Each year Library Systems Newsletter surveys the library automation industry to get an overview of the market and to facilitate comparison among vendors. This double issue is devoted to summarizing the responses of vendors that offer integrated, multi-user, multi-function systems--those running on mainframes, minis, and micros using a multi-user operating system, whether UNIX, PICK, OS/2, or the proprietary operating system of a hardware manufacturer. In a subsequent issue, we will summarize the survey results for PC-based systems--those using MS-DOS and Apple operating systems. Vendors offering both multi-user and PC-based systems are included in this issue providing that their multi-user system sales were at least $1 million in 1992.
Both turnkey and software only vendors are included in this report because the majority of vendors now sell both ways. Turnkey vendors are those which provide hardware, software, installation, training, and ongoing support from a single source. They assume liability for total system performance. Software only vendors give the buyer only a guarantee that the software is free of defects.
All major vendors are now committed to providing acquisitions, serials control, circulation, and online patron access catalog modules--and in some cases, additional functionality such as information and referral, journal citation, interlibrary loan (ILL), and media booking. Virtually all of the vendors could deliver the four core modules by the end of 1992, although several were rewriting acquisitions and serials control modules. Several vendors were also offering journal citation capability, the loading of files of periodical indexes.
As in previous years, vendors were contacted for this survey by mail, with follow-up by phone and fax. Our queries focused on whether the product was available as a turnkey system, a software package, or both; the hardware platform, operating system, and programming language(s); the number of sales during the past calendar year; the total number of installations; the number awaiting installation and/or acceptance; gross sales and new name sales for 1992 (sales to other than existing customers); profitability; the percentage of customers using each module or major function; the sizes of the installed systems; and the number of staff devoted to software maintenance & development, sales & marketing, and to other customer support. Enhancements reported by the vendors also are included.
SUMMARY
LSN identified 32 North American organizations marketing integrated, multi-function turnkey library systems or software packages for supermicro, mini, or mainframe computers. All except the following five companies responded to the survey: Centel Federal Systems, Inc., Far West Data Control, Inc., Groin Hayes Library Automation System, National Computer System, Inc., and United Systems Technology, Inc. These vendors are believed to represent only 1% of the total market. A sixth vendor, Unisys Corporation, reported that an anticipated change in the marketing and support of their product was to be made in the next couple months and therefore, they could not participate as they had in the past. (Since then, Dynix has announced that it will take over support of PALS, the Unisys product. Figures are not included in the Dynix report, however.) CLSI was purchased by Geac in December 1992 and is included as part of the Geac report. INLEX, acquired in early 1993 by DRA, had previously responded to the survey. Its figures are reported separately.
Twenty-two vendors offer both turnkey systems and software packages; nine offer software only (although one of them also sells hardware, but not "bundled" with the software as a turnkey system; another plans to introduce a turnkey option in 1993).
| Table 1. Vendors reporting 10 or more new name system sales in 1992 | |
| Vendor | Total sales |
| Dynix | 343 |
| IME | 290 |
| SIRSI | 86 |
| Sobeco/Multicore | 73 |
| Innovative Interfaces | 53 |
| Geac | 52 |
| Cuadra Associates | 43 |
| Gaylord | 42 |
| DRA | 31 |
| Information Dimensions | 29 |
| VTLS | 18 |
| NOTIS | 17 |
| INLEX | 10 |
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Table 1 ranks vendors according to the total number of new name systems sold during 1992, as reported by the vendors themselves. Table 2 shows the number of staff devoted to software maintenance and development; Table 3 ranks vendors by the number of staff devoted to customer support.
The following vendor reports are arranged alphabetically and are based on information furnished by the respondents.
Advanced Computer Concepts, Inc.,formerly Washington University School of Medicine Library, offers both turnkey systems and software packages. The hardware is DEC VAX, PCs, and RS/6000, using the standard MUMPS operating system and programming language. The company reported 3 new name sales in 1992, all to special libraries. Its installed base is 12--10 in North America (6 academic libraries and 6 special libraries). One system was awaiting installation and/or acceptance at the end of the year. The company reported gross revenues under $1 million, and did realize an after-tax profit. All sites were using acquisitions, local cataloging, authority control, circulation, serials control, online patron access catalog, ILL, materials booking, report generator, journal citation files, inventorying, community information, and electronic mail. All sites had remote database searching, interfaces with other systems of the same vendor, LAN interface, and Internet interface; and 20% each had an OCLC interface and BiblioFile interface. One site supported over 400 terminals; two had 200-399; five had 30-60; and five, 2-7. Five staff were committed to software maintenance and development, and five to other customer support. Major enhancements in 1992 included new database search module for Medline and Current Contents.
[Advanced Computer Concepts, Inc., 46 Hillvale, St. Louis, MO 63105; (314) 862-1898; fax (314) 721-1898.]
CARL Systems, Inc. offers both turnkey systems and software packages. The hardware is Tandem, and the operating system is Tandem's Guardian. The applications are written in TAL (Transaction Application Language). CARL sold three new systems during 1992--consisting of one Utlas conversion and two new sales (one public and one academic). Eight systems (two new sales and six upgrading Utlas sales which were reported last year) were in the process of being installed/accepted at year-end. The total installed base at the end of 1992 was 29 systems supporting 329 libraries (50% public, 45% academic, and 5% school libraries). Gross sales were $5-$10 million with an after-tax profit for the year. All sites were using local cataloging, circulation, online patron access catalog, ILL, report generator, and inventorying capabilities. Electronic mail and journal citation files were in use at 90% of the sites; 85% were using community information; and 75% each were using acquisitions and serials control. An OCLC interface was in use at 95% of the sites; BiblioFile was at 20%; LaserCat interface at 10% of the sites; and one site had an RLIN interface. All sites had interfaces with other systems of the same vendor; 80% had LAN interfaces; 75% had an Internet interface; and 90% had remote database searching. OS! interface to other systems is in testing. Six of the sites had over 400 terminals; 12 had 200-399; seven had 100-199; three had 60-99; and one had 16-29. A staff of 45 was committed to software maintenance and development, two to marketing and sales, and 10 to other customer service. Major enhancements in 1992 included: Macintosh GUI (graphical user interface) to PAC (Kid's catalog); interactive link to Baker & Taylor and other major vendors; major new releases of bibliographic maintenance, serials, and acquisitions modules; release of a revised reserve module; Z39.50 interface in testing; gateway to British Library Document Supply Centre; PAC enhancements (name and subject browse, keyword searching limited to subject field); patron placed holds; more than double the number of gateway and password users of UnCover and UnCover 2; and distributed UnCover contributions through the addition of non-Denver-based sites. CARL's offices are located in Denver, with a small Utlas support office in Overland, KS.
[CARL Systems, Inc., 3801 E. Florida Avenue, Suite 300, Denver, CO 80210; (303) 758-3030; fax (303) 758-0606.]
