Tandem Computers Inc is taking the model pressed upon Apple Computer Inc by those with 20:20 hindsight of licensing its technology up into the mid-range and high-end systems market, new chief executive Roel Pieper formally announced yesterday. As we’ve said previously, Tandem, which has already licensed its ServerNet interconnect technology to NEC Corp and Compaq Computer Corp, will extract the best technology from its database, networking and communications offerings to create products compatible with Windows NT and the Unix. It acknowledges that this will mean that Tandem will find itself in competition with licensees offering its own technology, but says this will mean the technology will be used more widely on more computer systems. The wider use of the technology would mean that Tandem’s Himalaya NonStop fault-tolerant systems and NT and Unix machines would be able to run the same applications using the same databases, Pieper said. Tandem will define its licensing strategy by April or May, he said. Former president of Bell Atlantic’s Network Integration unit, John Losier is now senior VP worldwide sales and services, reporting to Pieper. Losier’s predecessor Jerry Peterson has moved over to head the recently created ServerNet Business and Technology unit as the senior VP responsible for making ServerNet an industry standard and finding OEMs. William Heil is now senior vice president of marketing, Jeffrey Tonkel is VP product marketing and product management, Phil Johnson is VP of human resources and Peter Selda is VP and general manager, strategic business partners.
