Perhaps more interesting than these enhancements are Auspex Systems Inc’s grander plans, on which the ink is still drying. Keen to make up revenue sources now its OEM agreement with IBM Corp has bitten the dust, and with a band of imitators snapping at its heels, Auspex looks set to try to capitalise on what it reckons is now neither chip- or operating system-dependent technology – and patented to boot. Although its NetServers are Sparc-, SunOS- and Solaris-based, fewer than 50% of its users are running Sun Microsystems clients, indeed its largest customer is Intel Corp. Auspex is tight-lipped about the plans, but says it hopes to have all the signatures it needs this week. Part of the initiative may include a development reckoned to be already under way, to offer a NetServer using PowerPC and AIX. After the OEM deal slid away Auspex, licensed back from IBM the code it had developed to put Auspex technology up on its RS/6000s. IBM retains the rights to Auspex’s patented technology under the arrangement. Although one official said the firm has only ‘limited faith in Solaris’, Auspex appears more interested in expanding its horizons than ditching its Sun technologies per se. It does not see itself doing anything with Windows NT right now but has an eye on it for the future. With a claimed 1,000 installations at 350 sites Auspex says more than 40% of the systems it ships are its new NS 7000 models.
