paulb@shamu.WV.TEK.COM (Paul Bailey) (10/17/90)
If you are a Tektronix Workstation Customer, and have not received this information, please read the following. If you need any assistance or additional information, please contact me. Paul Bailey, Tektronix Denver FO, (303) 799-1000 x213 (until 10 December 90) (800) 950-9099 x7991002 (voicemail) ---------- TEKTRONIX WITHDRAWS FROM WORKSTATION BUSINESS: CONTINUES EMPHASIS ON NETWORK TERMINAL LINE: Beaverton, Ore., Oct. 11, 1990 -- Tektronix Inc. announced that it is seeking a buyer for its workstation business and that if a viable buyer is not found within the next 60 days, it intends an orderly process to discontinue its workstation operation. At the same time, Tek officials emphasized the company will continue focusing on its profitable network display operation, including X stations, netstations and graphics terminals. "After careful consideration, we've decided to stop the development, marketing and sales of our XD88 family of workstation products," said Robert Lundeen, Tektronix chairman and chief officer. "This market is crowded with a number of strong, established suppliers; competing in this environment is costly, and becoming a viable player requires prolonged and very large investment." The financial impact of existing the workstation business unit is uncertain and cannot be determined until more about the actual disposition is known. On a preliminary basis, the company expects that any resulting charges or write-offs will be substantially offset by unrelated one-time gains from asset sales or existing reserves and accruals in the current fiscal year. The business unit to be sold or discontinued had approximately $40 million in sales last year. Lundeen said the decision will free up development and marketing dollars that can be channeled into promising growth opportunities elsewhere in the company. "This action does not in any way affect our commitment to X terminals," Lundeen stated. "The X terminals marketplace is an area where market analysts are projecting strong sales growth. We have a leadership position in X stations, a full line of successful X terminals supporting the X Window System." TekXpress, Tek's second-generation family of color X station products, has performed well since its introduction in July. To date, several thousand units have been ordered by major companies in diverse industries worldwide. The terminals business is a key part of Tek's Visual Systems Group, which also includes the television and color printer businesses. These are profitable and growing and will be unaffected by the closure of the workstation unit. Tek's television operations include the television test equipment division and the Grass Valley Group subsidiary. Approximately 175 employees, primarily at the company's Wilsonville, Ore. facilities will be affected by this announcement. Tek employs about 12,500 people worldwide. Tek will continue to provide support for its workstations customers through its extensive international field service organization. Based on Motorola's 88000 family of RISC microprocessors, the Tek XD88 line includes several compatible workstation models, plus the new XD88/700 family of servers. The products support the integration of graphics, image processing and video technologies in several target application areas: earth resources, electronic prepress, mechanical computer-aided engineering, animation and visual simulation. Tektronix Inc. is a leading manufacturer of electronic products and systems in the areas of design and test, computer graphics, and communications. Sales in fiscal 1990 totaled $1.4 billion. Questions contact: Doug Babb Tektronix Inc. (503) 627-7336 Donna Loveland Tektronix Visual Systems Group (503) 685-2838