SCO divides to conquer

Unix veteran Santa Cruz Operation has split into three divisions in an attempt to boost turnover and fend off the threat from Linux.

Unix veteran Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) has split into three divisions in an attempt to boost turnover and fend off the threat from Linux.

In a statement, SCO admitted it expects to report a "significant loss" for the second quarter ended 31 March. The prediction follows a warning in January about poor results.

Douglas Michels, SCO's chief executive, blamed the vendor's problems on millennium bug concerns. "I am disappointed the Unix software market has not recovered as we expected following the Y2K period," he said.

Barry Walker, regional director for SCO UK, said the profit warning should come as no surprise as January and February usually are slow months.

However, Martin Brampton, senior analyst at Bloor Research, claimed Linux is a bigger factor than millennium bug fears in SCO's poor sales. He said the decision to split into three "makes sense as each section has different prospects".

Walker said the decision to create an independent division for SCO's Tarantella Web solution, the server and Internet professional unit, signals the vendor's plans to "fully exploit Tarantella's potential". He said Tarantella should begin "kicking in volume" during 2000.