Opus Systems Inc, Fremont, California, the Sparcsystems builder that has been struggling to keep its head above water for a long time, filed a pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition last month, and claimed it shouldn’t need the court’s protection after February 11. In a pre-packaged filing, a reorganisation plan is agreed with the major creditors prior to the filing, and Opus has the co-operation of its creditors, which apparently agreed on a collections moratorium. Opus, now down to 20 employees, is saddled with the liabilities run up during its failed foray into Sparc-based workstations. Last autumn it gave up all pretence of continuing on in the business and sold off its Personal Mainframe hardware interests to clone newcomer Digital Systems Research Inc. Opus aims to soldier on with its SparcCard add-in business and says it will have the software and follow-on hardware coming out that it promised long ago. Digital Systems, a government contractor, has yet to explain how it will succeed where Opus failed.
