Borland looks to jump in at the high end

Software Vendor aims for enterprise market.

Borland has transformed itself in a name-changing stunt designed to convince corporates that the company is a serious contender in the enterprise market.

The database vendor released re-direction plans to attack the high-end enterprise market last week, adding that it will change its name to Inprise.

The organisation will be backed by a professional services organisation (PSO). The unit will be rolled out worldwide over the next nine months, providing services including design, development and implementation of enterprise systems and architecture.

Nigel Brown, MD of Borland, said: 'Corporates didn't think Borland could offer consultancy and professional services. We've made the investment and want them to realise we are a one-stop shop for all their needs.'

At the desktop level, products will keep the Borland name, and 'business will be 100 per cent through the channel', Brown promised. 'It's business as usual with Borland Delphi, C++ and JBuilder development tools. When we move into the enterprise sector, the Inprise branding takes over Inprise Entera, Inprise VisiBroker.'

Highlighting the switch from product-orientated to systems-orientated, chairman and CEO Del Yocam said: 'Two years ago, 10 per cent of revenue came from enterprise products and services - today it is 67 per cent.

Brown said: 'There will be a different channel for the enterprise products - we won't be going through mainstream distributors. Brand new products will have two routes to market - 50 per cent will be direct through our PSO and 50 per cent through systems integrators and other partners. The SIs will do the mainstream development work, but our consultants will do the high-end stuff.'

He added: 'The corporate sales team can't sell less than #1,000 products - that's our desktop business and it goes through our mainline volume distributors.'