The initial launch of the Focus 4GL and database system for Unix users last year was a muted affair, with Information Builders Inc president and founder Gerald Cohen convinced that the market was not yet mature. Now all that has changed, and there are three more Unix versions, for Apollo Computer, Hewlett-Packard Co and Sun Microsystems workstations, and a Xenix version for the IBM PS/2, released last week; Focus is also available on the IBM RT, the NCR Tower, the Pyramid Technology RISC minis, and AT&T 3B hardware. The company is also working on versions for Philips systems, and DEC VAXes running Ultrix, and Focus interfaces for databases used under Unix, such as Sybase and Ingres are also under development. But although Information Builders’ corporate customers are now accepting users, the really big orders are so far confined to more traditional platforms: Barclays Bank Plc has chosen Focus as its strategic end-user computing environment worldwide, and has so far spent around UKP2m on DEC VAX, IBM mainframe and MS-DOS versions of Focus, with 63 Focus-for-VAX licences to be issued over the next two years. Information Builders also announced establishment of two new European subsidiaries, in Paris, France and Brussels in Belgium.
