Nixdorf Computer AG has issued an official statement confirming that the rumour that the Targon product range is to be dropped in favour of the Siemens MX line is entirely without foundation – and as proof it has given the details of one of its largest recent orders, reports Computerwoche. Nixdorf revealed that it is to supply the Hamburger Sparkasse savings bank with 220 Targon 31 Unix systems, 570 cash terminals and 500 personal computers, with the system to be run over a Unix-based network; it has also issued a statement from Hamburger Sparkasse’s head of data processing Herbert Burmeister in which he justifies his decision to choose Nixdorf over Siemens, which had also declared its interest in the contract: according to Burmeister, Nixdorf has confirmed that both Unix ranges are to be supported in parallel in the long-term. Whether or not this is the undeniable proof of the rumour’s insubstantiality that Nixdorf reckons it is, remains to be seen – but in the meantime, and much to the relief of the Paderborner, Siemens itself has been moved to give unoffical confirmation of its intention to continue both product lines. Both companies are sponsors of the Open Software Foundation – will Siemens pay both sponsorship fees when they are merged as Hewlett-Packard Co has so nobly done on behalf of Apollo?
