Reborn Tokyo Golden Age

"Hi Mr. Shirakawa, Louis Carrack, just call me Louis."

"Bai Chuanfeng, it's a pleasure to meet Mr. Louis."

In one of the senior suites in the Okura Hotel, Bai Chuanfeng and his team were secretly meeting several representatives of IBM.

"Mr. Baichuan, what you announced at that press conference is very interesting. IBM would like to talk to you, Baichuan Electric, about cooperation in this regard."

Louis is the current executive vice president of IBM, and he also just arrived at Neon yesterday.

A week ago, the U.S. headquarters received an urgent notification from Robert, the technical director.

According to Robert's words, a new type of storage technology that can trigger a revolution in the computer world was born here in Neon.

Because Robert came to the scene of Shirakawa Electric's press conference in person, he praised the great prospects of this kind of optical disc storage with full of praise.

At first, there was some disapproval from IBM. They thought Robert was exaggerating.

CD-ROM IBM, of course, has heard of it. It is a new format developed by Sony and Philips to specify the next generation of audio technology.

That's digital audio technology, what does it have to do with computer storage.

Let's talk about neon, what else can they do besides imitating the technology of the United States.

The Hitachi incident, which IBM is now concentrating on, is the best example.

I have to say that although it has entered the 1980s, neon is still synonymous with rough manufacturing in the eyes of some Americans.

Especially for technology-based companies like IBM, when they look at neon, they habitually have arrogance and prejudice.

But an article in The New York Times two days later changed their views.

In this report, although the reporter's perspective on the issue is still a bit biased, some things about Baichuan Electric's press conference were also truthfully written.

For example, some parameters of CD-ROM, of course, this is just a hasty mention.

Most of the pages in the report are mocking Shirakawa Electric's overreaching, trying to use optical disk storage technology in vain to win the jewel in IBM's industrial crown.

There is also the underestimation of an unknown chip company trying to enter the chip market.

In short, the whole report is either secretly praising IBM or advocating Intel, and the rest is to step on Shirakawa Electric.

IBM doesn't care about the double standard of the New York Times. But some of the parameters in the newspaper, as experts, they are not calm when they look at it.

700MB? Hell, the floppy disk won't catch up even if it develops another century.

They know too well where the limit of the floppy disk is, unless there is a new breakthrough in the material, there is no need to think about it.

And combined with newspapers and Robert's narration, after IBM's careful analysis, the realization of CD-ROM is really possible.

So without further hesitation, IBM immediately sent Executive Vice President Lewis to Neon to see what was really going on.

If Baichuan Electric's CD-ROM technology is indeed as they said at the press conference.

Then IBM may have to consider cooperating with this neon company in some aspects.

Facing Louis' temptation at this time, Bai Chuanfeng smiled.

"Mr. Lewis, if IBM is willing to join in the promotion of CD-ROM, we certainly welcome it.

I believe you also know the advantages of this optical disc storage technology. Let alone the capacity, only the cost has a great promotion advantage compared with the floppy disk. "

A floppy disk can range from tens of dollars to hundreds of dollars. But if ordinary people can use a floppy disk with more than a dozen KB for a few dollars, it is not bad.

But as for CDs, the cost of a CD is less than one percent of that of a floppy disk.

This alone is enough to kill floppy disks in seconds, and there is no doubt that CDs are inherently more conducive to promotion and dissemination than floppy disks.

Of course Louis understood this, he had already understood the principle of making CDs before coming here.

But now, he needs to consider the problem from another angle.

"Mr. Shirakawa, first of all, I have to admit that the CD-ROM you released does have an advantage in capacity.

But it also has an obvious disadvantage, that is, it can only read data, not write data, or even modify it.

Which means it's more of a one-time storage disk, like "Lewis pauses," like paper. "

"Yes, that's right. I think it's very appropriate to use paper as a metaphor." Louis felt proud of finding a suitable metaphor for himself.

"But our floppy disk is different. It can be used repeatedly. As long as it is stored properly, it can even be used until the destruction of mankind."

Think of getting it, belittle it first. Louis knew the truth of playing hard to get.

"But it's cheap enough that, like you said, CDs are the paper of storage. Everyone can afford it and consume it."

Bai Chuanfeng said that there is nothing wrong with paper. Although it is cheap, it can benefit mankind and has been widely used.

Low cost is the magic weapon to win. Based on this alone, Bai Chuanfeng is worthy of any IBM move.

Hearing that Bai Chuanfeng used the paper as a metaphor to defeat himself, Louis was a little silent.

But soon he thought of another problem facing CD disc storage.

"Mr. Shirakawa, you may be right, but any new thing, if you want people to accept it, you must first face the problem of promotion.

As far as I know, Shirakawa Electric seems to have no computer-related business. Without the recognition of the computer industry, wanting to promote CD storage is tantamount to nonsense.

But IBM has, and IBM's appeal in computers, no one can compare with it. "

Louis has enough confidence to say this, the name of the blue giant is not for nothing.

