Compaq aims for the top

Compaq (CPQ) fully intends to be one of the top three computer companies in the world by the year 2000.

John Rose, Compaq senior VP

By most estimates, the company is well on its way. Compaq recently shipped its millionth x86-based server, and has shipped more such servers than IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Digital combined, according to International Data Corporation (IDC). Compaq is also the leader in shipments of corporate desktop computers, is close to gaining the top spot in consumer desktops, and is one of the top notebook PC vendors in the world.

However, it is the enterprise where Compaq hopes to continue to make inroads against Unix/RISC-based systems from vendors like Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Sun Microsystems, and Silicon Graphics. It is also the market that can turn Compaq from a $14 billion dollar company in 1996 into a $40 billion company by the year 2000.

John T. Rose is one of the most powerful executives at Compaq in charge of the company's most critical markets. As senior vice president and group general manager of the Enterprise Computing Group, Rose is largely responsible for spearheading Compaq's enterprise strategy, and consequently, Compaq's growth engine entering into the 21st century.

NEWS.COM talked with Rose about Compaq's views of the workstation market, Intel processors and alternative processor suppliers, the role of server-based clustering technology, and other topics in a recent interview.

Compaq recently made a major entrance into the workstation market with single and dual Pentium Pro processor-based systems running Windows NT. IDC forecasts the Windows NT workstation market will grow at 44 percent a year through the year 2000. Moreover, Windows NT workstations are expected to outship Unix workstations in 1997, IDC says.