Steve King talks of software components and mergers (2)<\/p>\n
By Zatni Arbi<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Last Monday I presented the first part of my
\nrecent interview with Steve King, Lotus Development's VP for the
\nAsia Pacific region. Here's the second part of it in which Steve
\nshared his views on worldwide networks, mergers and component
\nsoftware.<\/p>\n
ZA: Could you tell us a little bit about Lotus and AT&T joint-
\nventure?<\/p>\n
SK: Sure. We have a joint-venture with AT&T, the largest telecom
\nmunications company in the world. AT&T's part of the joint-
\nventure is providing a set of services to extend Lotus Notes. If
\nyou don't know much about Lotus Notes yet, let me briefly say
\nthat Lotus Notes let people share information across work groups
\nand across wide geographical areas. For example, many users at
\nthe multinational corporations here in Indonesia connect their
\ncomputers into their headquarters elsewhere in the world on this
\nnetwork.<\/p>\n
AT&T-Lotus joint-venture is a services-based venture that does
\nseveral things: At the simplest level, AT&T has the high-speed
\nframe-relay wide area network capability on its high-speed lines.
\nIn the frame-relay environment you have to pay per call, as you'd
\nhave to pay with a normal phone line. So, it allows people with
\nNotes servers in various places around the world to use AT&T
\nnetwork instead of building their own WANs. A lot of companies
\nfind this option attractive, because they don't have their own
\nwide-area network.<\/p>\n
The second level of the venture allows companies to connect to
\ntheir suppliers as well as to their customers in what we call
\nExtended Enterprise Applications. It provides you with a better
\nlink with your suppliers and customers so that you can serve them
\nbetter. One of the big companies that have been using these
\nservices is Compaq. Compaq has a Notes-based computer support
\nsystem that they give to their dealers and largest customers. It
\ncontains a lot of technical information on Compaq products,
\nmarketing information, pricing and a database that answers the
\ncommon questions that people ask. Using the AT&T network, the
\ndealers can connect back to Compaq to update their databases.
\nWith the Extended Enterprise system, Compaq doesn't have to
\nsupport its own wide area network that serves all of its dealers
\naround the world. Their dealers are estimated to reach 20,000 to
\n25,000 at the end of this year, which is a large number of deal
\ners.<\/p>\n
Another area is electronic publishing, which allows you to
\nconnect and update information in electronic publishing mode.
\nToday, about 70 or 80 newsletters are already available in Notes
\nformat. There will be many more, and people could call up and get
\nelectronic information.<\/p>\n
And then in the long run AT&T also sees that people will be
\nable to do electronic commerce -- that is, buying and selling
\ngoods -- across this network. People can make offers and place
\ntheir orders through it.<\/p>\n
So, the joint-venture will be providing a mix of deliverables
\nand will allow people to have better access to information. It's
\na pretty exciting joint-venture. We've just started the beta
\nversion of the system with about twelve companies in North
\nAmerica, and we're going to go public with it in North America
\nearly next year and we'll have it on the worldwide system by the
\nend of next year.<\/p>\n
ZA: I happened to read that AT&T has also entered into an
\nagreement with Novell. AT&T will provide a network, called AT&T
\nNetware Connect. Is the joint-venture between AT&T and Novell
\ncomplementary or threatening to the AT&T and Lotus joint-venture?<\/p>\n
SK: Actually, there's only one large joint-venture. The Novell
\nand AT&T venture is actually part of our deal with AT&T. We see
\nit as very complementary. It allows you to inter-network with
\nNovell LANs across the same network. What it will mean is, as
\nthey build their services, we will piggyback. We will ride on top
\nof their services and that will make the Notes piece better.<\/p>\n
We see that the Notes end of it as providing very high-end
\nservices, as Notes handles multimedia very well and is very user-
\nfriendly. Notes allows you to build applications very
\nefficiently, and the Netware piece will be very good for lower-
\nlevel services, such as IDE services.<\/p>\n
If you were AT&T, you'd have Novell and you'd have Lotus and
\nsuddenly you'd have a very powerful set of services that you
\ncould offer to your customers. So we see the Novell-AT&T joint-
\nventure as very complementary. And, if you look at the structure
\nof this joint-venture, it is actually a three-way collaboration
\nbetween AT&T, Lotus and Novell.<\/p>\n
ZA: The reason I was wondering about potential conflicts between
\nthese two joint-ventures was the fact that WordPerfect -- now
\nowned by Novell -- was reportedly working on something similar to
\nLotus Notes. WP has been working on what it calls AppWare, which
\nis targeted at the same audience as Lotus Notes. Don't you think
\nWP's AppWare, when it's available, will become a threat to Lotus
\nNotes?<\/p>\n
SK: There are two answers to this question. As far as the AT&T
\ndeal is concerned, there will be no problem because we're the
\nAT&T partner above the network layer. So, whatever WordPerfect as
\npart of its merger with Novell builds, the shelf space is gone.
