| Market research ctr. has a Gartner Grp. report on PACE. Its in their
OIS newsletter. The reference number is P-970-414.1 The title is:
PACE: WANG's best-kept secret. Let's keep it that way.
I work w/ newly hired sales reps. Many are from WANG. Their comments/
suggestions about competiting against WANG
WANG is not perceived as a "data processing" company. They don't
understand MIS. Emphasize DEC's technical strengths
WANG service (h/w & s/w) comes no where near ours
Most WANG reps are uncomfortable and ill-informed about database
& application generation s/w.
The information Iget about PACE is that it is a robust package.
I intend to contact Mr. Hajmiragha to learn of any particular
knockoffs. The best way I feel to beat WANG is to keep the decision
focused on high level issues (architectures, service, commitment)
and stay away from a feature-feature battle.
-paul r.
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| Ditto on 8.2 about GG's Office Information Strategies service's
research note on PACE.
I started with Digital (in the Financial Solutions Integration Center)
on 6/29/87. My previous employer was the Gartner Group's Software
Management Strategies service (covering the S/370 software industry,
and to a lesser (but significant) degree - workstations and Digital
software industry).
While PACE is a 4GL for Wang, there are superior products that exist
in the Digital arena.
Cortex's The Application Factory (TAF) applications generator coupled
with its Corvision, application development (CASE-like) environment
is recognized among my ex-F200 clients as one of the best products
for Digital environments (average application in 90-120 days vs.
traditional 18-24 months). Other 4GL vendors for DEC are Cognos and
Signal Technolgies.
A number of workstation-based vendors will also be providing tools for
Digital systems. However, the jury is still out on how effective
(marketing, distribution) these companies will be. A few to watch
for:
1) SST (Xrb product, ADR is porting it to IBM, its in C),
2) Online Database Software (IDMS PC environment, will be ported to
PC Networks and Vax/VMS (although some questions on funding,
distribution, and technical resources exist), and ODS is
planning a DB2 workstation (may be useful for DEC as well).
3) Ashton-Tate also has a project underway. (A separate business
group was establish to provide a VMS database capability).
However, this appears more like direct competition to Rdb
(it will be SQL-based in addition to some DBase command
language conversion for porting existing applications).
Tate has a lot to learn about distributed databases, but
this may provide some leverage to accounts that have lots
of PCs and are deciding whether MicroVax II (or 2000) servers
are better than WANG-based systems.
Gartner's SMS software service has published a number of articles
relevant to Digital and Database. I will compile a list and provide
it in a future provide (within 2 weeks). If any immediate need,
please call me at 333-6771 or mail BMT::TIMMINS
Regards,
Larry T.
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