In a massive restructuring, Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG is putting all of its server business, from Unix to mainframes to iAPX-86-based models, into one big $3,000m-a-year Open Enterprise Computing unit headquartered in Munich but run by an American spending half his time in the US. As part of the move, the mainframe business will migrate to RM600 servers called Sunrise that will run the old MVS-like BS2000/OSD mainframe operating system, from this time next year (CI No 2,842). The new Open Enterprise Computing unit’s charter is international, but its focus will be on the US market. Pyramid Technology Corp president and chief executive John Chen will run it; the iAPX-86 business will based in Augsburg, mainframes in Paderborn and MIPS RISC systems development in San Jose. The group will pool 5,500 of SNI’s 37,000 employees worldwide and Chen expects to grow the business 20% a year. The effort should get SNI more brand recognition in the US, especially if it decides to discontinue the name of its Pyramid subsidiary, which is currently unclear. The $9,000m-a-year SNI has recently paid only lip service to Americanizing itself. It will flatten the corporate structure to give managers direct control over geographies and lines of business. The company wants roughly to double its US business to around $1,500m by the year 2000, starting with $700m this fiscal year. It is looking for immediate acquisitions in the retail and transport sectors, and for partners for Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. It aims to derive equal revenue from Germany, the rest of Europe and the rest of the world in a few years. Richard Lussier, who ran Pyramid for nine years before selling it to SNI in February 1995, will step down in April as chief executive of SNI for personal reasons, but will stay on the boards of both SNI and Pyramid. A replacement will be appointed in 60 to 90 days, with a specific brief to be non-German-speaking.
