Since Dynix and NOTIS were already wholly owned subsidiaries of Ameritech, the announcement last month that the two companies had been consolidated into a single entity with Dynix president Paul Sybrowsky as President, was not a great surprise. The new company, Ameritech Library Services, will be organized around a Library Systems group and an Information Services group.
The Library Systems group will consist of four divisions focusing on sales and support of automated library management systems for different types of libraries. Those divisions are: public library division (Dynix); academic library division (NOTIS); special library division (Marquis); and school library division (Scholar). Each division will continue to operate out of its respective offices. Customers outside the United States will be served by the existing international offices. The consolidation follows by only a few months the combination of sales efforts for the academic library market under NOTIS so that potential customers would not be confused by the availability of three products: Dynix, Dynix Marquis, and NOTIS Horizon.
The Information Services group will consolidate products and services that deliver information content. This group includes Vista providing access services and document delivery for information databases; Internet and Z39.50 access products such as WinGopher and WinPAC; Retro Link Associates (RLA) for retrospective conversion and database services; and GeneSys for distribution of genealogical databases.
The reorganization led to a change in title and the departure of Jane Burke as President of NOTIS. Burke has been replaced by Maribeth Ward, a long-term employee of NOTIS Systems, with the new title of Vice President of the Academic Division of Ameritech Library Services.
George Bateman, Vice President of Sales, is responsible for overseeing sales and sales support for all divisions except schools. K-12 sales will continue with Scholar under the direction of Vice President Bernadette Razevska. Roger Sloan has been named Executive Vice President to oversee financial and administrative areas for the newly structured company.
The timing of the announcement, coming just before the American Library Association's Annual Meeting, has been attributed to the fact that NOTIS Horizon, the new client/server product being developed by NOTIS, was much less complete than expected. Rather than being available this summer, it would have taken nine or more months to complete the products sufficiently to deliver and install it. Rather than keep 30 customers waiting, and delaying a general roll-out, the decision was to merge the best of the Dynix Marquis and NOTIS Horizon products into a new product using the design requirements developed in consultation with NOTIS customers. Dynix Marquis, which is a relatively mature client/server product, has had its greatest success in the special library market, but it has recently been sold to several academic libraries. The addition of functionality to more fully meet the needs of the academic library market may take up to three months.
Having recently examined both Dynix Marquis and NOTIS Horizon as part of his research for a Library Technology Reports-sponsored study on client/server products, the contributing editor's view is that the move is a good one. It did not make sense for Ameritech to commit development efforts to two client/server products, especially at a time when the market for this type of system is still developing. Either Dynix Marquis or NOTIS Horizon could have been developed to serve the needs of both the academic and special library markets—the two markets which have demonstrated the greatest interest in the technology. Had NOTIS Horizon been closer to completion, the choice of Dynix Marquis would have been more difficult.
Despite the wisdom of the move, the timing was unfortunate. The rumors at the ALA Annual Conference were numerous and often ridiculous. One person was repeatedly heard to say that three customers had already cancelled their contracts and committed to another vendor. After 16 years in academic library administration, the contributing editor can't believe a library director can cancel one contract and commit to another in 24 to 72 hours. Decisions like this involve many people.
Obviously, things will have to be sorted out and Ameritech will undoubtedly suffer a setback as the result of discontinuing development of NOTIS Horizon, reducing the independence of NOTIS, and terminating Jane Burke. Some contracts will be cancelled, although not as quickly as the rumors at ALA suggested, and there will be greater caution in the market for the next several months. On the other hand, the damage would have been even greater had the delivery of NOTIS Horizon been delayed well into 1995.
If, by September 1994, Ameritech can roll-out a new client/server product based on Dynix Marquis which conforms to the NOTIS Horizon design requirements, 1995 could be a good year for the product and the company.
[Contact: Ameritech Library Services, 400 Dynix Drive, Provo, UT 84604; (801) 223-5200 or (800) 288-8020; Fax (801) 223-5202.]
