Alpha hit by slow-down

Digital beat analysts' expectations by turning in profits of $51m (#31.5m) for its third quarter, but was disappointed that sales of its Alpha product line declined for the first time ever.

Alpha system sales make up an estimated one-third of the company's total product revenue, but were down by 13% compared to the same period last year. This is the first time sales have declined since the architecture was launched over four years ago.

Sales of Alpha-based computers were particularly poor in the Unix market.

'We are seeing a transition at the low end of the workstation market from Unix to NT,' said president Robert Palmer.

Digital's net income was down 59% from $124m a year ago. Product revenues were $1.8bn for the quarter, down from $2bn, and service revenues were $1.47bn, down from $1.5bn.

- Data General achieved the highest quarterly revenue in its history when sales rose 16% to $389.3m. It more than doubled its second-quarter net income for the period ended 29 March, to $13.8m compared with the same quarter a year earlier.

- High-end Unix supplier Sequent suffered a flat first-quarter profit of $700,000, up just $100,000 on the first quarter of 1996. Revenues were up 30% to $157.4m.