When Silicon Valley in the United States was still barren, IBM had already started working for the government.

From the first tabulating machine, to the world's first electronic computer, and now to the mainframe, minicomputer and personal computer.

It can be said that IBM has been the leader in these businesses for more than half a century, and has always been at the forefront of the industry.

And if combined with the development trend of future technology, from the perspective of God, IBM has hardly missed in decades.

This high foresight alone is scary enough, just like hanging up.

Although it is still in the early 1980s, IBM is already the leader in the computer industry.

Whatever specifications he developed, or were first implemented on computers, quickly became the industry's default standard.

For example, floppy disks, IBM uses 5.2-inch floppy drives on its own computers.

As a result, other computer manufacturers followed suit, and they all applied floppy drives of the same size to their computers.

Then the 5.2-inch floppy disk replaced the 8-inch floppy disk by default and became the next-generation floppy disk specification.

And all this, IBM did not even propose to standardize the 5.2-inch floppy disk.

But because everyone followed suit, looking back, this has become an established fact.

IBM's appeal in the computer industry is so outrageous.

In stark contrast to Sony's 3.5-inch floppy disk, after more than two years of hard work, it is still only in neon.

In such a comparison, it is clear which is superior and which is inferior, and IBM is also worthy of its title of Big Blue.

So at this time, Louis had enough confidence to tell Bai Chuanfeng that as long as he had the assistance of IBM, the standardization of CD-ROM would not be a problem at all.

In fact, the reason why Bai Chuanfeng secretly met with the representative of IBM was also because he valued the appeal of the other party in the computer industry.

Otherwise, in Neon's current social environment, it would not be a good thing to make peace with IBM.

Because of Hitachi's affairs, coupled with Neon Media's biased frame, the public generally believes that IBM is deliberately harming Hitachi.

So it is conceivable what Nihong people think of IBM, and if the meeting between Bai Chuanfeng and IBM's high-level executives breaks out at this time, then things will be fun.

Don't forget that some media are still advocating that Bai Chuanfeng is a responsible entrepreneur and supports the domestic enterprise Hitachi.

In the end, these two multinational companies got together in private regardless of their identities, so that's okay?

Therefore, before reaching an exact agreement, Bai Chuanfeng made a low-key trip and secretly visited the IBM people.

As for the announcement of the partnership between the two companies in the future, that is another matter.

In order to make money, Bai Chuanfeng didn't care about the glory of the nation.

Of course it is such a thing, but it cannot be said that way.

Bai Chuanfeng is already considering a more secure way to deal with it, but that's for a later story.

Facing Louis' full promotional confidence at this time, Bai Chuanfeng decided to consider the issue from another angle.

"Mr. Lewis, the promotion of optical disc storage by IBM will indeed play a non-negligible role.

But don't forget that CD-ROM was developed on the basis of CD format.

As a member of the CD alliance, Baichuan Electric will consider seeking cooperation within the alliance when necessary. "

You IBM is a master in the computer industry, I admit this.

But don't forget, there is also the CD Alliance, and I, Bai Chuan, am not fighting alone.

Although several manufacturers of the CD Alliance have limited influence on the computer business. But there is a saying that the three cobblers are better than Zhuge Liang.

When Bai Chuanfeng said this, Louis really felt a little bit wary.

He almost forgot that the CD has been approved by the International Audio Organization. Although it is a specification in the audio field, it is also an international standard.

If CD storage is promoted on this basis, it will naturally have the advantage of standardization.

Seeing that Louis was silent again, Bai Chuanfeng also breathed a sigh of relief, and finally shocked the blue giant.

In fact, there is no help from the CD Alliance. This is entirely because Bai Chuanfeng raised the tiger's skin to pull the banner.

Although Shirakawa Electric took the lead in launching the CD-ROM format, during this period of time, let alone Sony, the inventor of CD technology is close at hand.

That is, other companies such as Panasonic, Toshiba, and Pioneer who are playing the side drum have not actively contacted Shirakawa Electric.

Sony guessed that it was because of his inner taste that he couldn't bear to look for Shirakawa Electric.

Philips was twitchy, as if he had a little interest, but he still refused to open his mouth.

As the inventors of the CD, they were overtaken by Baichuan Electronics, which has never had a sense of existence, in terms of deep digging of technology.

So surprises are surprises, but these two companies still maintain the reserve of CD technology leaders. The case of Sony is even more complicated.

As for the other Panasonic companies, they are not focused on the personal computer business at all, and they are also not interested in CD-ROM.

But this didn't affect Bai Chuanfeng's ability to pull them over to build momentum, anyway, IBM didn't know how to do it.

The main thing is an information gap.

Seeing that the other party was still thinking, Bai Chuanfeng also took out the steps that had been prepared.

"Mr. Lewis, why don't we talk about more practical issues."

"Huh?" Louis raised his eyes and looked over, "What does Mr. Bai Chuan mean by the actual problem?"

Bai Chuanfeng smiled, "For example, what does IBM hope to get from CD storage?"