Carlyle Systems offers both turnkey systems and software-only systems which run on UNIX-based platforms (Sun, DEC. etc.). The programming language is C, and the DBMS is Ingres RDBMS 6.4. The vendor had five new name sales in 1992, consisting of three academic, one public, and one special library. Two were awaiting installation and/or acceptance at the end of the year. The total number of systems installed and/ or accepted by the end of 1992 was 16--15 in North America.--The company reported revenues of $2.5-$5 million, but declined to report whether or not it realized after-tax profits. All sites were using local cataloging, online patron access catalog, report generator, inventorying, community information, and electronic mail; 80% had circulation and materials booking; and 60% acquisitions and serials control. All of the sites had OCLC, RLIN, BiblioFile and LAN interfaces. An interface to other systems from the same vendor, as well as Utlas and WLN interfaces, were in use at 80% of the sites. Sixty percent of the sites supported 60-99 terminals; 30% had 30-60; and 10% had 8-15 terminals. Eighteen staff were devoted to software maintenance and development at the end of 1992, five to marketing and sales, and three to other customer support. Major enhancements in 1992 included the introduction of The Voyager Series, the new name for the product line and an enhanced user interface. In addition to providing complete library functionality, Voyager's interface permits documents to be scanned and indexed for multimedia access through its search and retrieval engine. Sales of The Voyager Series began in September 1992.
[Carlyle Systems, Inc., 2000 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94403; (415) 345-2500 ext. 641; fax (415) 349-3874.]
Centel Federal Systems, Inc. offers software called DataLib for DEC VAX and MicroVAX, Data General, and UNIX-based hardware platforms. The operating systems are VMS for DEC, AOS/VS for Data General, and UNIX v for a variety of hardware platforms. The DBMS is a proprietary system and the programming language is FORTRAN.
Centel did not respond to the survey this year. A year ago the company reported 27 installations in North America, 29 worldwide. Sales revenues were under $1 million for 1991, with an after-tax profit. Four staff were committed to software development and maintenance, and five to other customer support. All customers were using the local cataloging, authority control, OPAC, and report generator software in 1991; 70% were using circulation and ILL. Serials control was in use at 60% of the sites; acquisitions at 50%; and journal citation files at 8%. An OCLC interface was in use at 42% of sites, and 8% had an RLIN interface. The number of terminals at each site was not reported.
[Centel Federal Systems, Inc., 11400 Commerce Park Drive, Restoń, VA 22091; (703) 758-7000 or (800) 843-4850; fax (703) 758-7380.]
CLSI was acquired by Geac Computers, Inc. in December 1992. For a report on the product, known as LIBS 100Plus, see Geac.
CoBIT (The Council for Bibliographic and Information Technologies) offers both turnkey systems and software packages known as TLM (The Library Machine) for the Data General Eclipse (MV) line of mini/supermini-computers. The operating system is DG's AOS/VSII Advanced Operating Systems/virtual Storage, and the programming language is PL/1. The DBMS is PL/l Infos II. The company reported two upgrade system sales in 1992, bringing the total number of installations to 10--all in North America. Revenues were under $1 million. The company did not report on profitability because it is a non-profit organization. All of the sites had cataloging, authority control, and materials booking modules; 90% each had circulation, report generator, and OPAC; 30% had community information; and 10% had acquisitions, inventorying, and electronic mail. An OCLC interface was in use at 60% of the sites; 30% had remote database searching; 20% had an interface to other systems from the same vendor; and 10% had a LAN interface. Two of the sites supported 200-399 terminals; five had 30-60; and three had 16-29. The company had two staff devoted to software maintenance/ development, .5 to marketing/sales, and 1.5 to other customer support.
[CoBIT, 3380 Tremont Road, Columbus, OH 43221-2112; (614) 538-1222 or (800) 837-1222; fax (614) 538-0630.]
CMDS (Computer Management and Development Services) offers both turnkey systems (in partnership with IBM) and software only for the IBM AS/400 series of minicomputers. The product, TEAMS 2000 Library, runs on OS/400 operating system; the programming languages are TEAMMATE and RPG400. The company sold nine new systems in 1992, bringing the total number of systems sold to 10--l public, 7 academic, 1 special, and 1 school library. Seven systems were awaiting installation and/or acceptance at the end of the year. Sales of the library product were $2.5-$5 million for the year (up from under $1 million in 1991) with a profit reported. All customers were using local cataloging, online patron access catalog, electronic mail, and report generator. Half each were using the circulation and ILL capabilities; and 10% were using acquisitions. Half each had an OCLC interface, BiblioFile interface, and interface to other systems from the same vendor; and 20% had a LAN interface. Two installations were supporting 30-60 terminals; and eight had 8-15 terminals each. The company reported two persons committed to software development and maintenance, one to sales and marketing, and one to other customer support. The major enhancement in 1992 was a rewrite of the Bibliographic Utility Interface enhancement to keyword search "standardization" of the product. In addition to its offices in Harrisonburg, the company maintains sales offices in Atlanta, Merrimac (MA), and Irvine.
[Computer Management and Development Services, P.O. Box 1184, 1661 Virginia Avenue, Harrisonburg, VA 22801; (703) 432-5287; fax (703) 435-5275.]
Comstow Information Services offers primarily software only, almost exclusively to special libraries. The products, known as BiblioTech (VMS) and BiblioTix (UNIX), run on all VAX, SUN, and HP-9000 hardware using the VMS, UNIX, or OpenVMS operating systems, DRS DBMS under VMS, with programs in Empress under UNIX; and TRIP (VMS and UNIX) for full-text retrieval module. The company sold three new systems and two upgrades in 1992, bringing its total installations to 57 (all special except for one school library), all in North America. Reported revenues were under $1 million with an after-tax profit. All of the sites were using local cataloging, authority control, online patron access catalog, report generator, journal citation files, inventorying, and electronic mail modules at the end of 1992. Half of the sites were using acquisitions; and 80% each were using circulation, serials control, and ILL. About 25% were using an OCLC interface, as well as remote database searching; and 15% a BiblioFile interface. All sites had a LAN interface; 30% each had an Internet interface and interfaces with other library systems of the same vendor; and 50% had OSI interface to other systems. One of the sites supported 60-99 terminals; four had 30-60; 10 had 16-29; thirty, 8-15; eleven, 2-7; and two had just 1 terminal. The company had five staff devoted to software maintenance and development, two to sales and marketing, and two to other customer support. Major enhancements during the year included: full-text searching; update to security control; hotkey link to CD-ROM files; NTIS interface; circulation module for UNIX; Commerce Business Daily full-text; and Baker & Taylor download interface.
[Comstow Information Services, P.O. Box 277, 249 Ayer Road, Harvard, MA 01451- 0277; (508) 772-2001; fax (508) 772- 9573.]
Cuadra Associates offers both turnkey systems and software packages for AMOS- and UNIX-based Alpha Micro computers, AIX on IBM RS/6000 computers, HPUX on HP-9000 computers; SCO UNIX and AT&T UNIX on 386- and 486-based computers, and SunOS (UNIX) on Sun Microsystems Series 3 and SPARCstation computers. The product, known as STAR, itself is a text database management and information retrieval system, written in C. The company reported 48 sales in 1992, 43 new name. The company reported a customer base of 200 in North America-- 275 worldwide, with 94% of its users special libraries, 5% academic, and 1% public libraries. The company declined to provide revenue data, but did report a profit in 1992. No statistics are available on the applications used by clients, because STAR is not a traditional integrated library system. It does not have modules. A wide variety of organizations use STAR and their uses represent all of the areas described except one--interface to other systems from the same vendor. This interface is not available. Predefined library applications, including MARC conversion program that can be used with any MARC source data, are available for all of the traditional library processes, and are in use by about 20% of its users. Four of the sites had 60-99 terminals; 27- had 30-60; 32 had 16-29; 70 had 8-15; 132 had 2-7; and 10 had just 1 terminal. Three staff were committed to software development and maintenance, four to sales and marketing, and four to other customer support. The company reported major enhancements in 1992 to the hardware platforms, images, end-user interface, searching, and report writing. The company has offices in Washington, DC and New York, and authorized dealers in several countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Canada, Mexico, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
[Cuadra Associates, Inc., 11835 West Olympic, Suite 855, Los Angeles, CA 90064; (310) 478-0066; fax (310) 477-10781.]
