When PC and server giant Compaq acquired fault tolerant computer specialist Tandem in June last year, we and many others questioned Compaq’s long-term commitment to Himalaya, Tandem’s range of proprietary, high-end servers. Since then, Bill Heil, a senior vice president in Compaq’s Tandem division, has insisted that Himalaya customers have welcomed the deal, not least because it offered sound evidence that Tandem would still be around in five years time. But there was, he admitted, one notable exception: Compaq’s arch rival, Austin, Texas-based Dell, was not too happy in fact, it was madder than hell. Dell’s direct sales systems are based on a Tandem Himalaya system and, just a month before the Compaq takeover, had spent $10m upgrades.
