Philips International BV has signed a multi-million dollar agreement with Reuters Holdings Plc’s I P Sharp Associates Ltd of Toronto, Canada, for a Unix implementation of Sharp’s decision support tool, Viewpoint. Viewpoint was originally developed for mainframes to enable users to work on different databases with different query and report languages, giving them a single user interface through Viewpoint. Realising that distributed processing would pose the same problems, Philips worked with Sharp to develop a Unix-based version. This, sold as Allround View by Philips, includes access to MVS-based mainframe databases such as DB2, Adabas and IBM OS files; access to Unix database systems and files; report generation, electronic mail, graphics, ad hoc enquiry facility and word processing; integration of multiple P9000s in an Ethernetwork; integration of MS-DOS micros under Unix; DisOSS support through SNA; and national language version support. Allround View will be sold into large corporations with existing data processing facilities for applications such as financial modelling systems, stock control, planning systems, personnel, and payroll. The first system to be installed by Philips will be at its corporate headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands to deal with its administration. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
