Nexgen Systems Inc of San Jose, California, says that the first system to exploit the processing power of its seven chip implementation of the Intel 80386 architecture (CI No 1,126) will reach the market within a year from now. According to its marketing director Pete Janssen the company will target its first and subsequent products at the top-end of the MS-DOS, OS/2 and Unix workstation markets. And the fact that the ex-chief of IBM’s Personal Computer division, Sparky Sparks, has surfaced as Nexgen’s vice-president of marketing, almost certainly means that the company is destined to become a head-on IBM competitor. Sparks, who has spent time with Compaq and Tandon since he left IBM, was last heard of resigning as head of Wyse Technology’s Amdek division last April (CI No 905). The arrival of OS/2 and increasingly sophisticated Unix workstations leaves Janssen in no doubt that that amount of power – said to be five times that of a standard 80386 processor – will be in demand within 18 months. Although unwilling to name names, Janssen implied that clues to the identity of its chip manufacturer could be found in its list of investors. Olivetti, Chips & Technologies, Yamaha, Mitsui and venture capitalists Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, Byers currently own around 60% of the two-year old company. Preferring the label of systems house to semiconductor company, Nexgen says that it has no immediate ambitions to market its chip technology pure and simple. However, it does plan to strike up technology exchanges with strategic partners, and does not appear to exclude rival manufacturing outfits from these ranks. Nexgen now has an engineering-based staff of 55.
