Minneapolis, Minnesota-based James River Group Inc, the new owner of Everex Systems Inc’s Esix implementation of Unix for the desktop, will release a new version of the operating system configured for multiprocessing in September. The firm, which acquired Esix Systems Inc in January in the fire sale of assets that followed personal computer manufacturer Everex filing for Chapter 11 protection from its creditors, is also setting up offices and distribution channels in Europe. According to James River, Esix 2.0 is a character-based implementation of Unix System Laboratories Inc System V. 4.2 MP which is aimed predominantly at small businesses. It will include support for Novell Inc’s IPX protocol and James River’s own personal computer-to-Unix communication software ICE 10+ and ICE TCP, which enables users to access Esix from MS-DOS personal computers. An add-on graphical user interface is available. The company has also signed its first European distributor for Esix, UK company Custom Business Systems Ltd of London, and will sign other deals in France, Germany, Scandinavia, Italy and Greece. Two support and maintenance offices will be up and running on the continent by the end of year.
