Cincom UK, which recently saw the marketing and development rights of Net/Master go to Systems Center Inc (CI No 1,385), has suffered another loss with the resignation of Terry Booth: he’s been at the helm of Cincom UK for the past 14 years, and perhaps it’s rubbing salt in the wound, but Booth has decided to follow Net/Master and 125 Cincom employees to Systems Center. He originally intended to see Net/Master through the transition period, and the announcement of his new position as System Center’s European managing director was unexpected. Cincom has held exclusive marketing rights to Net/Master since 1984, but the originators, Software Developments International Pty Ltd, has been acquired by Systems Center; the company estimates that the combined SDI and Cincom Net/Master annual revenues are more than $35m, with Cincom contributing $26m in 1989; Booth believes that Net/Master is of such strategic and financial importance that a distributorship is no longer adequate; he foresees Cincom and Systems Center working closely together to support existing clients. Cincom is a fiercely independent company, and president Tom Nies retains a 90% shareholding (CI No 1,317); Systems Center, whose shares are traded on NASDAQ, offers all employees stock options; Terry Booth declined to say what his holding would be.
