Rank Xerox is getting into the Unix systems business through its French subsidiary Rank Xerox SA, which is taking 43% to become the largest single shareholder in a new holding company, Axis International SA, capitalised at $500,000 and formed to take over the Axis Digital SA group, headquartered in Boulogne Billancourt, just outside Paris. The operating companies coming under the new holding company will be Axis Digital France, Axis Digital Italie, Axis Digital Suisse, Axis Design and Alias. The move is in response to Xerox Corp’s new strategy of taking its XNS Xerox Network System architecture into the Unix world. Axis Digital is primarily a Unix services and support house and will bring to Rank Xerox its integration skills for marrying XNS and Unix, its training arm, which turns out sales and support engineers for Unix systems, and test products and services. Since by this move, Rank Xerox is making it clear that it is in the market for Unix services companies, it may well also be interested in Sphinx Ltd, the one-stop Maidenhead Unix shop that’s for sale.
