Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Tandem used a number of unique and proprietary software and hardware
designs. One of these was the Tandem operating system. Unfortunately, when Tan-
dem tried to enter the PC market in the mid-1980s, its product was not fully IBM-
compatible and not compatible with many boards and physical devices either. As
a result, it was unsuccessful.
Note
Many companies learned to their sorrow that being only semicom-
patible with IBM was not enough to succeed, as shown by the ITT
and AT&T personal computers, the Tandem personal computer, and
the DEC Rainbow personal computer. The IBM personal computer
architecture had become a de facto global standard and only rival
computers that were 100% compatible, such as Compaq, were able
to stay in business.
By the 1990s, Tandem experienced a slowdown in sales and some financial is-
sues. Tandem was acquired by Compaq, who hoped to achieve success in the high-
er ends of the computer market but did not do so.
Compaq also acquired Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), which had also
fallen on hard times when personal computers replaced minicomputers and their
VAX line, and DEC was late to the personal computer market.
The amalgamation of Compaq with other computer companies was not suc-
cessful, so in 2001, the whole combination was acquired by Hewlett-Packard. Tan-
dem became a line of servers within HP.
One of the reasons for the lack of success of Compaq with Tandem is because
of differences in marketing and sales strategies. Compaq computers were stand-
alone devices that could be acquired and used at once. They did not require a lot
of onsite discussions and negotiations in order to make sales.
Tandem computers, on the other hand, were often acquired to tackle mission-
critical tasks where very high reliability was needed. Therefore, the sales cycle in-
volved many visits to executives and technical personnel to show how the Tandem
computers would fit into the overall business architecture of the potential clients.
The Tandem products and the Tandem corporate culture are part of the Silicon
Valley legends and deserve to be studied. The basic Tandem ideas of aiming at
ultra-high nonstop reliability were sound and solved previously unmet market
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