By William Fellows
Hitachi Data Systems Ltd has apparently retrenched its nascent US software operation for at least a year while it considers its next move, supposedly into the enterprise application integration market. Last year Hitachi began building up an OLTP software division around its TPBroker, expecting to make its mark this year. It hired OLTP guru and Top End creator Jack Bissell as its top technology gun.
But sources say that Sprint Communications, HDS’ largest single customer for TPBroker, demanded the software be made available on a range of platforms to support its multi-vendor IT infrastructure. HDS, a Windows NT-only shop when it came to software, balked at the prospect and decided to take a step back while it works on a cross-platform strategy that would potentially de-emphasize NT. Bissell is said to have been turned out to sit on a raft of standards bodies and committees while HDS goes back to the drawing board. á
