The Archer Group of AT&T Unix V.4 supporters, which emerged last month after hitches in the talks between AT&T and the Open Software Foundation, is planning a major international launch of its proposed industry association over the next few weeks. The launch, which in initial plans has been scheduled for November 29, will involve a satellite link-up between New York, London and Tokyo, and will be followed by a media tour by the group’s newly appointed president, according to sources close to the Archer Group. Interim president is Don Herman, a former NCR Corp vice president, but a permanent appointment is expected to be announced in advance of the main event, possibly at the giant Comdex show next week in Las Vegas. The same sources suggested that new members of the group would be revealed at the launch; specifically Texas Instruments, Xerox Corp, Compaq Computer and Nixdorf Computer. Texas and Xerox are obvious additions, because they are committed to Sun Microsystems’ Sparc processor, but Nixdorf is currently a sponsoring member of the Open Software Foundation – that means that it is committed to putting up a substantial amount of money, and would certainly cause a major stir if it chose to re-align itself with the Archers: the company, however, has firmly denied that it would be joining the Archers. Meanwhile, talks between AT&T, the Archer Group and the Open Software Foundation are said to be continuing, although not on a daily basis, according to an AT&T spokesman, but there is little optimism now about an accomodation between the two. The Foundation is understood to have sent details of its technology licensing terms to AT&T, and the Archers are defining what other features they require beyond the V.4 base. Both parties are discussing how, given that there will be two different kernels, compatibility between them could be achieved.