First, my original post:
> Dear Sun-Managers,
> We purchase all our memory for our Suns from Clearpoint. They have
> had excellent prices, lifetime guarantee, and good service. For two weeks we
> have been unable to reach them. The fellow in our department that handles
> these details just sent me this note:
>
>
> > I'm wondering what any of you may have heard (or read) about Clearpoint (our
> > lifetime guarantied memory supplier). All indications are that they closed
> > their doors two weeks ago. The rumors that I've heard are that this is only
> > temporary but that they will only be selling DEC memory in the future. No
> > indication as to what this means for Sun memory warranties, but the 800
> > number has a message that says "We are sorry we can't help you at this time".
> >
> > We curently have two incomplete orders with them for a total of 28 - 4 Meg
> > SIMMS (12 for ludwig, 16 for tesla). I'm trying to decide wether we should
> > just cancel and re-order someplace else or hang in there and see. If any of
> > you have heard anything that may influence my decision please let me know.
> >
> > Dean
> >
>
> George Orwell in "1984" wrote about "unpersons". I guess what we have here
> is an "unvendor". :-)
>
> Any information the Sun-Managers could give me would be appreciated.
>
> I know some of you are going to flame me for this being an inappropriate use of
> this list, but I still believe it is. We are two weeks behind on getting some
> Sun systems up to speed, one large Sun fileserver is getting parity errors
> on Clearpoint memory, and we have no idea when (or if) we will ever reach
> Clearpoint.
>
> What would you do if you were us?
>
> John
>
I got a bunch of replies saying "I'm having the same problem, what's the deal?"
Well, the deal is the company has collapsed. Various opinions and rumors
included:
1) Patent infringement suit brought by wang for parity simms (n-meg by 9 bits)
2) $22 million debt and no way to climb out of it.
3) Chapter 11.
4) They are in the process of reorganizing and restructuring for
financial reasons.
4) They have no inventory and have been hard hit with Government regulations.
5) All employees laid off except the president and human resources manager.
(What a human resources manager manages in this case is hard to comprehend.)
6) If you call 1-800-800-7898 you *might* reach an operator "Claudette" who
can answer other questions.
7) Someone claimed that they are still honoring their lifetime replacement
guarantee. Their phone number for service is: (800)-332-2578 I have not
personally tried it, but I might, just for laughs.
I don't know what your conclusion is, but I am not expecting any Clearpoint
SIMMs to arrive at my doorstep anytime soon.
Several people recommended other sources (phone numbers included where
available):
Parity
Kingston
Dataram
Falcon Systems
Wiley 1-800-444-9953
National Peripherals
My thanks to all who contributed:
Paul Graham <pjg@acsu.buffalo.edu>
Paul Begley <peb@sandoz>
mitt@ice.mitre.org (Jeff Mittelman)
mgh@bihobl2.bih.harvard.edu (Michael G. Harrington)
Kerry Duke <kerry.duke@analog.com>
jmaple@smiley.mitre.org
ingram@yorktown.nrlssc.navy.mil (Cecile Ingram)
cook@lams.msd.lmsc.lockheed.com (M. L. Cook)
feldt@phyast.nhn.uoknor.edu (Andy Feldt)
Hope I didn't overlook anyone!
John
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* John D. Schneider Internet: jdschn@nicsn1.monsanto.com *
* Research Computing Consortium Telephone: (314)537-6808 *
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