EDS chips in to help Cyrix tackle Intel

A five-year deal between Cyrix and EDS to build and develop high-performance PCs will have a European dimension, it emerged last week.

Cyrix and EDS will design and manufacture branded machines in the US, which the latter will then sell into the US corporate market, according to the terms of the agreement. EDS will provide the box and marketing, while Cyrix will provide the chips and motherboards.

But although the machines will not be distributed in Europe, Brendan Sherry, European general manager of Cyrix, said that a scheme was underway to seed Cyrix machines into the corporate market.

'There will be seed programmes to put Cyrix machines into the UK and European markets using Elonex and Peacock,' said Sherry. 'Because Cyrix already had an existing channel in Europe, it was not possible to replicate the EDS deal here.

'This is something we have been working on with EDS since last June,' he said. 'We are confronted with a goliath in Intel, and for a small company like Cyrix, you have to be innovative in your marketing.' EDS would use its existing PC manufacturing capacity to manufacture the machines. 'They supply hardware from their own factory,' Sherry said. 'In three or four weeks' time we will announce product through classic telephone selling. This will be a minimum risk project for Cyrix.' Financial analysts in the US gave mixed responses to the plan. One described the move as desperate while another said the incremental cost would be small for Cyrix and could increase the company's profile in the corporate market.