Farallon Computing Inc, the $35m-a-year Emeryville, California-based developer of voice and data communications equipment, has established its first European office in London. The new Farallon Computing Europe division has set itself the task of marketing integrated services digital network applications and is actively looking for partnerships with ISDN application developers and to strengthen existing links with customers such as British Telecom, France Telecom, Deutsche Bundespost Telekom and other European phone companies. As proof of its commitment to Europe, Farallon has also promised to have versions of most of its major products in French, German, Italian, Swedish and Spanish by the end of the year, and is setting up offices in Paris, and either Munich or Frankfurt in Germany next year. Farallon is best known in the US for its PhoneNet local area network system developed in 1986. PhoneNet enables AppleTalk protocols to run over ordinary twisted-pair telephone wiring – Farallon reckons there are currently 1.3m PhoneNet nodes installed worldwide, linking Apple Macintoshes, MS-DOS systems and laser printers from Hewlett-Packard and IBM. In addition to the core PhoneNET product, Farallon markets the Timbuktu screen-sharing software that enables Macintosh computers to exchange information, view and operate other Macs over an AppleTalk network or telephone line. A Timbuktu/Remote Access Pack is offered that enables Mac users to switch on and access networked Macs from a remote telephone point using a V.32 modem. Farallon is also active in the multi-media area with products aimed at training applications such as ScreenRecorder, which records, plays back and edits Mac screen sessions, and the MacRecorder, which digitises, stores and plays back pre-recorded sound on Macs. Farallon is in now developing applications to run under Microsoft Windows 3.0. The London office is headed by Bob McNinch, formerly of Apple Computer, who says Farallon’s goal is to have Europe account for 20% of total revenues. McNinch expects to start by shipping around 1,000 units of Farallon products a month, and is currently training the UK distributor, London SW6-based Gomark Ltd, to offer full support and maintenance.
