In its first major product launch for a number of years, UK open systems accounts developer Tetra Ltd, Maidenhead, Berkshire, has unveiled a mid-range accounting system – Legend and revealed the fruits of an OEM deal with Canadian software house Cognos Inc for use of the Powerplay and Impromptu executive information system tools. Over recent years, Tetra has seen sales of its low-end Tetra 2000 package, aimed at customers of up to ?2m turnover, flatten in the face of increased competition from mainstream personal computer software vendors. Meanwhile, sales of its high-end package, Chameleon 2000, have rocketed by 60% this year. Legend, it reckons, will fit the ?2m to ?10m turnover size of company between the Tetra 2000 and Chameleon targets. Tetra will initially market Legend exclusively as a Novell Inc NetWare and UnixWare package, and expects around half its existing 250-strong reseller channel to sign up for it, plus 60 or so new resellers from the Novell camp. It will not say when Legend will become available on other systems, although Santa Cruz Operation Inc Unix is the most obvious addition. Legend is bundled into four standard suites: Finance, nominal, sales and purchase; Finance Plus adds cash book and fixed assets; Distribution incorporates ledgers, invoicing and sales analysis, sales order processing, stock control, purchase order processing and intrastats; and Distribution Plus adds bill of materials, works order processing, payroll, Executive Information System and Tetralink. The Cognos EIS facility, which Tetra has closely integrated, is now also available for Chameleon. The company also has plans to expand in Europe and the US.
