Two years after leaving Banyan Systems Inc, its co-founder, Anand Jagannathan, has set up a new company to develop and market networked applications. Computer Systems News says that Reach Software Corp will develop electronic mail-enabled work flow applications for personal computer local area networks. The applications, which will use servers for transport, will organise, route and integrate data and applications. The company is co-operating with the Network Applications Consortium, a pressure group of Banyan Vines users that is trying to speed up the development of networked applications. Plans for this year include the launch of several local area network-based electronic mail applications that will be hardware-independent and support de facto standards like Novell Inc’s NetWare, SQL databases and graphical user interfaces. Jagannathan says he intends to beta test Reach products at user sites, and will disclose those sites when the products are almost ready for launch. The software can be used in applications for processing tasks like insurance claims, bank loans and purchase orders. Reach plans to use the reseller bases of Novell and Banyan, and it is looking to collaborate with system integrators like Electronic Data Systems Corp. Reach Software employs 25 plus plus an engineering team, and it is backed by a number of venture sources including HCL America.
