In a recent interview with Computerworld Norge, ex-Norsk-Data head, Rolf Skor, talks about the reasons for the Norwegian firm’s decline, and about the problems facing the minicomputer industry in general. Skor starts by admitting that he should perhaps have left Norsk at its high-point two years ago, when celebrating its 20th anniversary; he had at that time the presentiment that he had achieved all he could in the business world, but feared that his departure then would have been misunderstood. The reasons for Norsk’s decline were, according to Skor, more complicated than the media made out. The computer industry has developed in jumps and starts: Norsk Data cashed in on the minicomputer era, but, continues Skor, with the dawning of the personal computer and networking age, a new set of data processing firms emerged. Unlike IBM or DEC, Norsk Data did not have a sufficiently large customer base to make the transition to open systems profitably, with the largest profit margins quite naturally achieved by selling proprietary systems. Skor believes that Norsk would have done better to have gone over to Unix much sooner, but the company’s workforce did not have the appropriate skills for the switch, and the company simply did not have the resources to develop open systems by itself: research and development costs would have had to be shared with other firms. When asked if he agreed with those that say Norsk Data no longer exists, Skor replied that it is more a case of the minicomputer sector no longer existing. Norsk still exists, but, according to Skor, future survival depends on it splitting into several separate units.
