Top 50 NEXTSTEP Sites

The NeXTWORLD Top 50 Looking back at our first snapshot of the NEXTSTEP market ("NeXT Market Mosaic," Summer 1992), impressive numbers and broad market penetration were more the exception than the rule. As we eyeball the market today, it's easy to see NeXT's gains in developing a presence in enterprise computing.

This new list, compiled from research and customer interviews, sports much larger sites and several new market segments with strong growth potential. And NeXT's recent alliances with HP and Sun are providing strong encouragement in many quarters.

Despite this obvious growth, numbers occasionally remain small because many companies are finishing pilot projects or building prototypes before embarking on an enterprisewide rollout. Our interviews indicate that this buying pattern is common in many segments of the market. For example, VME, a German union of furniture-sales companies, has only 20 machines but has agreed to purchase over 8000 more seats. The same is true for other promising European, health-care, and financial-services sites, which appear in the chart (highlighted with **) because their plans indicate serious potential for growth.

According to industry sources, interest remains strong and NEXTSTEP continues to flourish in financial-services and commodities-trading firms. A custom commodities-trading application developed by Phibro Energy has become a sought-after tool, luring at least three other sites into choosing NEXTSTEP. And in telecommunications, industry leaders are signing on, which could lead to a trickle-down effect in the remainder of that market.

On the down side, many university representatives voiced concerns about NeXT's lack of support and disinterest in selling new seats into their market, jeopardizing a good opportunity to seed NEXTSTEP dedication in the future work force. Government sites, while apparently also growing, were difficult to pin down because of the classified nature of their work.

The NEXTSTEP market has a stronger pulse this year. Between NeXT's cross-platform alliances and its continued expansion in promising new directions, the heart rate of the market should only become healthier. by Paul Curthoys


Very Wide Table (please open window)

Name 
Location                                     
Type of business                              Installed Plans                           Motorola:Intel   Other Systems in USE   Uses

Financial services

Swiss Bank Corporation
 Basel, Switzerland; Chicago; and London    
 Financial institution                         2500      Confidential                   9:1              Sun, HP, PCs           Trading, office automation, e-mail

Chrysler Financial Corporation
 Detroit, various locations in United States
 Auto financing                                700       2500                           All Intel        None                   Custom auto-financing system

First National Bank of Chicago 
 Chicago                                    
 Financial institution                         ~400      30 more in 1994                Mostly Motorola  Sun, HP, PCs           Office automation, 
                                                                                                                                custom risk-management software

Phibro Energy Greenwich, CT
 Westport, CT                               
 Commodities trading                           300       50 more in 1994                All Motorola     Sun, Auspex            Custom apps for trading and 
                                                                                                                                risk-management

Trimark Financial Corporation 
 Toronto, Ontario                           
 Mutual-fund management                       ~220       300 maximum                    Mostly Motorola  Sun, VAX, PCs, Mac     Accounting, office support, 
                                                                                                                                mutual-fund client service

Union Bank of Switzerland 
 New York                                   
 Financial trading                            ~150       Will grow                      9:1              Sun, DEC               Trading of stocks, options,
                                                                                                                                and futures

NationsBanc-CRT 
 Chicago                                    
 Financial trading                            100        200 more in 1994               1:3              HP                     Custom derivatives-pricing app

Federal National Mortgage Assn. (Fannie Mae)
 Washington, D.C.                           
 Home-mortgage underwriting                   ~100       75 more in Q1 1994; more later Mostly Motorola  PCs, Sun               Custom collateral-management apps

Republic New York Corporation
 New York                                   
 Financial trading                            60         40 more in 1994                Mostly Motorola  Sun, PCs,              DEC Word processing in 
                                                                                                                                legal department

EOTT Energy Corporation
 Houston                                    
 Gas and oil trading                          23         200� 300 more                  All Intel        HP                     Commodities-trading app

Dow Jones Telerate**
 Jersey City, NJ                            
 Financial-data feeds                         12         150 more in 1994               1:4              HP, Sun                Real-time financial-information
                                                                                                                                software development

PEMEX**
 Mexico City                                
 Mexican national oil and gas company         N.A.       150 in 1994                    All Intel        Sun, HP                Commodities-trading app

Health care

Value Behavioral Health 1
 Falls Church, VA                           
 Managed health care                          600        None in the near future        All Motorola     Sequent, Mac, PCs      E-mail, system for tracking 
                                                                                                                                information on care providers

