Now that it has plunged itself by acquisition into networking products, Compaq Computer Corp has no intention of following the Tandem Computers Inc model with UB Networks Inc and running the new business at arm’s length. The original company names have disappeared, and the initiative is Compaq’s next move after its successful plunge into servers to extend its hegemony beyond the desktop personal computer. Yesterday the Houston company implicitly spelled out its belief that the network equipment market is immature and ripe for a big shake-up that will leave the survivors far more competitive by slashing prices on its Netelligent family of networking switches, hubs and adaptors by 10% to 51%, to leave them 5% to 20% cheaper than the competition. The names that disappear are ThomasConrad from Thomas-Conrad Corp, and NetWorth from Networth Inc. The Netelligent 10Base-T repeaters are cut an average of 32%; 100Base-TX Fast Ethernet repeaters and switches are cut an average of 35%. New products include the Netelligent 5506 100Base-T Switch at $5,567 from June; the Netelligent 10/100 TX PCI Network Interface Controller at $160 from next month; the Netelligent 10 T PCI Network Interface Controller is from $120; the Netelligent 4/16 Token Ring PCI Network Interface Controller is $441, both from May.
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