Paris, France-based Nat Systems Inc is the latest software development company to plump for a product strategy based on the use of application components. Building on its NatStar C language programming tools, NatWeb internet development program and NSA- Config configuration management tool, the company is building generic building components – codenamed NatObjects – for vertical markets applications. It will sell the source code alongside its components plus services. It estimates that 50% of components will be useful across industries, and the other 50% can be custom-designed. It claims 80 developers working on the stuff and has 150 service and support staff. It thinks it has a nine month window of opportunity before the rest of the enterprise application crowd catch up. Some components are now in beta and it will offer NatWeb with automatically generated NatStar Computer Language code in October and automatically generated Java from legacy code by the end of the year. The privately owned company also plans a small flotation in Europe to fund the development. It has signed two ISVs to build third party components. Its flagship NatStar development environment currently supports legacy systems and application management including RPC on Bull’s GCOS8 mainframes, automatic generation of static SQL for DB2, MVS/CICS support and support for batch applications. The competition? It reckons the likes of Forte Software Inc will spend a year or more matching its connectivity capabilities. It claims its growth in Europe last year was bigger than Forte’s in the US, though admits it fell on its face when it tried to sell its story to the US a couple of years back hiring a big management team. It’s got nine customers in the US at present and says it’s concentrating on winning two or three really big reference sites before it takes on the US market in a big way again. Nat Systems employs 280 people and claims an installed base of 560 companies with 6,500 licenses.
