SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY : Alpha Microsystems Raids County Rival for New Executive VP

Alpha Microsystems, a Santa Ana-based computer manufacturer, has raided cross-county rival General Automation for a key manager as part of its effort to establish a serious presence in the market for computers using the Pick operating system.

Douglas J. Tullio, General Automation’s president until last Friday, has moved to Alpha Microsystems as executive vice president. He will also serve as president of the firm’s recently acquired subsidiaries, Rexon Business Machines and AMS Computers.

Tullio said that he left General Automation, a small computer maker based in Anaheim, on friendly terms, and that he simply wanted to work for a company that was more diversified and had more resources for expansion.

In announcing the appointment, Alpha Microsystems said it was pleased to have an executive with broad experience in the Pick market, an indication that the company intends to move more forcefully in that area. Pick, which was invented in Orange County by Dick Pick, is a computer operating system designed to allow easy development of software for a wide variety of specialized business applications.

With $2 billion to $3 billion in annual sales, Pick systems are not a major force by computer industry standards, but they have been important for some Orange County computer companies. General Automation and McDonnell Douglas Computer Systems of Santa Ana are two of the traditional leaders in Pick equipment, and Pick Systems of Irvine continues to collect royalties from the 30-odd companies that license the operating system.