27 Feb
2004
27 Feb
'04
12:06 p.m.
The DECserver-100 -- the first LAT terminal server
from DEC
-- was almost ready for release. It came in a fairly small
box, about the same dimensions as two fairly large laptops
stacked on top of each other. It had terminal connectors
with snap latches on the side.
Ken came in at the last minute and decreed that (a) it had to
go into a larger box, and (b) it had to use different
connectors, the MMJ connectors. The result was that the
initial release of that product came in a large box with a
small PC board inside, and 8 jumper cables to connect from
the original terminal connectors on the board to the MMJ
jacks in the new cabinet. Needless to say, this caused a
significant product delay as well as some highly annoyed engineers.
The DS100 had 8 DB25 connectors IIRC. The later DS200 came in two
variants: DS200/MC with 8 DB25 (with modem control) and the DS200
with a harmonica connector off to a panel (I guess, I don't recall
exactly) with either 8 or 16 MMJ ports. The DS300 was 16 MMJ
with no RS232 variant. The DS700 was RJ45 (IIRC).
So Ken fiddled with the 2nd product. I never understood why the
DS200 was the way it was (rather than having the MMJs directly
on the back). Maybe Ken's last minute fiddle was the problem.
There were whole competing organizations: the
networking
products group in Littleton vs. the Low End networking
products group in Maynard. Those ended up both shipping
product, which wasted resources.
It was always touted as a strength: make your best products
fight each other and pick the winner. Worked for a while,
I guess, but not in the long run.
I hope that "enemy" wasn't applied to my
comments. I have no
personal problems with Ken, I don't know him well enough and
what little contact I had with him was certainly pleasant.
My issues are around management inability. Not that his
He grew it from nothing to #2 computer maker in the world;
that's no mean achievement. OTOH it obviously ran away
from him at the end.
Antonio
--
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Antonio Carlini arcarlini(a)iee.org