\nAT&T is already committed to us for the layer above the network
\nlayer. So there's no threat there.<\/p>\n
In the broader market, we'll have to wait and see what they
\ncome up with. But we have been in the market for several years,
\nwe have a large customer base and we have a technical lead.
\nWordPerfect is not announcing anything that we don't already
\nhave, whereas we're already working for the future. We've got an
\nenormous lead. Therefore, I'm not too concerned about it today.<\/p>\n
ZA: Several mergers that have been happening in the software
\nindustry lately have made me worried. Symantec has merged with
\nCentral Point Software, and that leaves the future of two best
\nWindows utilities uncertain. Aldus and Adobe have merged, and
\nalready FreeHand users as well as creator (Altsys) feel uneasy
\nabout it. In fact, Altsys, maker of FreeHand, has filed a lawsuit
\nagainst Aldus as it believes the future of FreeHand has been
\njeopardized by the merger. What do you think is going on in the
\nsoftware industry?<\/p>\n
SK: We are now in the stage of rapid consolidation. The software
\nindustry is rapidly consolidating itself. There are going to be
\nvery few left. There'll be room only for two to three major
\nplayers, and some room for smaller players like Symantec. It'll
\nbe hard for new companies to make their entry, because they won't
\nhave the marketing capability that the major players have.
\nBesides, the technical complexities in building today's software
\nproduct makes it extremely hard to start a successful software
\ncompany today.<\/p>\n
I read about a new word processing program the other day and I
\nsaid to myself, \"Well, this product could be fabulous, but it's
\nain't gonna matter.\" Why? Because the new company will not have
\nthe marketing power to compete with Lotus, Microsoft or WordPer
\nfect. There is good news and bad news about this. The good news
\nis that you'll get first-class support from the major vendors;
\nthe bad news is that you'll have less choice.<\/p>\n
All industries go through this stage. In the 1920s, there were
\n300 car makers in North America. Today we only have three. In the
\nsoftware industry, the same thing will happen. It may hamper
\ninnovation, but we can't help it.<\/p>\n
ZA: I also read a rumor that Lotus had contemplated buying out
\nWordPerfect before this word processor giant struck a deal with
\nNovell. Is this true?<\/p>\n
SK: Well, it's actually already on public record at this point.
\nYes, we did think it over as WordPerfect effectively auctioned
\nitself. We were interested in the company since it had a very
\nlarge customer base, consisting of very loyal customers. But
\nNovell made a much higher bid than we did. However, we were not
\nthe only party that became interested in it, although we don't
\nreally know for certain who the other bidders were.<\/p>\n
ZA: Component software seems the way to go in the future. It
\nallows the users to buy the software that he actually needs for
\nhis work. Do you think that component software will soon replace
\nthe suites or bundles that are now leading the market?<\/p>\n
SK: At the moment the Suites and Offices market have established
\nthemselves in the software sales. Microsoft claims that it earns
\nabout 60 to 70 percent of its revenue from its Office segment,
\nand we don't have any reason to doubt it. At Lotus, we ourselves
\nget over a little than a half of our sales coming from our Smart
\nSuites. The suites and bundles have really taken over the desk
\ntop.<\/p>\n
There are a lot of reasons for this, including price,
\nconsistency across applications and the ability to easily
\ntransport data back and forth. Price, according to some research
\nthat has been done, is actually the main driving force that makes
\nSuites and Offices so attractive.<\/p>\n
If we look further, however, it gets trickier. Even today, if
\nyou look at 1-2-3 Release 5.0 and Approach, what you see is
\nactually two products built in a way that from the user's
\nstandpoint it appears to be one product. Yet building component
\nsoftware is not easy, as part of the engine will have to be
\nshared by the components. This is a very complex thing to do. I
\nagree that component software will become the trend in the long
\nrun, but at least in the coming few years, say in four to five
\nyears, suites and bundles will continue to be the dominant part
\nof the software market.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/steve-king-talks-of-software-components-and-mergers-2-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}