R&O Softwaretechnik GmbH set up a UK sales and support operation in Newbury, Berkshire last month in order to distribute its shrink-wrapped Rochade software engineering tool repository and related products. Rochade is written in a mixture of C and the object-oriented C++, and runs under AIX, OS/2 and MVS, Santa Cruz Operation Inc Unix and HP-UX. End-users can access the repository via Windows, X Window System and Presentation Manager-based clients concurrently. The Munich, Germany-based company is also in the process of developing Motif support. At the server end, users can dynamically view and manipulate the meta data contained in Rochade via Rochade Graphic, and also have the option to layer the Autopilot object-oriented graphical user interface on top to give them a Windows-like front-end. Rochade simply appears as an icon on the screen because Autopilot is able to launch actual Windows applications. Version 1.2 of the interface, which is due for release in the third quarter of the year, will also include facilities for process management and lifecycle control. Rochade Bus, meanwhile, provides developers with tool interfaces via which they can integrate Advanced Visual Systems Inc products. The Rochade product set costs between ?50,000 and ?200,000. R&O has approximately 370 customers worldwide, and generated turnover of about $8.5m last year, of which its US subsidiary, opened in 1992, generated $2m. The company, which is majority-owned by AAA Bavarian Bank, also has a marketing agreement with KnowledgeWare Inc, whereby KnowledgeWare can sell Rochade to its existing customer base. R&O says that it is also on the look-out for partners that have the ability to sell into such vertical markets as finance, manufacturing and defence.
