality, fast performance, a
                    lower initial purchase price, and significantly lower
                    cost of ownership.

                    This is a major finding of the Deloitte & Touche
                    Consulting Group study entitled, "Technical Workstation
                    Total Cost of Ownership Study, A Cost Comparison of
                    Microsoft Windows NT Workstation and UNIX." These cost
                    savings hold true for all the major application areas
                    covered in the study: Mechanical Design Automation,
                    Geographic Information Systems, and Digital Content
                    Creation.

                    "The study for the first time validates what many people
                    already suspected to be true," said Will Robinson from
                    Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group. "It also provides a
                    means for IT managers to quantify costs and understand
                    return on investment before embarking on a
                    UNIX-to-Windows(R) migration."

                    Providing The Best Value to Customers

                    The study presents a total cost of ownership (TCO) model
                    for technical workstations developed by Deloitte &
                    Touche Consulting Group and underwritten by Digital
                    Equipment Corporation and Microsoft Corporation. The
                    cost components of the TCO model included hardware and
                    software acquisition, support and maintenance and
                    opportunity costs.

                    "The question is no longer whether or not to migrate to
                    Windows NT. The question is -- how soon can I do it and
                    how can I maximize my competitive advantage," said
                    Philippe Ribeyre, vice president of Digital's
                    Workstation Business Segment. "Digital and Microsoft
                    offer the products, the services and the know-how to
                    help customers achieve those objectives today, better
                    than any other vendor or any combination of vendors,"
                    Ribeyre said.

                    "The Deloitte & Touche study confirms that Windows NT
                    Workstation offers a compelling, cost-effective
                    alternative to expensive and proprietary Sun and other
                    UNIX workstations," said Jim Allchin, senior vice
                    president of the Personal and Business Systems Group at
                    Microsoft. "Microsoft and Digital are committed to
                    reducing cost of ownership, while continuing to provide
                    innovation and value in the Windows platform with the
                    Zero Administration for Windows Initiative."

                    The study also reveals that maintenance and support
                    costs are considerably higher for UNIX workstations than
                    for Windows NT workstations. The cost differential over
                    three years for just one workstation is more than
                    $8,000. In addition, the study concludes that with
                    Windows NT workstations, many organizations may be able
                    to reduce or eliminate dedicated support staffs for
                    technical departments, relying instead on established PC
                    support organizations.

                    Performance Leadership from Digital and Microsoft

                    In applications benchmarks conducted by Pro/E: The
                    Magazine, Digital Personal Workstation 500a running
                    Windows NT Workstation outperformed a similarly priced
                    Sun Ultra 1-40E by 171 percent and outperformed a 49
                    percent more expensive Sun Ultra 1-200E by 98 percent.

                    Pro/E: The Magazine's used "Bench97," a benchmark based
                    on typical daily tasks performed by an engineer using
                    Pro/Engineer software. The Digital Personal Workstation
                    500a outperformed 22 workstations in the Bench97 test.
                    It outperformed a similarly priced Sun Ultra 1-140E by
                    171 percent and beat the twice as expensive,
                    two-processor Sun Ultra 2-2300 by 37 percent.

                    Digital's Personal Workstations are a key part of
                    Digital's continuing strategy of providing the best
                    performance and value for Windows NT solutions across
                    corporate and technical computing environments. The
                    Digital Microsoft Alliance for Enterprise Computing,
                    formed in August 1995, combines Microsoft client/server
                    products with Digital's leadership in enterprise
                    systems, service, support and systems integration.
                    Customers can deploy business solutions on the Microsoft
                    Windows and Windows NT operating systems with assurance
                    of integration into the most complex business
                    environments.

                    For more information on the Alliance and to obtain a
                    copy of the Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group study,
                    refer to (http://www.alliance.digital.com/microsoft).
                    For more information on Digital Personal Workstations,
                    see (http://www.workstation.digital.com). For more
                    information on Windows NT Workstation, see
                    http://www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation. For more
                    information on Pro/E: The Magazine workstation benchmark
                    scores, see (http://www.proe.com/).

                    Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the
                    worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The
                    company offers a wide range of products and services for
                    business and personal use, each designed with the
                    mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for
                    people to take advantage of the full power of personal
                    computing every day.

                    Digital Equipment Corporation (NYSE: DEC) is a world
                    leader in open client/server solutions from personal
                    computing to integrated worldwide information systems.
                    Digital's scalable Alpha and Intel platforms, storage,
                    networking, software and services, together with
                    industry-focused solutions from business partners, help
                    organizations compete and win in today's global
                    marketplace.

                    NOTE: Digital and the Digital logo are trademarks of
                    Digital Equipment Corporation. Microsoft, Windows and
                    Windows NT are either registered trademarks or
                    trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States
                    and/or other countries. UNIX is a registered trademark
                    in the United States and other countries licensed
                    exclusively through X/Open Company Ltd. Other product
                    and company names herein may be trademarks of their
                    respective owners.

                    CONTACT: Steve Milmore of Digital Equipment Corporation,
                    508-493-2969 or Phil Holden of Microsoft Corporation,
                    206-703-2074 or Mary Haigis of Deloitte & Touche
                    Consulting Group, 404-220-1453
                    ---------------------------------------------------------
                    � 1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Legal
                    Notices.

