DEC PC Alumnus Beefs Up Franklin for Possible IBM-Compatible Portable

by David A. Bright

from the July 1983 issue of Mini-Micro Systems magazine

Franklin Computer Corp., once considered just another Apple Computer Inc. clone, is being closely monitored by the personal computer industry as it begins to move away from Apple’s shadow. With the hiring last spring of several key research and development personnel, Franklin has indicated that it intends to become a major independent personal computer supplier.

Franklin’s first big move was hiring Avram Miller, former manager of Digital Equipment Corp.’s Professional computer program, as executive vice president of manufacturing and engineering. A month after Miller arrived, he lured William L. Sydnes away from his position as development manager for the Personal Computer at IBM Corp. Sydnes was rumored to be working on the low-end Peanut model. He assumes the post of vice president of engineering at Franklin. Miller is confident that Sydnes will build an engineering organization at Franklin that will be “second to none." He says Sydnes has a proven track record in developing superior products on tight schedules.

Apple has inadvertently helped boost Franklin into the market. Apple’s requests for a preliminary injunction barring Franklin from producing and selling the ace series of Apple II- and IIe-compatible computers had at presstime been unsuccessful and have only resulted in tremendous free advertising for the Cherry Hill, N.J. company. As of last fall, Franklin’s annual sales rate was less than $10 million, but now it projects sales in excess of $60 million for fiscal year 1983. The number of employees since last fall has grown from less than 100 to more than 400. Further, the two-year-old firm, which has received $8 million in two rounds of private venture-capital funding, is expected to go public soon.

Many industry analysts are impressed by Franklin’s rapid rise. “Franklin has been growing like crazy," remarks Egil Juliussen, of Future Computing Inc., Richardson, Texas. Juliussen expects Franklin to capitalize on its popularity by developing an Apple II- or IBM pc-compatible portable computer. “Since IBM doesn’t have one, it’s a very good idea," he says. Producing Apple-compatible computers is “a sound business decision," notes Aaron Goldberg, an analyst with International Data Corp., a Framingham, Mass., market research firm. “But getting Avram Miller is a coup. He’s a very bright and intensely dynamic man."

Miller says he accomplished his goals in his 2 1/2 years managing DEC’s Professional program, and it was time for a change. He makes no secret of the fact that his next goal is to control a major computer-manufacturing company. But at DEC, he says, “There was no way to have it all. [DEC president] Ken Olsen wasn’t going to give me his job."

At Franklin, Miller has surrounded himself with proven, high-priced talent from DEC, IBM and other top companies, and is gearing up for very large-scale production.

A few weeks before hiring vice president of engineering Sydnes, Miller recruited Vahram Erdekian, from DEC, where he had been responsible for the strategy and implementation of DEC’s personal computer manufacturing program. Erdekian becomes Franklin’s vice president of manufacturing.

Franklin has also hired a technical director from IBM, and Miller says he has added several people from IBM to Franklin’s staff. He plans to continue to bolster the 40-member engineering staff with the best available talent.

Franklin’s manufacturing operations will be consolidated this summer into a i34,000-sq.-ft. facility, and a 44,000-sq.-ft. administrative building has also been built. Franklin recently purchased a VAX- 11/780 for CAD/CAM. Plans call for the company to open a manufacturing plant in Europe this summer.

Last summer, Franklin shipped 1000 units per month and projected that number to jump to 3500 by this March. Miller says shipments far exceed that projection. To handle the large inventory, an HP 3000 running an ASK Systems materials- requirement-planning system has been installed.

Apple compatibility will not be Franklin’s main focus. “We did not come here to copy someone else’s product," Miller maintains. New Franklin products may include portable computers, networking and clustering products and software. Marketing manager Ed Golderer hints that Franklin’s next offering, due by early 1984, will be IBM compatible as well as Apple- and CP/M-compatible like the ACE 1200 . “We want to be the company having the greatest mass software appeal," Golderer says. Miller says developments will happen quickly because he has mapped out his game plan.