Uniplex Ltd, the Hemel Hempstead-based Unix office automation stalwart, has begun to re-fashion itself as a groupware house, an effort that will take another 10 to 12 months to realise. The first pieces of Jason, once also called Medley, its long-awaited graphical object-oriented next-generation product for client-server environments, is being rolled out as the tip of an overall strategy it has dubbed Nouveau. Jason, now officially styled onGO, initially consists of two modular components: onGO Office, an X400-based mail transport system with built-in diary and scheduling co-developed with Hewlett-Packard Co, and onGO Write/Paint/Draw, a WYSIWYG document publisher whose titling alone suggests competitor Island Graphics is next on Uniplex’s hit list (CI No 2,109). OnGO Office is the core element behind Uniplex’s client-server architecture, providing enterprise-wide network and mail communications, X500 routings and gateways, TCP/IP and open systems interconnect support and a set of object libraries. It is also the interface to Novell Inc NetWare, facsimile and telex. Office is the transport mechanism that down the road will enable Uniplex to break into mail-enabled process automation, the true definition of groupware. Before it gets to the groupware level Uniplex says it will have to license or acquire pieces of technology. Already it has a licence arrangement with object maven Hyperdesk Corp and apparently intends to use the Object Management Group’s Object Request Broker.
IMI Consulting
In essence Groupware requires customisation since business processes differ office to office, industry to industry. Uniplex is putting itself in a position to do that internally with the acquisition three weeks ago of IMI Consulting, a $2.3m Connecticut-based subsidiary of Uniplex’s $1,500m parent company IMI Plc specialised in downsizing, gateways, SNA and big computing environments. It is now a part of Uniplex US and will be selling onGO. Uniplex says it will provide application programming interfaces and gateways between onGO and its existing software to ensure migration and coexistence. Data General Corp, which will be co-developing subsequent releases, has built its office strategy around onGO and so onGO will appear first in April on its AViiON boxes and IBM Corp RS/6000s. HP9000s, Santa Cruz and Solaris 2.X machines will be added in the summer with Alpha/OSF and UnixWare for both Intel and MIPS coming in the fall. It will start with X Window and Motif clients, adding Windows, character-based, NT, OS/2 and Macs over the course of the year. Uniplex probably rightly foresees Windows predominating at the client and Unix at the server. OnGO’s next enhancement should include multi-level security, X500 standardised directories, database links, Object Linking and Embedding support and intelligent filter capabilities. Graphically oriented programming tools, application programming interfaces and cross-application macro facilties will also be offered. Office’s price is $70 a user for 100 users; Write/Paint/Draw is $300 a user for 100 users.
