MEMORANDUM

TO:	Bill Campbell
FROM:	Keith Corbett
DATE:	March 16, 1987
SUBJ:	Problems Customers Are Asking About

Per Ward's request this afternoon, here are the global issues customers
have been repeatedly raising, at least to me.

If we can find a way to explain our situation to the customers, we might
reduce their expectations and invite them to deal with us in a more
realistic manner.  Perhaps by taking a pro-active stance and issuing
some kind of bulletin we could protect our image as a company committed
to support -- an image that I feel slipping away.

1. Support levels -- customers realize that S/W and H/W support have
been impacted by the layoffs, and they are concerned. The S/W group is
2/5 what it was last summer; this has had a negative impact on our
ability to respond to, much less resolve, problems.  Objectively,
response time and time-to-resolve have worsened.  More significantly, we
don't have specialists in areas such as graphics, communications, and
Unix -- all major support problem categories.

To make matters worse, with the elimination of tech reps, many customers
who had been "hand-held" by Sarah, Amy, Alex, etc. -- e.g.  Grumman,
Bell Labs, National SemiConductor -- are expecting an increased level of
support from us, more than Rick and I can provide.  There is no support
for many of these customers on a "remedial" or educational level.

2. Communications -- customers are still concerned about the 800 #
and after-hours coverage (both in Dispatch and Tech Support).

3. Product support issues -- we have no Engineering support outside of
the core Lambda LISP software.  The only engineers who contribute on
S/W support issues are:

  Robert Putnam  -      LISP (very strong support)
  Greg McGarry   -      TCP, Unix (weak, undependable)
  RG and Carrette-      Microcode (occasionally helpful)

Amazingly, despite the layoff of most of S/W Engineering, routine LISP
S/W bug fixing has continued at a reduced pace, but all other areas are
at a stand-still (Zero Deep!), and the level of response to our need for
back-up is woefully inadequate.

The number of severe bugs in areas such as graphics, Unix, SDU software,
and TCP/IP is staggering.  Some product updates are still not even
available (Prolog and MicroCompiler under 3.0).  The CDC mux isn't even
in an alpha test state of readiness.

Nobody has notified the customers of LMI's strategy for dealing with
these products. Past committments to fixing problems have not been met,
and many customers consider themselves "dead in the water".  This
translates into a feeling that LMI is no longer responsive.  Many cannot
even make effective use of their Lambdas at all.

4. Update releases -- do I need to mention 3.0 tapes and documentation?
[I don't have any suggestions, other than having Business Admin follow
up on getting media charges from the T&M customer base.]

5. Rumors, rumors, rumors -- many customers have heard that we're
closing down, or that we're for sale.  Several have asked why we're not
coming to AAAI.  They ask all of us for "the inside scoop," and it is
difficult for us to respond.  Should we give them someone to contact?
...yourself, Ward, Bill Wise...?

KMC