Ashton-Tate UK’s marketing manager Chris Mossing reckons that his company took up the remaining 49% interest in Interbase Software Corp that it didn’t already own because it was after the BLOB Basic Large Object technology for incorporation in future Ashton-Tate multimedia complex processing products. In a case of not only biting the bullet but swallowing it completely Ashton-Tate also wants to make use of Interbase’s client-server architecture – a more robust SQL server implementation of dBase appears to be on the cards, enabling Ashton-Tate to regain composure in the light of Gupta Technologies’ SQLBase and the MicrosoftSybase SQL Server project that Ashton-Tate left to Lotus Development Corp. In terms of the technology to which Ashton-Tate will now have access, this is a very significant acquisition indeed, although the fruits of integrated research and development are unlikely to appear before 1992. From a sales and marketing viewpoint the two companies will remain completely separate with Ashton-Tate injecting capital into Interbase’s own sales and marketing efforts in the US. At the international level no decision has yet been made, so there is a possibility that Ashton-Tate may get involved with the marketing of Interbase in Europe. In so far as the Interbase profile has been raised over the past couple of years it is largely thanks to Cognos Inc, which has marketed the product worldwide as StarBase. Last year Cognos renewed an eight year contract with Interbase, fixed for five years with an optional three-year agreement thereafter. Under the deal Cognos has rights to full worldwide distribution in any sales channel, control over pricing, and full rights to engineer the technology. The Canadian company is closely involved with the steering committee for the product and can fund specific pieces of development – in the past this has involved putting StarBase up under Hewlett-Packard Co’s MPE operating system. Cognos divisional director Mike Hudgell says that the acquisition of Interbase by Ashton-Tate is a positive move as database development will forge ahead and the OSRI standard tech nology that Interbase uses will appear everywhere.
