Pilot Software Inc, the Boston company that formerly called itself Pilot Executive Software before it started to diversify from its Executive Information Systems roots, has a letter of intent to acquire TechGnosis International Inc, the privately-held Boca Raton, Florida-based developer of the SequeLink client-server middleware. Pilot’s relationship with TechGnosis began in December 1991 with a licensing agreement to enable Pilot’s line of visual information access and analysis systems to use SequeLink. Pilot’s initial implementation will bundle SequeLink client software with Pilot’s LightShip Lens 3.1 Dynamic Link Library written for its LightShip data-driven, personal computer-based visual information access system. Pilot will also sell the server portion of SequeLink as Pilot SequeLink Server to LightShip customers. Later this year, Pilot will begin using SequeLink to provide server links for its host-based products, including the TimeServer multi-user, multi-dimensional time-series data server. TechGnosis originated in Belgium in 1987, where it was founded as Gnosis NV; shortly after its founding, the Belgian government recognised it as an Innovation Company in recognition of SequeLink, which enables workstation applications such as Excel, Visual Basic and 1-2-3 to access most major databases, such as DB2, SQL Server, OS/400, Rdb, Oracle, Informix, Ingres, and Sybase across multiple networks, and also offers SequeLink Engine as an OEM product. Data Sciences Ltd, Farnborough, Hampshire markets Pilot products in Europe, and presumably inherited the stake in Pilot taken five years ago by Thorn EMI Plc before Data Sciences staged a management buyout from Thorn that left the music giant retaining 20%. No financial details were offered of Pilot Software’s proposed acquisition of TechGnosis International.
