Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems Ltd, based in Bracknell, Berkshire, has this week launched Control, a build-your-own business management information software package aimed at medium-sized operations within multi-national companies. The open software, developed in conjunction with UK company Fairview Ltd, is written in C, runs under Unix System V.3 and V.4 with Windows, and comes with optional SQL interface to the Informix database. Because the modular package can be assembled to cover anything from sales order processing through production planning to finance and administration, Siemens-Nixdorf’s target market is wide and varied, consisting of any commercial company – particularly within the manufacturing, distribution and automotive markets – that turns over between ?10m and ?25m a year and employs over 100 staff. Its international capabilities include multi-currency support, automatic text translation available to date in English, German and French, with a Spanish package under development – and multi-lingual library files. In the UK, Siemens-Nixdorf will be plugging the system as an aid to expansion onto the continent. An entry-level system that is fairly integrated will cost ?50,000, whereas large multi-national systems start at around ?250,000.