Mt. Clemens Hospital
 Warren, MI                                 
 Hospital                                     130        40� 50 more in 1994            All Motorola     Sun, PCs               Patient-care system

Alberta Children's Hospital
 Calgary, Alberta                           
 Hospital                                     85         250 more by 1996               1:15             None                   Patient-care system

Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center
 Chicago                                    
 Hospital                                     80         Will grow                      7:1              Suns, PCs              Personal productivity, custom 
                                                                                                                                administrative app

Abbott Labs
 Abbott Park, IL                            
 Medical-equipment manufacturing              75-80 2    Possibly 100�200 more by 1995  1:1              Sun                    Custom medical-information     
                                                                                                                                processing app

Glenrose Rehabilitation Center**
 Edmonton, Alberta                          
 Rehabilitation medicine                      45         100� 150 in 1994               1:8              Tandem                 Patient-information system

Government 3

U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy
 Various throughout United States           
 Defense                                      4000� 5000 Continued growth               All Motorola     Sun, HP, DEC, VAX,    E-mail, office automation, 
                                                                                                         Auspex, Pyramid       custom administrative apps 

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
 Los Angeles                                
 Public safety                                619        Will expand                    2:1              DEC, Sun, Sequent,    E-mail, custom apps 
                                                                                                         PCs
Advanced Research Projects Agency
 Arlington, VA                              
 Federal research-funding agency              ~100       Not determined                 Mostly Motorola  Sun, SGI              Office automation

City of Baltimore
 Baltimore                                  
 Transportation and budget research           66         Growth possible                All Motorola     PCs                   Office automation in parking bureau 
                                                                                                                               and budget department

Alberta Registries
 Edmonton, Alberta                          
 Registry of vehicle and property information 50         Not in the near future         All Motorola     PCs                   Accessing vehicle-registry
                                                                                                                               information,
                                                                                                                               office automation

Telecommunications

Williams Telecommunications

 The Woodlands, TX ; Tulsa, OK              
 Private-line carrier                         330        100 more in 1994                6:1             HP, Sun, PCs          Custom-software development,
                                                                                                                               office automation

McCaw Cellular
 Seattle                                    
 Cellular-phone service and sales             250        4000 by 1996                    Mostly Intel    Sun, HP, PCs,         Customer-service management
                                                                                                         DEC, VAX

US West
 Denver, Minneapolis                        
 Local-phone services                         100        Not determined                  Almost all      Sun, HP               Office automation, custom apps
                                                                                         Intel

Rogers Cantel
 Toronto                                    
 Cellular-phone service and sales             60         600  in 1994                    1:5             IBM, Sun, HP, DEC     Developing and using apps for
                                                                                                                               customer sales and service                                                                                                                         

MCI Consumer
 Washington D.C.; Denver; Colorado Springs, CO
 Long-distance phone carrier                  10         40 more in 1994                All Intel        HP                    Proprietary development of 
                                                                                                                               telecommunications software

Education

Val Verde Unified School District
 Riverside, CA                              
 K� 12 school district                        572        200-400 more                   All Intel        HP                    Administration and business
                                                                                                                               management,instruction, 
                                                                                                                               custom apps

University of Alberta
 Edmonton, Alberta                          
 Higher education                             305         None                          60:1             IBM, SGI, Sun,        Research, teaching math,
                                                                                                         Mac, PCs              and software development

Allegheny College
 Meadville, PA                              
 Higher education                             300         75� 100 more possible         24:1             HP, Sun, DEC,         Student and specialized labs,  
                                                          in 1994                                        Mac, PCs              faculty desktops, custom apps

Stanford University
 Stanford, CA                               
 Higher education                             248         None                          Mostly Motorola  Mac, UNIX             Multimedia development, programming
                                                                                                         workstations, Sun,    classes, music research
                                                                                                         DEC
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
 Terre Haute, IN                            
 Higher education                             240         None                          All Motorola     HP, Sun, DEC, PCs     Open labs, math instruction 

Indiana University
 Bloomington, IN                            
 Higher education                             200         None                          Mostly Motorola  SGI, Sun, Ultrex,     Instruction in various subjects
                                                                                                         DEC, Mac, PCs 

University of Maryland
 College Park, MD                           
 Higher education                             ~200        May grow                      All Motorola     Sun, IBM, Mac, PCs    Teaching lab for UNIX, engineering
                                                                                                                               and computer-science classes

