Lotus Development Corp is declining to comment on a report in the US edition of the Wall Street Journal on Friday that it is in talks to add a database management system to its product line by buying privately-held Approach Software Corp. The Redwood City, California company’s eponymous product is a stand-alone relational database that runs under Windows and can also act as a transparent front-end to dBase III and IV, Pardox and Oracle SQL 6.0, and is claimed to require no programming (CI No 1,915). The Journal suggests that while the companies have not yet come to an agreement, and that Approach has had several approaches, the combination could give Lotus a hot new product and a defensive weapon against recent moves by Borland International Inc and Microsoft Corp. If terms for a takeover cannot be reached, another option under discussion is a licensing agreement in which Lotus would sell Approach’s software, but Approach would remain independent. If the talks fail, Lotus may seek a licensing deal with Apple Computer Inc’s Claris unit, or another database maker, the Journal was told.Lotus is believed to have devoted $30m over four years developing a database that it cancelled in 1989 – just before it bought a 15% stake in Sybase Inc, sold again in 1992.Approach is expected to have sales of nearly $20m this year; it was founded in 1990 by former executives of Claris and Oracle Corp.
