cattaneo@litp.UUCP (Giuseppe CATTANEO) (05/04/89)
I'd like to know whether Encore has representatives in Europe other than Matra Datasysteme that don't exist anymore. If so where and who are they? Otherwise do plans currently exist to replace Matra. We bought an Encore Multimax 320 in January 1988 from Matra. We finally managed to get a BSD version of the OS instead of the System V version they force you to buy. That took a lot of effort. We had to call directly Encore in the US. They were very friendly and helpful but our phone call made Matra people mad at us. They threatened us to cut off service if we did it again. The legal procedure was that we should call from Salerno to the Matra office in Milan. In turn they would call Matra in Paris because they are only commercial people. The people in Paris would eventually call Encore if they couldn't solve the problem. (Very fast and simple :-)) Since then we've been desperately trying to get the version of NFS compatible with the BSD system that completes the package we ordered. We'd also like to get hold of the upgrades for the OS. We've had a lot of promises from the vendor but nothing has come yet (Well this is Italy, you know...) The problem is the same for the hardware. Who should we get it from? In particular we're interested in buying a disk and two APC cards. What about maintenance? Thanks in advance for your answers. -- [Pippo Cattaneo] UUCP : cattaneo@zeta.univ-p6-7.fr BITNET : cattaneo@frunip11 TEL. : (33) 1 43 36 25 25 ext. 40 55 FAX : (33) 1 46 34 19 27 ORG. : Universita' di SALERNO Dip. di Informatica ed Appl. Via S. Chirico - I-84081 Baronissi (SA) ITALY
humberto@gouldfr.UUCP (Humberto Lucas) (05/14/89)
In article <2085@litp.UUCP> cattaneo@litp.UUCP (Giuseppe CATTANEO) writes: > > > I'd like to know whether Encore has representatives in Europe other >than Matra Datasysteme that don't exist anymore. If so where and who >are they? Otherwise do plans currently exist to replace Matra. Encore recently bought GOULD, a minicomputer and minisupercomputer manufacter based in Fort Lauderdale (Florida) and represented in almost all European countries. As Encore is the name of the new Company all European subsidiaries will became Encore.... Give us some time... All subsidiaries (including Italy) have sales representatives, as you could expect, but also a hardware/software customer service and analysts. We can all expect that your past problems with Matra will be solved soon. Encore Italy (previously Gould Italy) will be in touch with you. (Tel. +39 (2) 253 91 221 ). But once again, give us some time... -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Humberto Lucas, Encore France (Gould Informatique) Tel.+33 1 34606101) ( encore!gould!humberto, humberto@gouldfr.uucp, humberto@gouldfr.gould.fr )
art@buengc.BU.EDU (A. R. Thompson) (05/15/89)
In article <442@gouldfr.UUCP> humberto@gouldfr.UUCP (Humberto Lucas) writes: >[...] >Encore recently bought GOULD, a minicomputer and minisupercomputer >manufacter based in Fort Lauderdale (Florida) and represented in almost >all European countries. As Encore is the name of the new Company all >European subsidiaries will became Encore.... Give us some time... I recently attended the Encore annual meeting. Encore Chairman, Ken Fischer explained the deal in detail. I've been meaning to post my recollections of his talk. This article was the stimulus I needed. Gould has been around for a while. They make a very good line of products including a computer line. For a time, about ten years ago, they were the darlings of Wall Street. It came to pass that Gould ultimately was acquired by Nippon Mining Inc. This complete foreign ownership of American technology was too much for the Government and Gould was frozen out of all government sales (I think it applied to grant money too but I can't recall for sure). After a while this began to pinch and Nippon Mining began to look about for a suitor. Along came Encore and Ken Fischer. The following deal was cut: Nippon Mining gets 20 million shares of Encore stock (don't hold me to the exact numbers) and Nippon loans Encore another $110 million with which to complete the transaction. The stock that Nippon Mining got carries no special privileges, no seat on the board etc. Fischer said the deal was great for all concerned because it allowed Nippon Mining to profit from the reopening of the Government market and Encore gained the infrastructure (140,000 square feet of space in Florida and all the equipment), competent sales and service forces. In response to a question from the audience, he said that Encore had become a $300 million a year corporation up from a $30 million a year corporation without having to finance the growth out of revenues. He said he was sure there was enough market for the Multimax and other like products to easily justify the acquisition. He was quite upbeat about the whole thing. At one point toward the end, when it became clear that things were going well, Fischer said, "You're always hearing about how the Japanese are buying America, well we just bought a piece of Japan." It was one of the most impressive perfomances by a business executive that I have ever seen.