The Instruction Set founders, and co-authors of Unix – The Book, Mike Banahan and Andy Rutter have formed a new company, The Ratio Group Ltd, to concentrate on software product distribution, consultancy services and education in the UK. Another Instruction Set co-founder, Mike Southon, is helping out on a part-time basis, and the staff of 10 also includes former staffer Frank Burnett-Alleyne. Based in Fulham, south west London, Ratio’s aim is to help customers get the best out of distributed computing. To start with, it has signed up XVT Software Inc for its cross-system C++ development tool. XVT recently broke up with its long-term UK distributor Personal Workstations Ltd. Ratio will also distribute NobleNet’s EZ-RPC remote procedure call tool kit, and says it is looking for two or three other firms that provide portable rapid application development tools that will not lock customers in. On the services side, it aims to build up a pool of skilled consultants for systems design work. The Instruction Set, early pioneers of Unix kernel hacking, was eventually sold to Hoskyns Group Plc in October 1989, but most of the original members left Hoskyns some time ago. They claim some of the original frisson has been carried forward to Ratio.