Data Research Associates (DRA) offers both turnkey system and software only options for Digital VAX and Alpha-DEC hardware using VMS, OSF-1, and Windows NT (in development) operating systems. The programming languages used are C and VAX-BASIC. DRA reported 31 new name sales in 1992 and 8 upgrades. The new sales were 45% public, 48% academic, 6% special, and 3% school libraries. The installed base rose to 245 sites--227 in North America. Four systems were awaiting installation and/or acceptance at the end of the year. The company's gross sales were $20-$25 million and the company reported an after-tax profit. Cataloging, authority control, circulation, and electronic mail modules were being used at all sites; 90% were using the online patron access catalog; 89% were using community information capabilities; 85% each were using acquisitions and serials control. Half of the sites were using inventorying; materials booking was in use by 40%; report generator was in use by 12%; ILL by 10%; and 1% were using journal citation files. Eighty percent had an OCLC interface; 4% a BiblioFile interface; 3% an Utlas interface; 6% had WLN interface; and 1% a LaserCat interface. Half of the sites were using an Internet interface; 32% had an interface with other systems from the same vendor; 25% had a LAN interface; 45% had the remote database searching interface; and 1% had LC authorities CD-ROM interface. Six sites were supporting 400+ terminals; 14 had 200-399; 34 had 100-199; 28 had 60-99; 75 had 30-60; 43 had 16-19; 25 had 8-15; and 14 had 2-7 terminals. A staff of 18 was committed to software maintenance and development, 29 to sales and marketing, and 34 to other customer support. Major enhancements included the first successful interconnectivity using Z39.50; and initial migration to Digital Alpha processors. DRA maintains offices in St. Louis, Richmond (VA), Toronto, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Portland, and Atlanta; new international offices in Australia and Singapore.
[Data Research Associates, Inc., 1276 North Warson Road, St. Louis, MO 63132-1806; (800) 325-0888 or (314) 432-1100; fax (314) 993-8927.]
Data Trek, Inc. offers both turnkey systems and software only for DEC VAX using the VMS operating system. It also offers the product for PCs and Macs using DOS and Macintosh operating systems. Because its emphasis and the vast majority of sales are for PC-based systems, the company has been included with other companies in the report on vendors using DOS and Macintosh operating systems. The report will appear in the May issue.
[Data Trek, Inc., 5838 Edison Place, Carlsbad, CA 92008; (619) 431-8400 or (800) 876-5484.]
Dynix offers both turnkey systems and software packages for a wide range of machines. The operating systems are PICK, UNIX with VMark Universe, Primos with Information, MS-DOS, UNIX with PICK Tel or PICK Blue. Its hardware platforms are DEC Risc System, HP 9000 Series, IBM RS6000 Series, MIPS, Prime 50 series/EXL, Sequent, Sequoia, Unisys 5000 Series, Dynix x86 System, Fujitsu, Encore, Data General, Bull DPX/20, McDonnell Douglas Series 18, and Ultimate l4xx, lSxx, 2000, 3Oxx, 6xxx, and 7xxx. Dynix was acquired by Ameritech in 1992 and is operated as a wholly owned subsidiary. In 1992, the vendor reported sales of 377 systems, of which 342 were new name sales (60% school, 20% public, 12% academic, 4% each special and consortia), bringing its total to 1,083 worldwide--663 in North America. A breakdown of the installed systems consists of 31% public, 19% academic, 5% special, 40% school, and 5% consortia. The number of systems awaiting installation and/or acceptance was 23. Gross revenue from sales was over $45 million worldwide, and the company realized an after-tax profit for the year. All sites were using local cataloging, authority control, report generator, inventorying, and electronic mail; 95% were using circulation; 90% were using the online patron access catalog; 30% had acquisitions; 20% had community information; 15% had serials control; 5% each had journal citation files and materials booking modules. Some 35% of the sites had an OCLC interface; 20% had a BiblioFile interface; 5% each had a WLN or LaserCAT interface; and 1% each an RLIN or Utlas interface. Half had interfaces with other systems of the same vendor; 10% each had LAN and Internet interfaces; 2% had remote database searching; and 1% had LC authorities CD-ROM interfaces. Five sites had over 400 terminals; 17 had 200-399 terminals; 72 had 100-199; 30 had 60-99; 103 had 30-60; 144 had 16-29; 175 had 8-15; 485 had 2-7; and 40 had just 1 terminal. The company had a staff of 85 committed to software maintenance and development, 156 committed to marketing and sales, and a 41 committed to other customer support. The developments in 1992 were: two major new software releases, 135.1 and 135.2; and three new modules, journal citation, PAC Plus, and Dial PAC. The company maintains offices in Singapore, London, Dublin, Waterloo (Canada), Auckland, Boulogne, Frankfurt, Mexico City, The Netherlands, South Australia, and Tai Pei.
[Dynix, Inc., 151 East 1700 South, Provo, UT 84601; (801) 375-2770; fax (801) 373-1889.]
ELiAS, N.V. (Extended Library Access Solutions)--which acquired the product DOBIS/LIBIS from IBM--is a new company, officially established on October 1, 1992. ELiAS offers software only for hardware based on the IBM Mainframes (ES/9000, 9370, 4300). The operating systems are MVS and VSE, and the programming languages are PL/1 and Assembler. All 1992 sales were concluded by IBM, and the figures and revenue are not public. However, ELiAS reported that in the future all sales and revenue will be made public. The vendor reported a total customer base of 163 systems worldwide--22 in North America at year-end. The breakdown by library type was 20% public, 38% academic, 40% special, and 2% school libraries. No systems were awaiting installation and/or acceptance. All sites were using authority control; 90% had report generator and electronic mail; 85% had online patron access catalog; 80% had circulation; 60% had ILL; and 10% had serials control modules. Approximately 3% had a LAN interface; and 2% had LC authorities CD-ROM interface. Three sites were using 400+ terminals; four had 200-399; four had 100-199; 30 had 60-99; 107 had 30-60; seven had 16-29; six had 8-15; and two had 2-7 terminals. The company reported three staff committed to software maintenance and development, five to sales and marketing, and three to other customer support at the end of 1992. Major enhancements during the year were bi-directional format conversions from DMARC to MARC and MAB1 and the capability to sort Boolean search results.
[ELiAS N.V., 60 Kapeldreef, 8-3001 Leuven, Belgium; Tel: 011-32-16-270390, Fax: 011-32-16-270319. ]
Far West Data Control, Inc. offers both turnkey systems and software only configured around the IBM AS/400 machines. The product, known as MediaNet, uses the 0S/400 operating system with the COBOL programming language.
