1974 DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORP. (DEC) COMPUTER COMPONENTS GROUP PROMO FILM

Year Published: 1974

Creator: Digital Equipment Corp

Description: This short promo film from circa 1974 introduces Digital Equipment Corp's (DEC) Components Group, a specialized hardware business created for technically experienced customers who no longer required Digital's installation and service package. The group offers printers, magnetic tape systems, terminals, logic modules, and microcomputers on an unbundled basis, allowing customers to purchase in volume, install and maintain it themselves, to reduce costs. It also highlights DEC's educational programs, which trained more than 20,000 students and prepared customers to work independently. With warehouses in Massachusetts and Arizona and a separate operation in Marlboro, Mass., the Components Group reflects the growing diversification and commercialization of the minicomputer industry. It was formed by vice president Andrew C. Knowles. The film includes images of the PDP1140 introduced in 1973. 0:00 - Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) introduces the range of specialized services supporting its position as a leader in the minicomputer industry. The film highlights DEC's education programs as an important part of these services. 0:16 - Footage shows a school established and operated by Digital as part of its educational program. DEC notes that more than 20,000 students attended Digital schools during the previous year, including prospective customers who gained enough technical knowledge to eventually manage their own systems without relying on DEC's additional services. 0:30 - The film explains that customers who have become familiar with Digital equipment can purchase hardware through the company's new Components Group and handle installation and servicing themselves. 0:41 - DEC describes the Components Group as an option for customers who need only the basic computer hardware and systems components. Instead of purchasing a complete package with Digital's installation and service support, customers can provide those functions themselves. 0:48 - By selling components in volume without the additional service package, Digital says it can offer equipment at a lower cost while maintaining the reliability associated with its size and manufacturing experience. 1:05 - DEC presents the Components Group as a logical development for experienced customers, emphasizing the division of responsibilities with the slogan, in effect, that customers know their own businesses while Digital knows computer equipment. 1:13 - The Components Group is designed to provide unbundled peripheral equipment to users of different computer systems, expanding beyond the traditional approach of selling complete computer systems together with installation and service. 1:18 - Examples of available equipment include printers, magnetic tape systems, alphanumeric terminals, remote data-entry terminals, solid-state logic modules, microcomputers, and other computer-related components. The variety illustrates the group's role as a hardware supplier rather than a full-service systems provider. 1:32 - DEC emphasizes the potential savings of the new arrangement: customers purchase the equipment, install it themselves, and provide their own service, keeping the difference in cost that would otherwise go toward additional services. 1:39 - The company describes its distribution operation, with Components Group equipment shipped in large-volume orders from Digital warehouses in Massachusetts and Arizona. The nationwide warehouse network is presented as another advantage of DEC's manufacturing and distribution scale. 1:47 - DEC has established the new operation separately at One Iron Way in Marlboro, Massachusetts, a location associated with the company's operations in the area. 1:57 - The Components Group is a new money-saving service made possible by Digital's experience in the computer industry. DEC promotes its components as reliable additions capable of improving and expanding customers' existing computer systems.

Online Copy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eONKP5HH8s

Metadata Source:YouTube