As anticipated, Santa Cruz Operation Inc is now articulating its intent to create a serious cross-system business from non-operating system products, expecting its Client Integration Division and Layered Products group to generate as much as 40% of revenue from its fiscal 1997 and beyond. The products include administration, management, Internet, database access and personal computer-to-Unix communications software that run under Santa Cruz OpenServer and UnixWare as well as third party Unixes including Sun Microsystems Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co, IBM Corp and Digital Equipment Corp, plus Windows desktops. They collectively contributed less than 5% to Santa Cruz’s $200m-odd 1995 revenues; they will account for around 23% of the $210m to $21 2m Santa Cruz expects to do in fiscal 1996 to the end of September. The company is aiming to grow between 3% and 5% quarter-on-quarter overall. Santa Cruz’s Client Integration Division was formed from the acquisitions of UK personal computer-to-Unix communications specialists IXI Ltd and VisionWare Ltd in 1993 and 1994 respectively, however Santa Cruz lost ground on competitive systems having waylaid the two outfits for more than a year while it tried to put them together and fold them into the Santa Cruz structure. It says they’re now back on track and can make up the ground lost. This week Client Integration introduces new versions of its PC X Server and SQL-Retriever 4 Unix-to-Windows software in the Vision Family of communications products. It already includes the VisionFS Unix implementation of Microsoft Corp’s Server Message Block protocol, which Santa Cruz is positioning as a lightweight alternative to PC-NFS-based file and print sharing services. For heavy duty, tight-knit integration it still recommends Santa Cruz Advanced File and Print Services. XVision Eclipse enables 32-bit Windows and NT desktops to run X Window applications hosted on Unix servers. Eclipse includes a new Vision Resume mechanism which enables users to disconnect from an X session on one computer and resume it on another without having to close down the session and then restart it. Santa Cruz says the feature will enable mobile users to hot-desk around intranets without logging out, restarting an application and negotiating back to where the X session ended. It also means Microsoft clients can be re-booted without closing and restarting large X programs on a Unix hosts.
Eclipse’s server component includes a SuperVision program enabling Eclipse desktops to be managed from a central point. Santa Cruz says that when used in conjunction with Vision Resume, it enables administrators to distribute files to groups of personal computers using a single instruction whether or not the personal computers are turned on. It is also included a wizard-style component for creating multiple connections. Previous XVision releases were client-only technologies. Santa Cruz anticipates VisionFS-alike host-only implementations of Eclipse in future enabling X, Motif and Common Desktop Environment applications to be deployed without requiring desktop administration or installation. It will follow that with a renamed XVision Eclipse product which will work with Network Computers using a small downloadable Java applet. XVision Eclipse is priced from $390 for a single user license; prices drop to $270 per user for 50 licenses. It runs under Solaris, SunOS, HP-UX, OpenServer, UnixWare, AIX and DEC OSF/1, plus Windows95 and NT desktops. Santa Cruz claims Eclipse’s Vision Resume feature puts its PC X server around 18 months ahead of the competition which includes leading personal computer X server supplier Hummingbird Communications Ltd, and Network Computing Devices Inc, the latter claimed to be a single percentage point ahead of Santa Cruz in sales of PC X servers. Pricing Eclipse at 30% to 50% below rival products, Santa Cruz says it is pricing for volume and market share, not on the basis of software cost. It denies the product will be a loss-leader. It is offering $50 competitive upgrades. Client Integration is also offering a new 32-bit version of its Open DataBase Connectivity-based SQL-Retriever program enabling Windows95 and NT desktops to access SQL data on Unix relational databases. SQL-Retriever 4.0 also supports the JDBC Java DataBase Connectivity specification. Santa Cruz says the client component includes a database-finder technology which searches out which databases are running on the server and installs the right host modules. SQL-Retriever 4.0 systems can be managed by SuperVision; the software also includes a new Security Manager. It costs from $185 per single user license – $ 125 per user for a 50 user license. Character-based versions of the products will follow. By the end of the year the company expects to package all of its third party offerings on a single CD-ROM. It has got Mac and Network Computer implementations in its sights. Meantime Client Integration’s Highwayman project has effectively metamorphosed into three separate streams. One is Sole, Santa Cruz’s Server Object Linking & Embedding product, and the two others will provide World Wide Web-based data access.
By William Fellows
