Spanish users are taking a long hard look at client-server computing, as they consider the need to modernise their business management in order to become more competitive. A gradual commitment to client-server architecture can be detected, as companies begin to lose their traditional resistance to sweeping innovation and conclude that this is an accelerating trend of such potential that it should not be neglected. Client-server growth in Spain has been estimated at around 30% a year to 1998. Suppliers of client-server tools and solutions consulted recently by Tribuna Informatica are all of the opinion that the Spanish market is receptive to this technological change. Jose Miguel Mata, director of IBM Corp’s European Client-Server Centre in Madrid, believes that the presence of large, increasingly open international markets, like the European Community, and the liberalisation of communications, create the need for modern, dynamic initiatives to help businesses to become competitive, and client- server architecture, open systems and object-oriented applications point the way forward here. The managing director of Software AG Espana, Jose Ignacio Millon, reported a positive response in Spain, with several of the company’s clients already completing the transition to client-server computing, including some large organisations with a wealth of different systems, supporting thousands of clients.
New philosophy
Such enterprises would not have taken the plunge, had they not believed that there were clear benefits to be gained, Millon asserted. Enrique Gamazo, managing director of Dun & Bradstreet Software in Spain, said that the market has been initially cautious towards what he described as the new philosophy, and added that many companies would begin by using the technology to improve their decision-support systems, avoiding the need to implement sweeping changes or invest too heavily. Once these users were familiar with the new tools, they would begin to phase in one or more management applications. Overall, Gamazo was convinced that Spain would follow the US. Felix Gonzalez Quesada, director of industry and services at Cap Gemini Espana, said that although many companies are planning to invest in the short to middle term, there is a still a lot of confusion surrounding the added values to be gleaned from client-server computing and the degree of maturity of some associated technologies. So what exactly are the needs and demands that the suppliers hear from their clients? It would appear that Spanish companies are anxious to receive an offer of development tools and a set of middleware products that will successfully interconnect the different components they have in heterogeneous environments. Gamazo said In many cases, clients are not concerned so much about whether they will able to exploit the benefits of migration to a new environment, but they are anxious that such a process should take place as quickly and as cheaply as possible. Thus the move to open systems is motivated by a desire to cut costs, rather than by a preoccupation with improving the systems they currently have. Quesada said there were six principal services that a company, faced with adapting client-server computing to its processes, commonly requested: advice on architecture design; systems integration on a turnkey basis; rapid installation; new methods of configuring what is seen as complex architecture; more powerful end user tools, which are flexible and easy to use; and tools to resolve the management difficulties of distributed computing. Millon added that cautiousness of customers stemmed from an awareness of the complexity of the technology, rather than doubts as to its effectiveness, and thus there was an insistence on detailed planning. And rightly so, he said, since there were examples of companies that have rushed headlong towards the new technology without due thought, and these projects have been dogged by a lack of co-ordination and excessive costs. Quesada said that the services sector and the public sector in gener
al have been particularly receptive to client-server architecture, due in part to the graphical interface-based office automation tools being easy to use and integrate – factors that have helped to improve productivity. Victor Izquierdo, responsible for Public Administration’s information technology purchases, corroborated this opinion, adding that although change within the large environments handling enormous databases, such as the Tax Office and Social Security, would be difficult, departmental systems will head towards new applications based on client-server technology.
