The New Frontier
As the Editorial Director of Windows NT Magazine, I get to talk to
lots of vendors about the impact Windows NT is having on the strategic direction
of their organizations.
Even though Windows NT has just started to take off, there are already more
database servers, client/server accounting systems, and Web servers available
for NT than for any other platform. The price/performance and architecture of
Windows NT create an ideal environment for client/server and high-end
workstation applications. While all of this is good news for you and me, it
presents some serious marketing and distribution challenges for vendors
competing on this new frontier.
One question I like to ask a high-end Solution Provider is, "Will you
price the NT version of your product the same as the UNIX version?"
With rare exception, the answer has been "Yes" The unspoken fear is
that Windows NT will erode the margins on the UNIX versions of their software.
For example, Sybase keeps the UNIX and NT database prices in synch.
Unfortunately, this puts Sybase's NT product at three times the price of
Microsoft SQL Server. When asked, "Will you compete with Microsoft SQL
Server head on?" they answer, "If UNIX is already present in the
organization, we will compete and do quite well. If the company is an NT-only
shop, we will walk away." So why create a Windows NT version in the first
place? Because their customers demand it. However, even though the software is
priced the same, the hardware it runs on is more affordable. As hardware
increases in performance, Windows NT will push further into UNIX's enterprise
territory.
Another question I ask is, "Will you sell the NT version differently?"
Again, the answer is "Yes' In the client/server accounting arena, both Dun &
Bradstreet Financials and CA-Masterpiece are moving away from direct sales only
to build a channel of solution partners. This is a radical departure from their
current sales process but is necessary to service this market. On the lower end,
companies such as Great Plains and SBT, that already have thousands of VARS,
estimate that only a small percentage of the existing partners will be able to
take their software into the client/server realm. For the first time, we'll
start seeing vendors that never competed against each other going after this
expanding market.
The same thing is happening on the workstation side. Companies such as
Intergraph have moved their entire UNIX-based suite of applications to Windows
NT. CAD vendors that have ported to NT can compete with Sun, HP, and SGI with
solutions at half the price. In the high-volume market CAD vendors like AutoDesk
can offer their AutoCAD customers (who are mostly DOS-based) an opportunity to
blow the performance roof off by running on an NT/Alpha combination
(Windows NT Magazine will cover this combination in a future review).
Windows NT promises the best of both worlds-in features, support price, user
inter-face, security, stability, ease of use, and more. For the future, all
roads lead to Windows NT!