Although conspicuous by its absence at the recent IBM Systems Application Architecture bash, a certain billion dollar software company that perhaps should remain nameless, maintains at a recent lunch that it is busy developing SAA-compliant applications; indeed, it plans to take SAA one step further than IBM, by offering compatibility and synergy across its entire product line (so that’s what SAA is about). However, when it comes down to specifics, users will have to be patient; unfortunately the man with access to Very – Detailed – Strategic Statement – Of – Direction – Briefing-notes was seated at the far end of the table. Alternatively, find a top MIS guy in Bristol: chances are that he will have endured a breakfast roadshow where SAA goods and synergy are touted over the orange juice. The strategy behind a $1,000m turnover appears to be developing products that will run in both DEC and IBM environments: examples include two IBM Resource Access Control Facility-alike security packages which can now run on DEC VAXes, and conversion software for DOS/VSE users looking to move to MVS: a spokesman put the numbers opting to migrate at around seven per annnum. Err… yes, but as far as products go – there’s that very comprehensive set of notes, somewhere… How’s about a bit of community feedback (no specific questions about products, honest): yep – its good ol’ portability across different operating environments and hardware platforms, and distributed processing – particularly for database; deja vu – absolutely not. On that very delicate issue of acquisitions, how much would you need to pay for a company of such magnitude? Around $6,000m is the quick answer, notwithstanding the risk that priceless top brass may walk out; two little words on how to keep them relocation packages. Any company that belongs to the Open Software Foundation and preaches the portability gospel must surely be eyeing the Unix market? And what does a company do when it’s quietly lining itself up to make a few more acquisitions? It splits its shares, of course (what? – why?). Perhaps a word in the ear of a competent public relations agency – there really are some – might help to get the messages across a little more clearly.
