As we expected, Asymetrix Corp is rejigging its Java development tools strategy, but not by getting rid of its SuperCede tool (CI No 3,192). It is instead spinning it out into a separate unit called SuperCede Inc. And next up we hear is a Unix version of SuperCede, and the new company will announce on Monday an agreement with Sun Microsystems Inc to do a Solaris version of SuperCede within nine months. SuperCede Inc is headed by general manager Shabir Dahod, the former VP internet tools at Asymetrix. His job will to be expand the scope of the technology to embrace what he calls wired applications, distributed across desktops, server and mainframes. On the business side his job will be to eventually steer SuperCede towards an initial public offering. Asymetrix president and CEO Jim Billmaier adds president of SuperCede to his titles, but Dahod is responsible for the day to day operations. Vern Raburn is chairman of both companies. We thought that SuperCede, which is held in high regard in Java development circles because of its fast compilation times, was too good a thing to sell off when the company skirted questions about it when it acquired fellow tools and on-line learning software company Aimtech Corp recently, and so it proved. Dahod said Aimtech’s Jamba web page authoring tool will not be part of SuperCede’s offerings, which currently comprise Java/ActiveX and database versions of the tool for Windows 95. SuperCede’s so- called Flash compiler is said to go significantly faster than Just-In-Time compilers because it compiles class files as soon as they are dynamically loaded. It does this as fast as most C++ compilers claims the company and it also reckons SuperCede is the fastest Java compiler on the Intel x86 platform. SuperCede currently supports the JDK 1.0.2, and JDK 1.1 support comes in 30 days, said Dahod. The decision to split out the new company was apparently made about a year ago with Asymetrix founder Paul Allen leading the call, and it is said to be lining up numerous strategic partners, the first of which is Sun. Billmaier used to be SunSoft’s general manager of the network products division. The new company has 45 employees, and Dahod said revenues rose 34% from the first to second quarters.
