Compaq Computer Corp CEO Eckhard Pfeiffer said in New York yesterday that Compaq as we know it now – without Digital Equipment Corp – will build Alpha RISC systems of its own and that it will market Digital Unix as its 64-bit Unix of choice on its future IA-64 systems. If Pfeiffer’s remarks appear to sound a death knell of sorts for its ostensible Unix partner Santa Cruz Operation Inc, whose business is fully 30% dependent on its revenue from Compaq’s UnixWare and OpenServer sales, then SCO wasn’t showing it. SCO reminds us it’s been written off more times than it can count and dismisses Pfeiffer’s remarks as Compaq’s need to stake out a position for the $400m-odd Digital Unix customer base it’s acquiring, vis a vis Sun and HP. Nevertheless Compaq’s Digital Unix strategy is a blow for SCO which recently won development resources from its major partners, including Compaq and Intel, to develop an enterprise version of UnixWare. Enterprise but not specifically 64-bit Compaq reminds us, saying it will continue to sell SCO’s wares as its primary 32-bit Unix. Pfeiffer said Compaq does nearly $1bn sales annually on servers running SCO, while SCO said it would aim to make up any revenue shortfall from other OEM deals and the increasing need it expects HP to have for a little-endian Unix to offer on IA-64. Talks to develop compatibility between SCO and the IA-64 version of DEC Unix, code-named Bravo, are still exploratory, DEC says. They’re looking at the feasibility of API (source) and ABI (binary) compatibility as well as sharing common development toolsets that would enable ISVs to write an application once and run it on both systems. DEC’s Bravo partner Sequent Computer Systems Inc for one wants to tap SCO’s volume accounts. SCO says it’ll stick to its knitting and will continue to offer a hardware-independent Unix for volume Intel platforms, both 32-bit and Merced. Analysts pooh-poohed the notion Compaq might as well simply acquire SCO and have done with it, arguing that by acquiring SCO Compaq would end up with nothing more than it has already.
