Ardent Software Inc, the company formed by the merger of Unidata Inc and Vmark Software Inc (CI No 3,263), has unveiled its future strategy and has taken the decision to go after the object database and datawarehousing market. At the moment approximately 70% of the company’s business is generated from its relational offerings, but by next year Ardent hopes relational offerings will account for around 60% of its business, with that figure falling to just above 50% the year after. The company has made its headquarters at Vmark’s former home in Westboro, Massachusetts. When the companies completed the merger earlier this year (CI No 3,346) there were 700 staff, but has been reshaped and now employs a worldwide staff of 570. Ardent’s shares have been suffering of late. The company is traded on Nasdaq, and UK marketing director Ketan Karia says analysts believe the stock should trade at around $16, but at the moment stock is valued at around $12, an improvement on its year low of $5.875. The company anticipates revenues of around $15m this year. Lewin is of the opinion that investors are waiting to see what will happen with Ardent, and by the end of its first six of trading as the new entity, share prices will increase. It is set to announce a host of new contracts in the near future, but has said it has signed separate deals with Sybase Inc and Digital Equipment Corp, who will both take Ardent’s data warehousing product Data Stage and sell it as their own. DEC has yet to decide on a name for the product, but Sybase will call it PowerStage.
