Supercomputers manage holiday stock

Article Abstract:

Kmart Corp, Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Dayton Hudson Corp are among the major retailers that are drawing on the power of parallel supercomputers to determine when to cut prices, what to buy and what to stock, with amazing precision. Parallel machines, which are made up of hundreds of thousands of small processors that function as one, can process more than 1Tbyte of data or a trillion characters of information that can be available to buyers and managers instantly. By using these supercomputers, retailers are able to analyze the data with every ring of the register. Most of the retail supercomputers in use come from AT&T's NCR subsidiary. Other supercomputer manufacturers that were previously concentrating on the scientific and technical markets are shifting to commercial sales. Thinking Machines Corp, for example, sold two parallel supercomputers to American Express Co.

Retail Stores, NEC, Usage, Product information, Retail industry, Retail trade, Equipment and supplies, Supercomputers, Supercomputer, Retailing, Massive Parallelism

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Digital to cut personal computer prices, begin marketing, mail-order campaign

Article Abstract:

DEC moves to enter the microcomputer market, in which it has almost no presence, by cutting the prices on its personal computers and embarking on a $24 million advertising campaign. DEC needs to compete more directly with the successful mail-order companies such as Dell Computer Corp. The computer maker intends to use mail-order, catalog and telephone distribution channels; its attempts to sell its personal computers through dealers is unsuccessful. New prices for the DEC computers range from $950 for a basic Intel 80386sx-based system with a 20Mbyte hard drive to $1,799 for a more completely equipped 80386sx-based computer with a 52Mbyte hard drive, the Microsoft Windows graphical user interface, a mouse and a color monitor. In addition to pricing and distribution changes, DEC intends to offer three-day delivery of its systems via a telephone hot-line.

Microcomputers, Prices and rates, Digital Equipment Corp., DEC, Price cutting, Microcomputer, Marketing Strategy, Market Entry, Mail Order

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