On December 1 in Tokyo Nippon Tandem Computers announced the Integrity NR – Network Resources – series of three superscalable business Unix server machines, announced several months ago inthe US. Neal Waddington, vice-president and general manager of the Integrity Systems Division of Tandem Computers Inc, was in Japan for the release and said that he expected that the new series would hit the same markets in Japan as the US filling the needs of business users looking for mid-range machines priced between $100,000 and $1m, who to date have purchased small mainframes. Tandem feels that there is a broad market for systems in that price range, competing with those of Data General Corp, Sequent Computer Systems Inc and Pyramid Technology Corp – in Japan these replace the proprietary mainframes of the three established Japanese manufacturers – and its reputation in the fault-tolerant market positions it well. Waddington also said that he expects the Unix system business to grow in Japan to an equivalent of 20% of Tandem’s business – the US it would be slightly higher percentage and in Europe slightly lower. Last year Tandem had the equivalent of $230m revenues in Japan, compared with $250m in Europe, $100m in the Asia-Pacific region and $500m in the US. Nippon Tandem was established in Japan in 1979. Major users to date include financial and securities industries users such as Sanwa Bank, Bank of Tokyo, and Yamaichi Securities; credit companies such as Japan Credit Bank and the Jaccs leasing outfit; and Tandem’s traditional stronghold, communications businesses such as Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp, Kokusai Denshin Denwa Co, and International Telecom Japan Ltd; and retailers such as major department stores such as Isetan. Many of the Nippon Tandem Computers executives were recruited from IBM Japan Ltd.
