Still caught up in litigation with Arbor Software Inc (CI No 3,013), Ann Arbor-based Decisions Support Systems application vendor Comshare Inc, is making timely moves to expand its customer base and become less dependent on Arbor, and has just struck licensing agreements with Oracle Corp and Applix Inc, to make its applications available on both firms’ database systems. Comshare’s agreements with the two other firms will allow it to release forthcoming versions of its Command Decision application suite on Oracle7 and Oracle Express 6.0 on-line analytical processing server – as well as resell the two products as part of its decision support offerings – and on Applix’s TM1 multidimensional database. The TM1 database, from Westborough, Massachusetts-based Applix, has real-time capabilities and a broad customer base in the financial services sector, which are an attraction for Comshare. Command Decision version 1.3 will be officially released at Comshare’s User Group Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland on March 10. Comshare confirms that the original licensing agreement with Arbor remains in place, despite the on-going legal dispute, and says it will license Sunnyvale California-based Arbor’s forthcoming upgrade of its Essbase multi-dimensional database, for which Arbor claims it is owed royalties by Comshare. In any case, Comshare says, Arbor does not have the choice to withdraw Essbase from Comshare before the year 2001, by which time the current agreement will lapse. In CI No 3,033 we reported that Arbor expressed an interest to settle out of court, but according to Comshare, this is not our understanding of the situation. Comshare says the legal problems have slowed sales of its Essbase product and are directly responsible for net losses and falling revenue in the first (CI No 3033) and second quarters of fiscal 1996. In the three months to December 31, net losses were down at $2.8m from losses of $12.9m last time, on revenue that fell 18.6% at $26.2m. In the half-year, losses were down at $7.7m from $11.4m last time, on revenue down 24.1%.
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