Eckhard Pfeiffer (born August 20, 1941 in Lauban, Germany—now Lubań, Poland) is a business executive of German ancestry, and a former CEO of Compaq from 1991-1998. He joined Compaq from Texas Instruments, and established operations from scratch in both Europe and Asia. He was named as one of TIME's "Cyber Elite Top 50" for 1998. is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... LubaÅ„ (German Lauban) is a town in southwestern Poland (Lower Silesia), with 24,400 inhabitants (1995). ... Compaq Computer Corporation is an American personal computer company founded in 1982, and now a brand name of Hewlett-Packard. ... Compaq Computer Corporation is an American personal computer company founded in 1982, and now a brand name of Hewlett-Packard. ... Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN), better known in the electronics industry (and popularly) as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, USA, renowned for developing and commercializing semiconductor and computer technology. ... Time (whose trademark is capitalized TIME) is a weekly American newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. ...

. He received his MBA, from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TXHis leadership in the early 1990s was successful. At the same time as Compaq began to dominate the server market, they entered the retail computer market with the Presario which one of the first manufacturers in the mid-1990s to market a sub-$1000 PC. In order to maintain the prices it wanted, Compaq became the first first-tier computer manufacturer to utilize CPUs from AMD and Cyrix. The price war resulting from Compaq's actions ultimately drove numerous competitors, most notably IBM and Packard Bell, from this market. Dallas Hall at Dedman College at SMU The Laura Lee Blanton Hall during a rare snow storm Southern Methodist University (commonly SMU) is a private, coeducational university in University Park, Texas (an enclave of Dallas). ... Dallas redirects here. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. ... Cyrix corporate logo Cyrix was a CPU manufacturer that began in 1988 as a specialist supplier of high-performance math co-processors for 286 and 386 systems. ... IBM redirects here. ... Current corporate logo Packard Bell (PB) was an American radio manufacturer, founded in 1933, in Los Angeles, that later became a defense contractor and manufacturer of other consumer electronics, such as television sets. ...

Under his tenure, Compaq made several major acquisitions. In 1997, Compaq bought Tandem Computers, known for their NonStop server line. This acquisition instantly gave Compaq a presence in the higher end business computing market. In 1998, Compaq acquired Digital Equipment Corporation, the leading company in the previous generation of computing during the 1970s and early 1980s. This acquisition made Compaq, at the time, the world's second largest computer maker in the world in terms of revenue. Tandem Computers was an early manufacturer of fault tolerant computer systems, marketed to the growing number of transaction processing customers who used them for ATMs, banks, stock exchanges and other similar needs. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... The DEC logo Digital Equipment Corporation was a pioneering American company in the computer industry. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

However, Pfeiffer had little vision for what the combined companies should do, or indeed how the three dramatically different cultures could work as a single entity, and Compaq struggled as a result. Pfeiffer was forced out as CEO in 1999 in a coup led by board chairman Ben Rosen and was eventually replaced by Michael Capellas, formerly CIO of the company. Capellas was able to restore some of the luster lost in the latter part of the Pfeiffer era, but the company still struggled against lower-cost competitors such as Dell. Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ... Michael Capellas (born 1955) is the Chairman and CEO of MCI and formerly of Compaq. ... Dell Inc. ...

Pfeiffer was one of the founders of Accoona, an Internet search engine provider, and has been its Chairman since December 2004. Accoona is a New Jersey based-internet company. ...

Pfeiffer serves on the boards of several major corporations including General Motors, Ericsson, and DirecTV. General Motors Corporation, also known as GM, is the worlds largest auto company by annual production volume as of 2006, and the second largest by sales volume as of the first half of 2007, behind Toyota Motor Corporation. ... Ericsson () NASDAQ: ERIC. Founded in 1876, Ericsson is a leading provider of communications networks, related services and handset technology platforms. ... A standard DirecTV satellite dish with 1 LNB on a roof DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service based in El Segundo, California, USA, that transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America except for Mexico. ...

External links

• Accoona press release on naming Pfeiffer as Chairman, Dec. 3, 2004
• Compaq profile, 1998
• TIME magazine profile, 1998
• NNDB listing