The company did not respond to the survey this year. Last year, the company reported sales of two systems, bringing its total to three--all in North America. Both sales were awaiting installation and/or acceptance at the end of 1991. The company reported revenues of under $1 million, and an after-tax profit. All sites were using local cataloging, authority control, circulation, serials control, materials booking, and report generator modules; two were using online patron access catalog, ILL, and inventorying; and one was using acquisitions. One site had the OCLC interface and two had the Bibliophile interface. All sites may interface to other systems from the same vendor; two had remote database searching capabilities. Two sites supported 30-60 terminals and one site, 16-29 terminals. A staff of 10 was committed to software maintenance and development, and 3 to other customer support.
[Far West Data Control, Inc., P.O. Box 449, Astoria, OR 97103; (800) 426-7099; fax (503) 325-3648.]
Gateway Software Corporation offers both turnkey systems and software only for the IBM AS/400 series of minicomputers. The operating system is OS/400 and the programming language is RPG 400. The company sold five new systems in 1992 (four school and one special), bringing the total number of systems sold to 21 (all in North America)--95% of the system are in school libraries, and 5% are in special libraries. One system was awaiting installation and/or acceptance at the end of the year. The company reported gross sales of under $1 million, but declined to disclose profitability. All of the sites were using local cataloging, online patron access catalog, ILL, and inventorying. Some 95% were using circulation; 75% had report generator; 50% had serials control; and 40% had electronic mail modules. An OCLC and BiblioFile interface were each in use at 10% of the sites; 5% had a LAN interface; and 95% could interface to other systems from the same vendor. One customer was supporting 200-399 terminals; one had 60-99 terminals; two had 30-60; three had 16-29; seven had 8-15; and seven had 2-7 terminals each. The company reported a staff of 3 committed to software development and maintenance, 1.5 to marketing and sales, and 3 committed to other customer support. Major enhancements in 1992 included: MARC record export program; keyword generation for any MARC tag; patron circulation desk created with check-out, check-in; different circ and grace periods based on patron source; system now reserves items by control number rather than individual item barcode.
[Gateway Software Corporation, 10 South Montana Avenue, Fromberg, MT 59029; (406) 668-7661; fax (406) 668-7665.]
Gaylord Information Systems' integrated library system, GALAXY, first introduced in 1989, is offered either as a turnkey system or a software package. Gaylord also markets SuperCAT--its CD-ROM, PC-based cataloging system--as well as continuing its support of about 25 service bureau customers who have DEC PDP-11 or Apple lie local circulation control systems connected for overdue notice and report processing purposes. The responses in this report are for the GALAXY product only. The hardware is Digital VAX using the VMS operating system, and MARC DBMS and the C programming language. Gaylord sold 46 GALAXY systems (55% to public libraries, 19% to academic, 18% to school, and 8% to special libraries), of which 42 were new name sales, bringing the total installations to 117 (all in North America). A breakdown of the systems consisted of 72% public, 15% academic, 8% school, and 5% special libraries. Three systems were awaiting installation and/or acceptance at the end of the year. Revenues were between $5 and $10 million, and the company realized an after-tax profit. All sites were using report generator, inventorying, and electronic mail. Some 98% were using circulation and online patron access catalog; 80% local cataloging; 40% authority control; 20% acquisitions; and 5% each were using ILL and serials control. Only 16% were using the OCLC interfacing capability; and 2% each were using RLIN and WLN interfaces. An internet interface was in use at 1% of the site; 10% each were using a LAN interface, remote database searching, and interface to other systems of the same vendor. Two sites supported 200-399 terminals; two had 100-199; five had 60-99; 12 had 30-60; 25 had 16-29; 51 had 8-15; and 20 had 2-7 terminals. The company had a staff of 20 committed to software maintenance and development, 12 to sales and marketing, and 21 to other customer support. Major enhancements during 1992 were the SuperSERVER CD-ROM/MS-DOS OPAC Network; Z39.50 Standard Implementation; TCP/IP Connectivity; Internet Connectivity; EASE Assistive Technology Workstation; Scheduler Module; and Current Module Enhancements. Gaylord maintains offices in Syracuse, Charleston (SC), Salt Lake City, Philadelphia, Kansas City (MO), and Cleveland.
[Gaylord Information Systems, P.O. Box 4901, Syracuse, NY 13221-4901; (315) 457-5070 or (800) 962-9580; fax (315) 451-4760.
Geac offers both turnkey and software only systems for both of its products, Advance Integrated Library Systems and LIBS 100Plus--the latter acquired in 1992 from CLSI. Advance uses Pick and is capable of running on a variety of hardware platforms (Pyramid, Motorola, Data General, IBM RS/6000). LIBS 100Plus uses IBM RS/6000 and Sequent hardware platforms using the UNIX operating system and Informix programming language. The vendor reported 59 sales of Advance, including 52 new name sales (61% of which were to special libraries) with 18 systems awaiting installation and/or acceptance at the end of the year. The total number of Advance systems installed worldwide at year end was 349--179 in North America. The Advance customer base is 37% public libraries; 36% academic; 15% special; and 4% school libraries. The vendor reported no LIBS 100Plus new name sales in 1992 but 34 upgrades of existing customers. Nine systems were awaiting installation and/or acceptance at the end of the year. The company was supporting 343 installed LIBS 100Plus systems--276 in North America. The company reported that the LIBS customer base is 69% public libraries, 19% academic, 11% special, and 1% school libraries.
Geac reported combined total library sales of over $45 million, and it projected an after-tax profit. All Advance customers were using local cataloging, authority control, circulation, online patron access catalog, and report generator; 70% were using serials control; and 60% were using materials booking. Half of the sites were using acquisitions and community information; 20% were using journal citation files and electronic mail; and 10% were using ILL. Seventy percent were using OCLC and RLIN interfaces; 60%, WLN interface; 40%, BiblioFile interface; and 30%, Utlas interface. Sixty percent were using an interface to another library system by the same vendor, a LAN interface; and an LC authorities CD-ROM interface. An Internet interface and remote database searching were each in use at 70% of the sites. (The company reported that this data was not available for LIBS 100Plus.) Fourteen of the Advance sites had 200-399 terminals; 80 had 100-199; 86 had 60-99; 57 had 30-60; 29 had 16-29; 32 had 8-15; and 51 had 2-7 terminals. Two LIBS 100Plus customers had over 400 terminals; 22 had 200-399 terminals; 29 had 100-199; 50 had 60- 99; 99 had 30-60; 60 had 16-29; 51 had 8-15; 19 had 2-7; and 11 had just 1 terminal. For both products, the company had a staff of 62 committed to software maintenance and development, 37 to sales and marketing and 40 to other customer support.
The major enhancements in 1992 were: integrated RAID technology in the Advance library system; Advance LViS (Library Voice Information System); Advance OPAC for visually impaired (OptiView); multi-user CD-ROM (Multi-ROM); enhanced LIBS 100plus with CL-CAT upgrade to the OPAC; and Datalink interface to other systems. In addition to its world headquarters in Markham, Ontario, the company has offices in Dallas, St. Louis, Troy (MI), Wallingford (CT), and Newtonville in the U.S.; and offices in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
[Geac Computers, Inc., 320 Nevada Street, Newtonville, MA 02160; (617) 965-6310; fax (617) 969-1928; or Geac Computers Ltd., Suite 300, 11 Allstate Parkway, Markham, Ontario, L3R lB3 Canada; (416) 475-0525; fax (416) 475-3847.]
