Flexing its muscles now that it has been granted quasi-independence, IBM Corp’s Pennant Systems Co high-end and mid-range printer manufacturing company plans to step up its relationship with Hitachi Ltd. At present, Hitachi simply supplies the print engines that go into IBM’s flagship 3900 Advanced Function Printer (CI No 1,949), but for the next generation, the two companies will jointly develop the complete system printers for use with both mainframes and with mid-range computers. More specific details are promised next week. The Hitachi company involved is Hitachi Koki, which bought most of Dataproducts Corp a couple of years ago. Despite still being fierce competitors in the mainframe arena, IBM and Hitachi have mollified their rivalry in recent years: they are allied in the Open Software Foundation and Hitachi now buys some IBM Japan Ltd notebook computers OEM.
