Ottawa, Ontario and Burlington, Masssachusetts-based Cognos Inc has gone to American expatriat Bill Totten’s Ashisuto KK, Japan’s largest software marketing company, for sales and distribution of all its software tools, including its new client-server and Unix products, directly to the Japanese market. Cognos notes that it first entered the Japanese market in 1985 and initially sold its products there through distributors for Hewlett-Packard Co, Digital Equipment Corp and Data General Corp hardware. In 1990, it established its own Japanese office in Tokyo and began offering technical support on a local basis. It has adapted its primary product, the PowerHouse applications generator for use in Japan and to date, has over 2,000 Japanese installations. Japanese customers include Canon Inc and Toshiba Corp.
