DEC turns out to have had a truly rotten second quarter to December 31 with profits well on the way to halving and turnover flat as IBM’s US hedgehog yesterday – see opposite. Commenting on the figures, president Ken Olsen says It appears that the overall market for computers in Europe and Japan is good, but in the US, the market is still slow. Uncertain economic conditions are affecting customer purchasing intentions and slowing down the computer industry; consequently, we expect continued pressure on operating results. Digital is a financially strong company; cash flow has been positive, and our balance sheet is solid. We have the resources to carry out our strategy of delivering the best solutions to our customers, he says hopefully. There are no changes in conditions that would cause DEC to alter its strategy of delivering systems based on distributed open architecture products, he says. DEC has invested $796m in research and development during the first six months of the current fiscal year alone. It is, we believe, the cost of success in this industry, he said. But now, all the hopes for 1990 are on the top-end VAX 9000s.