Georgetown University Library Information System offers software only for Digital and 486/386 hardware. The operating systems are PDP to MSQL; VAX to MSQL under VAX; and LIS NET to MSQL SCO UNIX, using the MUMPS programming language. The company sold three new name multi-user systems in 1992. The total number of installations is 28 central sites in 43 libraries--30 academic, 9 hospital, and 4 special-- all in North America. No systems were awaiting installation/acceptance at the end of 1992. The organization declined to report any financial information. Acquisitions, local cataloging, authority control, circulation, serials control, online patron access catalog, report generator, and inventorying modules were being used at 86% of all sites; and 75% were using the journal citation files. An OCLC interface and an interface to other systems from the same vendor were in use at 86% of the sites. An Internet interface is available, but the number of sites using it is unknown. Two sites were supporting 400+ terminals; 18 had 30-60; 10 had 16-29; three had 8-15; and 10 had 2-7 terminals. Eight staff were committed to software maintenance and development, five to sales and marketing, and 10 to other customer support. Major enhancements included a new document delivery system module and a serials module/vendor interface.
[Georgetown University Library Information Systems (LIS), Medical Center Library, 3900 Reservoir Road, N.W., Washington, DC 20007; (202) 687- 1187; fax (202) 687-1862.]
Grom Hayes Library Automation System offers software only for Digital VAX hardware. The OS is VAX-VMS and the programming language is VAX-BASIC.
The company did not respond to the survey this year. But last year, the company reported no sales in 1991, keeping its total at four in North America. Local cataloging, authority control, circulation, serials control, online patron access catalog, community information and report generator modules were being used at all sites, as was remote database searching. In 1991, one site was supporting 8-15 terminals and three had 2-7 terminals. At that time, one person was committed to software maintenance and development, and another to customer support.
[Grom Hayes Library Automation Systems, 1 Linden Court, Bloomfield, CT 06002; (203) 527-4111.]
IME Systems, Inc. offers both turnkey systems and software only, although 98% of their clients are software only. The product, known as The Information Navigator/TINLIB, is a multi-user, client-server, networked system that runs on all sizes of machines, with UNIX for larger systems, and MS-DOS for PCs. The programming languages are C and Assembler. The company sold 318 systems and software packages during the year, approximately 290 of them new name sales, bringing the total to 1,668 systems worldwide (119 in North America), of which 59% are in special libraries, 23% in academic, and 18% in public libraries. Approximately 20 systems were awaiting installation/ acceptance at the end of the year. The company realized sales of $15-$20 million in 1992 (up from $1-$2.5 million in 1990 and $10-$15 million in 1991) and achieved an after-tax profit. More than 95% of all sites were using local cataloging and authority control; 85% used circulation; 70% used the online patron access catalog; 60% had serials control; 55% had acquisitions; 35% has report generator; 15% had ILL and electronic mail; 5% had inventorying; and 2% had community information. Seven sites supported 100-199 terminals; 10 had 60-99; 32 had 30-60; 254 had 16-29; 512 had 8-15; and 853 had 2-7 terminals. The company has 16 staff devoted to software maintenance and development, 14 devoted to sales and marketing (in addition to 28 distributors with 70 staff), and 22 devoted to other customer support (in addition to 28 distributors with 50+ staff). The major enhancements in 1992 included an extension of language and character set capability (22 languages currently supported), implementation of major testing/quality control and production software; and many customers moved into client-server mode. In addition to the U.S. office in Dedham, there are offices in London and Florence, and 28 distributors worldwide.
[IME Systems, Inc., 990 Washington Street, Dedham, MA 02026; (617) 320- 0303; fax (617) 320-0793.]
Information Dimensions offers software only, almost exclusively to special libraries. (In early 1993, OCLC was negotiating to purchase Information Dimensions.) The product, known as TECHLIBplus, runs on VAX, IBM, HP, and Sun mainframes and minis. The operating systems are MVS/TSO, VM/SP, VM/XA, VM/ESA, VMS, and UNIX (SVR4, RISC-OS, ULTRIX, HP-UX, AIX, SUN-OS). BASISplus is the text RDBMS. Fortran, Assembler, and C are the programming languages. The company sold 32 packages--29 new name sales--in 1992, bringing its total installations to 238 worldwide--124 in North America. Two systems were awaiting installation and/or acceptance at year-end. Revenues were $1-$2.5 million (down from $2.5-$5 million in 1991), and there was an after-tax profit for the year. All of the sites were using local cataloging and online patron access catalog. Report generator and serials control modules were in use at 80%; 60% were using circulation; 50% acquisitions; 20% each authority control and ILL modules; and 5% journal citation files. An OCLC interface was in use at 85% of the sites; and 1% each were using RLIN, Utlas, and BiblioFile interfaces. Five sites had 400+ terminals; five had 200-399; 10 had 100-199; 10 had 60-99; 25 had 30-60; 40 had 16-29; 50 had 8-15; 70 had 2-7; and 10 had just 1 terminal. A staff of 3.5 were committed to software maintenance and development, five to sales and marketing, and seven were committed to other customer support. Major enhancements during 1992 included: released two new UNIX versions--System V Release 4 and RISC-OS--making TECHLIBp1us available on most popular UNIX platforms; delivered Version 3.3 in four languages; and improved product quality control. The company maintains offices in Dublin (OH), Washington, New York, Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Dallas, in addition to London, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Frankfort, Stockholm, and Rome.
[Information Dimensions, Inc., 5080 Tuttle Crossing Blvd., Dublin, OH 43017; (614) 761-8083; fax (614) 761- 7290.]
INLEX offers both turnkey systems and software only packages for the entire line of Hewlett-Packard 3000 series computers. [In early 1993, Data Research Associates (DRA) acquired INLEX.) The product, INLEX/3000, runs on the MPE and MPE/XL operating systems, and the programming languages are PASCAL and C. (The company also offered a product for PCs using DOS operating systems. That product, known as The Assistant, will be included with the PC-based systems in the May issue of LSN.) The company reported sales of 15 systems (10 were new name sales--a to public and 2 to academic libraries), bringing its total number of installed and accepted systems to 120--119 in North America. Approximately 61% of their installations are public libraries, 26% academic, 10% school, and 3% special libraries. Seven systems were awaiting installation and/or acceptance at the end of the year. Sales were in the $1-$2.5 million range (down from $10 million in 1991), and the company reported that it was "operationally profitable." All sites were using local cataloging, authority control, report generator, and circulation modules. Online patron access catalog was in use at 99% of the sites; 21% were using inventorying; and 38% were using acquisitions. Two percent had journal citation files and electronic mail; and 3% had the community information module operational. All of the sites had OCLC, BiblioFile, Utlas, WLN, RLIN, and LaserCat interfaces (the standard bibliographic software interface will import all of these and more). Two percent had remote database searching; 5% each had interfaces with other systems of the same vendor and an LC CD-ROM authorities system interface; and 15% had a LAN interface. The sites included two with 200-399 terminals; seven with 100-199; 13 with 60-99; 32 with 30-60; 43 with 16-29; 26 with 8-15; and five with 2-7 terminals. A staff of three was committed to software maintenance and development, 4.5 to sales and marketing, and eight were committed to customer support. INLEX had offices in Monterey, North Olmstead (OH), Havertown (PA), Vancouver, and Sydney.
