Comparex Informationssysteme GmbH, BASF AG’s Mannheim-based mainframe remarketing company, announced somewhat disappointing figures for 1995 yesterday, a year that saw new RAID storage and the M2000 mainframe series delayed until the fourth quarter and price erosion of some 50%. As a result, the company’s sales forecast proved to be overstated, with hardware sales down 18.8% to $456.8m. Turnover from services rose 13% to $186.0m, but this did not compensate the hardware shortfall, leaving turnover down 11.6% at $642.8m. Rental turnover contributed $192.0m and pre-tax profits were up 39.8% on last year, at $40.4m. Comparex said BASF had become concerned about the future direction of its computer company in the fast-changing and volatile world of information technology. Rolf Brillinger, Comparex chairman, said the parent had a deep understanding of the chemicals industry, but was less sure when it came to technology. To this end, it looked for a partner with expertise in mainframes that had already diversified into systems integration and services. The company had to be large enough to share responsibility and liability, but small enough to accept BASF as the controlling partner. Its existing partner on network systems integration, Persetel Holdings Pty Ltd, it said, was the only company that fitted all of the criteria. Brillinger showed some frustration at BASF’s lack of understanding of Comparex’s business, and some relief at having a partner with whom the company can bounce ideas around. He said that its mainframe supplier – and source of most of the peripherals it sells, Hitachi Ltd had been kept informed of the Persetel agreement and the relationship with Hitachi, which Brillinger said was a very good one, would not change as a result. For the future, the company is looking to grow its services business further, and hopes to open up the lower-end mainframe market with its announcement that it will start shipping the new Hitachi Ltd CMOS mainframes – which use the third generation of IBM Corp’s CMOS implementation of the basic 390 CPU – at the end of this year. As reported (CI No 2,895), IBM itself has not yet announced any machines using the new processor. In the Comparex colors, the machines are called the C2000s, and come with CF 2000 couplers. They will be available in some 10 models, it said, offering from 30 to 300 MIPS. Brillinger concluded that Comparex was a cash-rich, healthy company, making significant contributions to BASF; the Persetel partnership would enable it to build an even more successful business over the next five years.
