Alton, Hampshire-based Compsoft Plc has launched Equinox 1.1, an enhanced version of its data management system for Windows. The company was rescued by users of its MS-DOS hierachical database, Delta, who stepped in to save the company when Compsoft’s then parent, the Headland Group Plc, went into receivership in 1990 (CI No 1,501). The company’s shareholders are now Charles Wigoder of Cellular Communications Corp Plc, who led the rescue; Ocean Venture Ltd, a marine electronics company in Ringwood, Hampshire; and GNA Trust, a private organisation, and a number of private investors. Equinox 1.1 now has Windows features and supports Novell Inc’s Network Loadable Module client-server ar-chitecture. There are two levels of network support: an automatic system that transparently locks records and manages transaction; and a manual system controlled by the method language. There is a messaging system for users to communicate with each other which can also be used to support remote job handling or distributed processes. The company says that developers can write and test applications using a single user environment and the switch to the multi-user version by attaching it to an Equinox application server, as all networking commands are supported intelligently in the the single user environment. It supports a maximum of 250 users. To run it, users need NetWare 3.11 or higher on the server with 2Mb of RAM. Clients need MS-DOS 3 or above and Windows 3.1 or above with 4Mb of RAM. Prices start at UKP400 for a single user rising to UKP17,000 for 100 users on a local area network. Last year Compsoft had a turnover of UKP11.3m, a drop from the previous year of 6% and a pre-tax profit of UKP132,248, a rise of 35.6%. This year’s results are expected shortly.