[INLEX, Inc., P.O. Box 1349, 1 Lower Ragsdale Drive, Bldg. 1 - Suite 300, Monterey, CA 93942; (408) 646-8600; fax (408) 646-0651.]
Innovative Interfaces offers both turnkey systems and software packages. The hardware is IBM, MIPS, HP, DEC, Sun, Unisys, or most other UNIX machines since the operating system is UNIX. The programming languages are INNOPAC and C. The company sold 100+ systems, including 53 new name sales in 1992, bringing its total number of installations to 303--295 in North America. Some 81% of the systems are in academic libraries, 10% public, 8% special, and 1% school libraries. There were 26 systems awaiting installation at the end of 1992. Revenues were up 28% to the $30-$35 million range, with an after-tax profit. All of the sites had a report generator module; 95% had serials control; and 90% had acquisi-tions. Some 85% each had local cataloging, authority control, and online patron access catalog modules; 75% had circulation. Twelve percent had journal citation files; 10% each had inventorying, ILL, and materials booking; 5% had community information; and 1% had electronic mail. Some 70% had an OCLC interface; 10% an RLIN interface; 5% an Utlas interface; and 2% each had BiblioFile and WLN (ABN) interfaces. Half of the sites had a LAN interface; 50% had interfaces with other library systems from the same vendor; 30% had an Internet interface; and 5% had remote database searching. Eight sites had 200-399 terminals; 25 had 100-199; 35 had 60-99; 95 had 30- 60; 60 had 16-29; 45 had 8-15; and 35 had 2-7 terminals. A staff of 20 was committed to software maintenance and development at the end of the year, six were committed to sales and marketing, and 54 (up from 40 the previous year) were committed to other customer support. Major enhancements included reference databases with link to holdings (loaders available for 25+ databases); internationalization (French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean); Z39.50 tested successfully with OCLC, RLIN, NOTIS, etc.; new terminal with full ALA characters; new full screen editor with ability to draft data from one record into another; OhioLINK union catalog created and online; image database with online scanning and X terminal support.
The company maintains offices in Toronto and Taipei, in addition to Berkeley.
[Innovative Interfaces, Inc., 2344 Sixth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710; (800) 444-2344 or (510) 644-3600; fax (510) 644-3650.]
International Library Systems generally offers software only for both PC-based and multi-user systems. The product is known as SydneyPLUS Library Management. The hardware platforms are IBM PC and compatibles, Novell LANs, and DEC VAX. The operating systems are MS-DOS for PCs and VMS for DEC VAX, and UNIX, and all programs are written in C. The company did not indicate the number of sales in 1992, but claims its worldwide customer base is more than 400--300 in North America (the same as reported in both 1990 and 1991). Approximately 85% of the systems are installed in special/corporate libraries. The remaining 15% is shared by public, academic, and school libraries. Total revenues were again $1-$2.5 million, with an after-tax profit claimed. All sites were using local cataloging, authority control, and OPAC catalog at the end of the year. Some 81% were using circulation, 79% serials control, and 77% acquisitions. OCLC, RLIN, Utlas, and BiblioFile interfaces were each in use at 84% of the sites, and 46% had a LAN interface. There were 63 libraries with 8-15 terminals; 107 with 2-7 (down from 194 in 1991); and 103 with only 1 terminal (up from 15 in 1991). No report was given for the other sites. A staff of 10 was committed to software maintenance and development at the end of the year, four to sales and marketing, and eight to other customer support. The company writes "In 1992, ILS provided their customers with their new system, SydneyPLUS, free of charge. New features included circulation tracking, document imaging, media booking, and a multilingual option." A UNIX version is also under development for release in 1993. The company maintains offices in Vancouver, Toronto, and Los Angeles.
[International Library Systems Corp., 320 - 2600 Granville Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V6H 3V3 Canada; (604) 734-8882; fax (604) 734-8854.]
National Computer System, Inc. offers software only for the IBM System 36 and IBM AS/400 series of minicomputers. The operating system is OS/400 and the programming language is RPG II.
The company did not respond to the survey this year. But, last year, the company reported selling seven new systems in 1991, bringing the total number of systems installed to 33--30 in North America. The company reported gross sales of under $1 million, and did not disclose after-tax profitability for the year. In 1991, all of the sites were using local cataloging, circulation, online patron access catalog, inventorying, and authority control modules. A MicroLIF interface was in use at all of the sites; and 80% may interface to other systems from the same vendor. The vendor's installations consist of 33 school districts representing 175 schools with an average 3 terminals per school. In 1991, the company reported a staff of two committed to software development/maintenance and three to customer support.
[National Computer Systems, Inc., 5505 South 900 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84117; (801) 266-6200 or (800) 421- 3111; fax (801) 264-6288.]
NOTIS Systems offers both turnkey systems and software packages. The NOTIS Library Management System (LMS) is a software-only product, comprising a complete, integrated package for library automation running on all models of IBM System 370 platform. The LMS may be installed on a dedicated or a shared machine. Source code is provided to allow total flexibility. KeyNOTIS is a bundled hardware/software product, providing the functionality of the LMS running on an IBM 9370 configuration; KeyNOTIS does not require programmer support. The operating systems are MVS or VSE with CICS for LMS; and VSE/ESA with CICS for KeyNOTIS. The code is in Basic Assembler and PL/1. (NOTIS was purchased by Ameritech in 1991 and is operating as a wholly owned subsidiary. In late 1991, NOTIS assumed responsibility for Ameritech's 166 LS/2 and LS/2000 sites.) Seventeen new sales were made in 1992 (15 academic libraries and 2 special libraries), bringing the worldwide installations to 169--162 in North America. A breakdown by library type consisted of 142 academic libraries, 17 special, 7 public, and 3 school libraries. Sales were in the $10-$15 million range, and the company reported an after-tax profit.
Approximately 94% of sites were using local cataloging and online patron access catalog; 84% were using circulation; 80% were using authority control; 75% were using acquisitions; 5% were using serials control; and 33% were using journal citation files. An OCLC interface was in use at 72% of sites; and an RLIN interface at 12%. Seventeen of the sites had 400+ terminals; 31 had 200-399; 42 had 100- 199; 28 had 60-99; 30 had 30-60; 17 had 16-29; and four had 8-15. Journal citation files may be mounted using the Multiple Database Access System (MDAS). This separately priced software permits the loading of reference and local databases on the local NOTIS computer with the ability to configure record displays and help screens for each database through an online, menu-driven program. Major enhancements for LMS and KeyNOTIS in 1992 included: location-based catalog displays with hierarchies; completely revised serials module incorporating predictive check- in plus SISAC barcode support and caption/pattern records; MARC holdings for all NOTIS holdings records; multiple individual OPACs supported on a single machine. NOTIS also introduced QuickReports, a report package incorporating over 50 reports for all modules of the NOTIS system and general reports covering accreditation statistics, programmer reports, and collection management reports.
