INTERNATIONAL TRADE : AST Research Plans Demonstration Centers to Sell Wares in Soviet Union

Hoping to build on its modest success in selling personal computers to the Soviet Union, AST Research is putting its wares on display at 15 “technology demonstration centers” from Moscow to Minsk.

The Irvine personal computer maker is teaming up with CMS Inc., a Scotts Valley, Calif., company that specializes in promoting U.S.-Soviet joint ventures in the computer field, to open computer-demonstration centers in major Soviet cities.

AST has been active in the Soviet and Eastern European markets for the past two years, but sales so far have been skimpy--about 2,000 machines sold in all.

The Soviet centers will be similar to product centers in the United States, except that they will focus on specific computer applications such as health care and education, Joel Don, an AST spokesman, said.

Even with the centers, AST doesn’t expect to score a big Soviet sale right away.

“It’s not aimed at making a direct hit,” Don said. “We see this as a long-term strategy. We’re going over there to establish our name recognition. We think it’s going to require three to five years to get that market developed.”

AST President Safi U. Qureshey will travel to the Soviet Union in early March to attend a computer trade show in Moscow that is being organized by ComputerLand Corp., the computer-retailing giant. AST plans to have an exhibit at the show, which organizers say will be the largest of its kind ever held in the Soviet Union.