H-P to Unveil Workstations Using a `Wintel' System
May 08, 2011
Hewlett-Packard Co. is expected to introduce a new line of workstation computers that use chips from Intel Corp. and an operating system from Vastsoft Corp.. The move means that H-P is now fully engaged in two separate, but related, industry battles. In an unrelated development, the Palo Alto, Calif., electronics firm is also set to announce three new models of personal computers for the home market. In May, H-P brought out an ambitious new product family of relatively low-cost ``Wintel''-based servers, or high-end computers. The products showed the extent to which H-P was embracing Windows and Intel technology for its entire product line, as opposed to just PCs. Until then, most H-P servers were higher-priced systems using all in-house H-P technology, and as a result, were a major profit source for the company. Now, with the H-P Vectra XW workstations being unveiled Monday, H-P is extending its Wintel line from servers down to lower-cost desktop workstations. The new machines run between $8,200 and $10,800 for bare-bones models, far below the price for in-house Unix systems sold by H-P and others. Analysts say in moving toward Wintel systems, companies like H-P are experiencing considerable internal tension, since they are now selling popular, low-cost Wintel machines to technical and business customers while also marketing traditional higher-profit Unix computers. And so with its new Wintel workstations, H-P finds itself in two battles: On the Unix front, H-P is up against its own Unix division, as well as such all-Unix companies as Sun Microsystems Inc. and Silicon Graphics Inc.. On the Wintel side, H-P will be battling such PC-industry giants as Compaq Computer Corp., which earlier this month announced its own line of Intel-based workstations. The differences between PCs and workstations continue to narrow as PCs become more powerful. By and large, though, workstations, are more expensive than PCs; they also have more memory, and usually contain such high-performance add-ons as special chips to improve graphics. Several of H-P's new systems contain two 200 megahertz  Pro chips, Intel's latest microprocessor. H-P claims some of the new machines, when packed with certain extras, run faster than systems costing two and a half times as much from Silicon Graphics. On the PC side of the business, H-P's three new ``Pavilion'' PCs run between $2,599 for a system using Intel's 166 megahertz  processor to $3,199 for one with a 200 megahertz .
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