    The study seems rather PC-centric in assuming the Unix box users also
    *need* to have a PC on their desks while the NT box users don't, and
    then comes to the conclusion that feeding/maintaining one machine is
    cheaper than two.
    .02K

    I've been in many shops where this scenario (users have a workstation
    *and* a PC) is dead-on.  If anything the market success of Windows in
    all its myriad variations has made this more common.

I actually encountered this problem quite often in the Oil industry
where petroleum engineers et al required a UNIX workstation for the
various compute and graphics tasks but produced reports using
PC tools such as Word etc.  Each customer/vendor had their own way
of reconciling the two environments and none of them seemed particularly 
successful  .... remember "WABI"
This report will fit quite well in that industry especially allied
with Alpha's floating point performance.  We have had a tough time
persuading application vendors to support Alpha and this will be an 
effective card to play.  At the very least we will have
the entertaining spectator sport of watching competitors squirm
in their seats thinking up plausible counter arguments.  

    $63K for WNT vs $104K for UNIX?  These guys must have a one hell of box
    on their desk!

|   These guys must have a one hell of box on their desk!
    
    Yup.
    
    Typical matchups:
    
    DIGITAL Personal Workstation 200i AccelPro 2500TX
    vrs.
    SGI O2 R10000
    Sun Ultra 140 TurboGX
    HP B160L Visualize-8
    
    DIGITAL Personal Workstation 500a Powerstorm 4D50T
    vrs.
    SGI Octane SI
    Sun Ultra 1/200E Creator 3D
    HP C180-XP Visualize-48
    
    
    The full report is at:
    
    http://www.alliance.digital.com/alliances/microsoft/tco/ (html)
    or
    http://www.workstation.digital.com/announce/tco/tco_an.html/ (ms word)
    
    								-mr. bill

    If you were a consultant looking for repeat business from Billco, and
    were commissioned to produce a study on cost of ownership, what result
    would you expect to produce ?
    
    Sorry Bill, this report is useless in front of customers with any
    direct or indirect experience of your average consultants...
    
    regards
    john

|   Sorry Bill, this report is useless in front of customers with any
|   direct or indirect experience of your average consultants...
    
    Too bad the study SGI commissioned last year that showed that cost of
    ownership for UNIX boxes was higher than cost of ownership for NT boxes
    isn't still on the web.
    
    SGI's point then was don't look at *JUST* the cost to put a box on
    the desk, look at the cost of ownership.
    
    They admitted that Windows NT iron was far cheaper than SGI's iron.
    
    But when you looked at cost of ownership, Windows NT boxes were only
    marginally cheaper than SGI.
    
    
    And since a Windows NT box could not do what an SGI box could do,
    and could not deliever the performance of an SGI box, they concluded
    it was penny wise and pound foolish to buy a Windows NT box instead
    of an SGI box, especially if you considered the user staring at the
    screen waiting for that slow inferior Windows NT box.
    
    That was then.  Today....
    
    They'd have to explain why our OpenGL performance looks so good
    (CDRS-03 was what they bragged about then, not anymore).  And they'd
    have to explain why our SPEC CPU95 results look so good on our NT box.
    
    Well, those are industry standard benchmarks, SGI might say with
    their snear, what about *application* benchmarks where SGI *ALWAYS*
    shines?
    
    But then they'd have to explain why Softimage looks so good on our
    NT box.  And they'd have to explain why Pro-Engineer looks so good
    on our NT box.
    
    
    Finally, they are left with, well, uh, Alias-Wavefront doesn't
    run on Windows NT.  It only runs on SGI.
    
    								-mr. bill
    

    If Microsoft were to do the same cost of ownership study between
    a Network Computer and a PC, the conclusion would be that the NC
    desktop costs more... the NC + the PC that has to be next to it
    costs more to feed/maintain than just the PC desktop.
    ;-)

  I thought the NC didn't need a PC and was really cheap.

  	mikeP

	A PC can be a server. An NC needs a server. Scott McNealy wants
	you to think it needs a Sun Server and Bill Gates wants you buy
	an NT server. 

						mike

    Guess I need a definition of an NC aka Network Computer?

    	mikeP

    re: .11
    
    I think you have the right idea.  The NC is a low-cost system
    for accessing the internet.  .8's point is that given the study
    in question, Microsoft would say that people still need PC apps
    (e.g., MS Office), so they would still need a PC.

   NC: Terminal
   Server: Mainframe
   Client: Terminal
   Server: Mainframe
   Minicomputer: Mainframe
   Microcomputer: Client
   Workstation: Expensive PC
   Supercomputer: Expensive
   PC: Client
   NT: Server OS
   W95: Client OS
   MVS: Mainframe OS
   OpenVMS: Server OS
   UNIX: Mainframe OS
   Linux: Workstation OS
   Modem: Slow
   ISDN: Fast
   Slow Ethernet: Slow
   Fast Ethernet: Fast
   FDDI: Good
   ATM: Real Soon Now
   Cluster: Good
   Standalone: Bad

    1 Terminal: Really Cheap Client that always works
    2 NC: Theoretical Really Cheap Client
    3 PC: Cheap Client
    4 W95: Expensive PC Client
    5 NT: Really Expensive PC Client, pretends to be a server
    6 UNIX: Standalone Client, would like to be a server when it grows up
    7 LINUX: Client with delusions of PC-ness
    8 OpenVMS: Server that only really works well with (1) but always works.
    
    ;-)