Sand Technology Systems Inc and National Semiconductor Corp’s National Advanced Systems unit have completed the formation of their NAS Canada Inc joint venture. The new company merges the Canadian hardware operations of both companies, will initially sell and service mainframes and peripherals from Hitachi and from its Nissei Sangyo Co international trading company subsidiary which is an equity partner in Sand Technology – the first occasion where Hitachi has had an equity position in a North American or European marketer of its mainframes. Another subsidiary of Sand Technology, ST Systems Inc in Livonia, Michigan, has a parallel processing Virtual File Store system in beta test, and describes it as a highly advanced system of information storage and retrieval for database management systems, allowing a collection of databases to be accessed and operated as one. ST Systems is also an affiliate of Hitachi’s HITK Corp in Stamford, Connecticut. Hitachi’s indirect involvement in the new NAS Canada is characteristic of the way Japanese companies, rather than make splashy takeover bids, prefer to keep their financial involvement with foreign companies that market their products as low-key as possible for many years before making any overt move to take control.
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