BUSINESS PEOPLE; Pyramid Executive Helped A.T.& T. Win Big Contract
By LAWRENCE M. FISHER
Monday’s announcement that the Treasury Department would buy a $1.4 billion computer system from the American Telephone and Telegraph Company has put the spotlight on the Pyramid Technology Corporation, which is A.T.& T.’s principal subcontractor in the deal.
The award has also highlighted the career of Edward W. Scott Jr., Pyramid’s executive vice president and former employee of the Federal Government who negotiated the Treasury deal. He also negotiated the original agreement that brought A.T.& T. and Pyramid together in October 1989.
Mr. Scott, who is 53, came to Pyramid in September 1988 from Sun Microsystems Inc., where he had managed Sun Federal, a subsidiary devoted to government sales.
“My charter was to build a marketing department,” Mr. Scott said, referring to his arrival at Pyramid when the company was lagging behind the growth rate of companies like Sun. Mr. Scott was given direct responsibility for government sales because of his experience at Sun. In the last three years, Pyramid’s revenues have nearly tripled and are expected to reach $220 million this year.
Under the Treasury deal, Pyramid will supply the Government with 3,200 high-performance computers for offices of the Internal Revenue Service around the country. The five-year deal has a value to Pyramid of several hundred million dollars.
In winning the Treasury contract, Pyramid, based in Mountain View, Calif., had several advantages over larger competitors like the International Business Machines Corporation and a joint proposal from the Lockheed Corporation and the Hewlett-Packard Company, Mr. Scott said.
Among these were an “extensible” design based on the use of multiple computer processors that can be expanded by adding more processors rather than new computers. Pyramid also has expertise with the Unix software operating system favored by the Government, Mr. Scott said. In addition, Pyramid already had 100 computers in use at the I.R.S. and 20 at the Customs Service. “That gave us a very stong position going in,” Mr. Scott said.
Pyramid’s shares rose $3.75 each, to $18, on Monday after the contract was announced and moved higher again yesterday, rising 75 cents, to $18.75, in over-the-counter trading.
Mr. Scott came to Sun from executive marketing positions with DEST Systems Inc., Computer Consoles Inc. and Office Power Inc.