Between 1993 and 1999, 50 Dynix libraries migrated to Horizon, epixtech's client/server product. The pace in 2000 has increased significantly, leading to a projection that 35 to 50 more libraries will sign migration contracts before the end of the year, although a majority of those who have already signed appear to be waiting as long as a year to undertake the actual migration.
The increased pace appears to be because epixtech has recently detailed its plans. Specifically, all the features of Dynix not now in Horizon will be incorporated into Horizon, recently renamed “Horizon with Sunrise.” The first release of Horizon with Sunrise, numbered 6.0, is being distributed beginning this month.
The circulation and patron access catalog modules are substantially complete; work is underway on acquisitions and serials control—with completion of acquisitions as long as 15 months away. Features available in Horizon that were not in Dynix include: capture of MARC records via Z39.50; real-time record indexing; editing of diacritics using a pull-down diacritics menu; customized screens and data displays without calling the vendor; local creation and modification of the MARC loading profiles; a proxy-borrowing feature to connect child records to parents; the date an item was renewed; pre-search limiting; search restriction to view only items that are current on the shelf; proximity, adjacency, advanced Boolean, and broadcast searching using the new iPAC; and customizing of the PAC to meet the needs of different users and various collections.
ConnectLib products, such as PC Reliance, TeleCirc II, 3M SelfCheck, RSS/URSA, WebPAC, PAC for Windows, and Net Connect that have been used with Dynix, can be used with Horizon with Sunrise.
A library need not replace the hardware unless it is four or five years old, but a library does have to replace the database management system with Sybase.
Horizon with Sunrise staff clients will not run on Windows 95!98; they require Windows 2000 or Windows NT. Both operating systems require higher-level PCs, preferably a 500 MHz machine with at least 128 MB of RAM.
Use only parallel receipt printers; serial receipt printers do not work with Horizon.
Portable terminals can be used for inventory but not for circulation backup, so use PC Reliance, the PC-based circulation backup product.
Most libraries will require about seven days of onsite training in the new software. The actual cutover time between systems is about 72 hours.
[Contact: epixtech, inc., 400 W. 5050 North, Provo, UT 84604-5650; telephone: 801-223-5200 or 800-223-5413; fax: 801-223-5202; Web: www.epixtech.com.]