Simon Fraser University
 Burnaby, British Columbia                  
 Higher education                             170         None                          All Motorola     Sun, Mac, PCs, SGI    Open and computer-science lab, 
                                                                                                                               system administration, teaching

ITESM
 Monterrey, Mexico                          
 Higher education                             164         10 more in 1994               Mostly Motorola  HP, Sun, IBM          Computer lab, satellite delivery of 
                                                                                                                               education programs, custom apps

Princeton University
 Princeton, NJ                              
 Higher education                             150� 175    None                          Mostly Motorola  Sun, SGI, HP, PCs     Library card-catalog system,      
                                                                                                                               instruction

Europe

Delo Publishing
 Ljubljana, Slovenia                        
 Magazine and news publishing                 160         300 by 1994                   3:1              None                  Management of editorial and
                                                                                                                               production processes
                                                                                                                               
Linklaters & Paines
 London                                     
 Law firm                                     150         1600                          2:3              Wang                  Office productivity

Teleholding
 Amsterdam, The Netherlands                 
 Commercial telecommunications                140         50-100 more                   All Motorola     Sun, HP               Interactive telephone 
                                                                                                                               voice-response system

Ticino Vita
 Lugano, Switzerland                        
 Life insurance                               80          Slight growth                 Mostly Motorola  HP, IBM               Custom app for life-insurance 
                                                                                                                               management, PDO
                                                                                                                              
London Stock Exchange
 London                                     
 Stock trading                                60          140 in 1994                    1:3             DEC, Sun              Office automation,
                                                                                                                               monitoring the U.K.
                                                                                                                               domestic stock market

VME**
 Various throughout Germany                 
 Union of furniture-sales companies           20          8000+                          Mostly Intel    None                  Custom app for business management

Barclays Bank**
 London                                     
 Financial institution                        25          ~2000+                         All Intel       PCs                   Office productivity

Combo Utrecht**
 The Netherlands                            
 Mobile communications network                45          250 more by 1996               All Motorola    None                  Scheduling transportation schema
                                                                                                                               and radiotelephone traffic

NILEG**
 Hannover, Germany                          
 City planning                                40          80                             3:1             HP                    Office productivity

Professional services

BJK&E
 New York, Dallas                           
 Advertising                                  1000+       Confidential                   1:1             SGI, PCs, Mac         Process reengineering

Alain Pinel Realtors
 Various in San Francisco Bay area          
 Real estate                                  385         450                            Mostly Motorola None                  Office automation, custom apps

William Morris Agency
 Beverly Hills, CA                          
 Talent agency                                375         Not in the near future         All Motorola    None                  Office automation, client directory,
                                                                                                                               phone logs, tracking talent info

Organization Resource Counselors
 New York                                   
 Human resources                              ~50         50 more in 1994                Mostly Motorola PCs, IBM              Custom apps, office productivity

Trident Data Systems
 Los Angeles                                

 Computer services                            ~50         Growth likely                  All Motorola    Macs, PCs, Sun        Software development, office automation

Industrial

Los Alamos National Laboratory
 Los Alamos, NM                             
 Research                                     250         10-20 more                     4:1             Sun, HP, SGI,         Office automation, development 
                                                                                                         Mac, PCs              of scientific apps

Stratus Computers
 Marlboro, MA                               
 Computer manufacturing                       ~200        200 more in 1994               Mostly Intel    Sun                   Customer-service app and database

PanCanadian Petroleum
 Calgary, Alberta                           
 Oil and gas production                       100� 200    1000� 1200                     Mostly Intel    Sun, PCs              Development of custom apps for
                                                                                                                               managing and marketing fuel
                                                                                                                              
Pinole Point Steel
 Richmond, CA                               
 Steel manufacturing                          43          None                           All Motorola    Sun                   MRP, financial analysis, and custom 
                                                                                                                               manufacturing software

Morrison-Knudsen
 Boise, ID                                  
 Mining coal and gold                         35          15 more                        6:1             PCs, Mac, HP, Wang    Monitoring gold-mining processes,
                                                                                                                               office automation
1 Formerly Preferred Health Care

2 Abbott Labs plans to purchase an additional 6000 NEXTSTEP seats, which it will resell with its medical-information processing software.

3 Data on several large, classified sites within the U. S. government was not available for publication.

** Up-and-coming sites