NOTIS also introduced two new products --known as InfoShare and PACLink/ PACLoan. InfoShare offers easier searching for patrons and staff. It is a server product for locally mounted information databases. NOTIS will supply a complete server or software for an existing UNIX processor. Databases are delivered pre-indexed with InfoShare. PACLink/PACLoan enables patrons to easily access information and materials held by other libraries. It is a software system that runs on NOTIS LMS or KeyNOTIS. As such, it can be supplied as part of the turnkey system or as software only. They are both multi-user products. InfoShare runs on UNIX-based hardware platforms (SUN, IBM RS/6000, DEC Alpha) with the BER database management system and the C programming language. PACLink/PACLOan runs on all models of IBM System 370, IBM 9370 and ES/9000s, with the MVS or VSE operating systems and written in Basic Assembler. NOTIS sold 11 InfoShare systems, all to academic libraries and all are installed. The company reported selling 13 PACLink/PACLoan systems during 1992--four were awaiting installation and/or acceptance at year's end--bringing its total installed base to 9, all in North America; seven in academic libraries, and two in special libraries. All InfoShare and PACLink/PACLoan systems were sold to current NOTIS customers. InfoShare is NOTIS' first UNIX-based product. It is a fully compliant Z39.50 Version 2 server. It enables libraries to cost-effectively load additional widely-accessed databases and uses lower cost computing hardware. It can be accessed by any Z39.50- compliant client. PACLink/PACLoan combines remote online catalog searching and automated ILL and document delivery requesting.
For all products, a staff of 53 (up from 33 in 1991) was committed to software maintenance and development, 23 to sales and marketing, and 31 (down from 38 in 1991) to other customer support. The company maintains offices in Evanston, Ann Arbor, Ridgefield (CT), Kansas City (MO), Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.
[NOTIS Systems, Inc., 1007 Church Street, 2nd Floor, Evanston, IL 60201; (708) 866-0150; fax (708) 866-0178.]
NSC, Inc. offers software only for minicomputer-based systems using the IBM AS/400 or OS/400 and Wang VS operating systems. The programming languages are RPG II and RPG/400, and the major hardware platforms are the IBM AS/400 and Wang VS. The company made five new sales in 1992 (three to public, one to special, and one to a school library), bringing its total to 23--all in North America. A breakdown of the total systems by library type consisted of 65% public; 22% special; 9% school; and 4% academic libraries. No systems were awaiting installation and/or acceptance at the end of the year. The company reported total sales under $1 million and an after-tax profit. All of the sites were using local cataloging, circulation, ILL, online public access catalog, inventorying, and report generator modules; 13% each were using acquisitions and serials control; 9% authority control; and 4% materials booking modules. Some 43% of the sites had an OCLC interface; 22% a BiblioFile interface and remote database searching; and 9% an LC authorities CD-ROM interface. One site had 200-399 terminals; five, 60-99; three, 16-29; five, 8-15; and nine had 2-7 terminals. Four staff were committed to software maintenance and development, one to sales/marketing, and three to other customer support. Enhancements included: addition of a community information and referral module; enhanced OPAC to follow NISO standards; enhanced checkout/checkin process to display information more smoothly; and provision of split adult and juvenile capabilities or both.
[NSC, Inc. Software Solutions, 428 West Ryan Street, Brillion, WI 54110; (414) 756-5305 or (800) 624-5720; fax (414) 756-2359.]
Ringgold Management Systems, Inc. offers both turnkey systems and software packages. The product runs on PCs and supermicros, and the operating systems are DOS, UNIX, and XENIX. The programming languages are SQL, COBOL, and BASIC. The company reported two multi-user system upgrade sales during 1992. No systems were awaiting installation and/or acceptance at the end of the year. The installed base is 33 sites--all but one in North America--with 55% in public libraries, 42% academic, and 3% special libraries. The company reported gross revenues under $1 million and an after-tax profit. Eighty-five percent of the sites were using acquisitions; and 27% were using circulation. An OCLC interface was in use at 48% of the sites; a LAN interface at 42%; WLN at 3%; LaserCat interface at 6%; and an interface to other systems from the same vendor was in use at 9% of the sites. Two of the sites had 30-60 terminals; 1 had 16-29; three had 8-15; 13 had 2-7; and 14 had only 1 terminal. The company reported that one person was committed to both software maintenance and development and to other customer service, and .5 FTE was committed to sales and marketing. Major enhancements in 1992 included beta release of patron access catalog; expansion of electronic interface capabilities; and export of MARC records to other systems (with local library fields).
[Ringgold Management Systems, Inc., Box 368, Beaverton, OR 97075-0369; (503) 645-3502; fax (503) 690-6642.]
Sirsi Corporation offers both turnkey systems and software packages with its Unicorn Collection Management System for a variety of UNIX-based machines, including Unisys, NCR, Arix, HP, Digital, IBM, and Sequent. The operating system is UNIX; the database management system is BRS/Search; and the programming language is C. The company sold 86 new turnkey systems and packages during 1992 (over 50% to school libraries), bringing its total installed base to 213--l94 in North America. The breakdown by library type was 47.5% school, 15.4% special, 14.5% public, 12.6% academic, and 10% international libraries. Twenty-seven systems were awaiting installation and/or acceptance at the end of the year. The company reported that its sales figures were not available (but probably fall in the $2.5-$5 million range), but it claimed to have realized an after-tax profit. All sites were using local cataloging, inventorying, and a report generator; and 99% were using online patron access catalog and community information. Serials control was in use at 65%; 96% were using circulation; 80% acquisitions; 75% authority control; and 45% were using ILL. Materials booking was in use at 15%; electronic mail at 11%; and journal citation files at 6%. A BiblioFile interface was in use at 95% of the sites; an OCLC interface at 83%; LaserCat interface at 4%; WLN was at 2%; and RLIN at 1%. An LC authorities interface was in use at 83% of the sites; and 68% had remote database searching. A LAN interface and an Internet interface were each in use at 25% of the sites; 19% had OSI interface to other systems at layers 7,6,5,4; and 55% had interfacing with other library systems from the same vendor. Ten sites were supporting 200-399; three 100-199; eight 60-99; 26 had 30-60; 20 had 16-29; 49 had 8-15; 86 had 2-7; and 11 had 1 terminal. A staff of 15 was committed to software development and maintenance at the end of 1992; seven to sales and marketing; and 26 to other customer support. Enhancements included: release of Classified Accountability Module; release of STINFO Tracking Module; and enhancements to public access searching, circulation module, cataloging module, and report generation. The company maintains offices in Huntsville and London.
[Sirsi Corporation, 110 Walker Avenue, Huntsville, AL 35801-9806; (205) 536- 5884; fax (205) 536-8345.]
