Amdahl Corp is finally to set up an operation in Spain – which will also cover Portugal, to look after its Spanish customers directly. Joseph Zemke, executive president of Amdahl Corp, says Up until now we have done our business through Fujitsu (which has a 44% stake in Amdahl), but with Spain coming into the European Community, our customers have requested an exclusive point of reference in Spain. Both Amdahl and Fujitsu have denied suggestions that their good working relationship will be impaired. From now on Fujitsu will be the non-exclusive distributor of Amdahl products to the Public Administration and Telefonica de Espana SA, as well as taking responsibility for Amdahl’s support and maintenance work. Hideo Mita, managing director for Fujitsu Espana SA comments: Although Fujitsu Espana may see itself to be adversely affected, this change will benefit us in the long term. David Wright, vice-president and general manager for Amdahl Europe sees a promising future for the company in Spain, pointing out that there are 150 potential clients in waiting for it there – it currently has 10 installations in Spain. Wright does not expect spectacular results, but steady growth along the lines of Amdahl’s achievements in other European countries. He adds that Amdahl will focus more on software and services from now on. The Spanish arm will have a staff of 20, many of whom will come from Fujitsu. Alan Bell, marketing vice-president for Europe, when interviewed by ComputerWorld Espana, seems undeterred by some experts’ opinions that the mainframe market in Spain is close to saturation point; although (speaking on a world scale), he admits certain companies are reducing use of mainframes, there are enough clients, particularly in the fields of banking and insurance, who are increasing their investment.
Fewer mainframes
There may be fewer mainframes being installed, but those that are, are becoming increasingly powerful. He explains Amdahl’s arrival in Spain as being a response to the fact that there is not only a market for mainframes, but also for software, services and other storage and communication products. Questioned as to who Amdahl’s clients will be, Bell replies that just because sectors such as finance, airlines, and Public Administration appear to have been particularly affected by the economic crisis (as suggested by International Data Corp figures data for the European market), this does not mean that they will not be buying computers. He feels that the trend is towards larger mainframes, as various centres are amalgamated into one. He boasts that when the airlines try to reduce costs and restructure, they almost always come to Amdahl. (One fish it is still waiting to catch is Iberia). Bell claims that Amdahl’s 20% increase in large system sales in Europe is the result of having specialised, while companies such as IBM Corp and Hitachi Data Systems, from whom Amdahl has snatched market share, have sold a wider range of products. Bell agrees with the IDC prediction that the mainframe market may possibly benefit from a unified Europe, with the creation of large pan-European data processing centres operating in parallel, while the liberalisation and standardisation of communications will help to reduce costs. Amdahl’s current plans for business are tied up with the development of software products such as the Huron applications development and delivery environment, with the UTS operating system – Amdahl’s implementation of Unix System V for the IBM mainframe architecture, and with services. The company is also planning to launch RISC systems built around the Sparc architecture, and new 5900s this year.