Sobeco Ernst & Young, also known as Multicore Library Services, offers both turnkey systems and software packages for its multiLlS product. The major hardware environments are Digital VAX-VMS, (port to Alpha in Spring), IBM RS/6000, Intel 486 servers, NCR Series 3000, and Bull. The operating systems are VAX-VMS and UNIX System V; the programming languages are PASCAL and C. (By mid-1993, the codes will be written 100% in C.) The company reported selling 91 systems, 73 of which were new name sales, bringing its total to 207--165 in North America. A breakdown by library type was reported as 54.5% public libraries; 26.5% academic; 9.6% special; and 9% school libraries. Twenty-eight of the systems were awaiting installation and/or acceptance at the end of the year. Gross sales were just under $10 million, and the company realized an after-tax profit. All of the sites were using local cataloging and authority control; 72% were using online patron access catalog; 65% were using circulation. Twenty percent of the sites were using acquisitions; 38% report generator; and 46% electronic mail. Nine percent of the sites were using an Utlas interface; 24% a BiblioFile interface; and 14% an OCLC interface. Four percent were using LaserCat interface; and 1% was using RLIN interface. Twelve percent were using a LAN interface; 7% an Internet interface; and 4% had a LC authorities CD-ROM interface. One site had 200-399 terminals; one had 100-199; 5 had 60-99; 11 had 30-60; 23 had 16- 29; 73 had 8-15; and 93 had 2-7 terminals. A staff of 14 was committed to software maintenance and development, seven to sales and marketing; and 29 to other customer support. Major enhancements during the year included the release of the PC server running UNIX System V. New acquisitions with a sophisticated serials control module are in beta testing as of January 1993. The company maintains offices in Paris, Toulousse, Montreal, and Mississauga (Ontario), in addition to its U.S. subsidiary in Dublin, OH.
[Sobeco Ernst & Young, 505 Rene-Levesque Blvd. West, Montreal, Quebec H22 in Canada; (514) 392-7820; fax (514) 875-2673; or Multicore Library Services, 4924 Reed Road, Bldg. A, Columbus, OH 43220; (800) 753-0053; fax (614) 459-6864.]
TKM Software Limited offers only software packages. The product, known as InterLEND, is a protocol-based ILL product which was developed in conjunction with the Canadian National Library. It is new product which uses IBM PC or compatible and Digital VAX hardware. (Note: The multi-user platform product--the VAX based VMS product was just released.) Because its emphasis and the majority of sales are for PC-based systems, the company has been included with other companies in the report on vendors using DOS and Macintosh operating systems. The report will appear in the May issue.
Unisys Corporation reported that they are unable to participate in this year's survey as they have in the past due to an anticipated change in the marketing and support of the PALS product which will be announced in early 1993. The company did report that sales and installation activity in 1992 was primarily in the form of add-on software modules to existing customers. In early 1993, Dynix reported that it would assure support for the PALS product.
As reported last year, Unisys offers both turnkey systems and software only configured around the Unisys 1100/2200 machines. The product, known as PALS, uses the OS1100 and DMS 1100 operating systems with COBOL and C programming languages. Unisys PC-based library product was transferred to the Europe- Africa division in 1990 and is not reflected in this survey, as it had been in 1989. For 1991, the company reported sales of four systems, bringing its total to 37--28 in North America. The company reported revenues of $5-$10 million, but did not realize an after-tax profit. All sites were using the OPAC and report generator; 90% circulation; 60% local cataloging; 40% acquisitions and serials control; and 20% inventorying, authority control, and ILL. Sixty percent of the systems had the OCLC interface; 20% had a BiblioFile interface; and 10% had an RLIN interface. Both remote database searching and a LAN interface were in use at 20%; and 10% could interface to other systems from the same vendor. Seven sites had over 400 terminals; nine 200-399 terminals; three had 100-199; three 60-99; 13 30-60; and four had 16-29. In 1991, a staff of 6 was committed to software maintenance and development, and 8 to customer support.
[Unisys Corporation, P.O. Box 500, M/S B-240, Blue Bell, PA 19424; (215) 986-6423; fax (215) 986-6583.]
United Systems Technology, Inc. offers both turnkey systems and software only packages configured around the IBM S/36 and AS/400 hardware. The product uses the IBM SSP on the S/36 and OS/400 on AS/400 operating systems, written in RPG programming language.
The company did not respond to the survey this year. But, last year, the company reported the sale of two systems during the year, bringing its total to 13--all in North America. In 1991, the company reported revenues of $1-$2.5 million and an after-tax profit. At that time, the company reported the following in use at an undisclosed percentage of sites: online patron access catalog; circulation; local cataloging; and acquisitions. Information on the number of terminals at each site is not maintained by USTI. In 1991, 16 staff were committed to software maintenance/development, and four to other customer support.
[United Systems Technology, Inc., c/o Municipal Software Consultants, Inc., 3021 Gateway Drive, Suite 290, Irving, TX 75063; (214) 518-0728; fax (214) 580-8280.]
VTLS offers both turnkey systems and software packages using Hewlett-Packard series 3000 and IBM computers. The operating system is MPE/MPE-XL and Image on HP, and VM/SP, VM/IS, VM/XA, VM/ESA with SQL/DS on IBM, written in COBOL. The company sold 18 new systems and 22 upgrades in 1992, bringing its total to 166--97 in North America. Eight systems were awaiting installation/acceptance at year's end. VTLS's gross sales were $5-$10 million (this does not reflect the hardware revenues of Hewlett-Packard direct sales), and it did realize an after-tax profit. All sites were using local cataloging and report generator; 95% online patron access catalog; 89% circulation; 77% authority control; 64% serials control; 60% acquisitions; 50% electronic mail; 26% community information; and 2% journal citation files. Some 70% were using the OCLC interface; 30% the BiblioFile interface; 10% the RLIN and Utlas interfaces; and 2% the WLN interface. A LAN interface was used by 90%; an interface to other systems by the same vendor by 70%; and Internet interface by 48%. Six percent had an LC authorities CD-ROM interface; and 10% had remote database searching. Three sites were supporting 200-399 terminals; 12 had 100-199; 21 had 60-99; 47 had 30-60; 34 had 16-29; 17 had 8-15; and 17 had 2-7 terminals. VTLS reported that 17 staff were committed to software maintenance and development, ii to sales and marketing, and 25 to other customer support at the end of 1992. VTLS Release 1992 was specifically enhanced to include: a revamp of the OPAC--its appearance, user-friendliness, screen design, HELP screens, etc. Title authority was added.
VTLS also introduced a new product, known as InfoStation, which is both a turnkey system and software package. The following information refers only to InfoStation. It is a multi-user workstation product which runs on the NeXT Step operating system on the NeXT hardware platform. There is no DBMS and the code is written in Objective-C and some C. (As soon as NeXT Step adopts the 486, VTLS InfoStation will automatically run on 486--scheduled for the third quarter 1993.) The company sold four InfoStation systems in 1992, bringing its total to 4--3 in North America; two were to academic libraries, one to a special, and one to a school library. Two systems were awaiting installation and/or acceptance at year's end. All current customers of VTLS InfoStation also have the VTLS software. VTLS reported that one staff member was committed to software maintenance and development, 11 to sales and marketing, and 24 to other customer support at the end of 1992. VTLS is actively developing versions of InfoStation for other platforms and environments as well. It has established a business partnership with University of North Carolina at Charlotte to develop InfoStation for the SUN workstation, and with several Spanish libraries to develop InfoStation for the HP Apollo workstation. InfoStation was originally designed in 1991. Most of its capabilities were enhanced during 1992.
VTLS maintains offices in Blacksburg, Barcelona, and Helsinki, as well as additional sales offices in New York, Houston, and Fillmore (NY).
[VTLS, Inc., 1800 Kraft Drive, Blacksburg, VA 24060; (800) 468-8857 or (703) 231-3637; fax (703) 231-3648.]
