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SCO Group works to revive product line, reputation(Salt Lake Tribune, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Apr. 13--The SCO Group wants the world to know it is more than just that little Utah software company suing IBM for allegedly copying UNIX code into the freely distributed Linux operating system. The Lindon-based SCO is seeking a $5 billion payoff from its 3-year-old federal case against Big Blue. But over the past year, the company has sought to revitalize both its product line and reputation as a serious, corporate-level software vendor. This week alone, SCO released its new OpenServer 6 in China, hoping to build on a promising clientele of banking institutions there, and the company also unveiled an ambitious schedule of seminars in cities across the United States, Canada, Europe and India. SCO spokesman Blake Stowell acknowledged Wednesday that his company is stressing anew that it "continues to upgrade its UNIX products and introduce new mobile technologies to the marketplace." Since filing its IBM suit in March 2003, and in subsequent Linux-related complaints involving RedHat, Novell, AutoZone and DaimlerChrysler, SCO has spent tens of millions of dollars on legal fees. That has been a hefty drag on the company's bottom line: Last year, SCO recorded $34.5 million in revenue, less than half the $79.2 million of 2003; net losses for fiscal 2005 were $12.35 million, compared with a profit of $5.4 million two years before. "While our legal teams are focused on the company's litigation with IBM and protecting SCO's intellectual property, we're focusing our energies on what we can control, which is developing, marketing, selling and supporting our products," Stowell said. "Ultimately, that's what customers care about." Analysts wonder. Until a scheduled February 2007 trial concludes, some suspect that the IBM case will remain a negative-image albatross dangling from SCO's corporate neck. "SCO will continue to have problems recreating itself as long as the IBM litigation is out there," said Rob Enderle of Enderle & Associates. "I doubt people will take them seriously on much of anything until that is settled; it's all too closely tied to the brand now." Laura DiDio of the Yankee Group counters that the company's efforts to focus on its business are "both laudable and necessary." Despite its recent release of critically acclaimed software upgrades, DiDio says, the hard fact remains that SCO's bottom line has been a deep red for years. "The company needs to reverse that trend and do it quickly. SCO is making all the right moves, but the proof will be in the cash register," she said. Such proof could be in the offing. Tim Negris, the Lindon-based company's executive vice president for worldwide sales and marketing, said SCO already has found new customers in China's largest banks and other institutions. Among the company's Chinese clientele are the People's Bank of China, the Bank of China, the China Post, China Life Insurance Co., the Agricultural Bank of China, Shenzhen Development Bank and China Minsheng Banking Corp. The ATIP Research Group recently predicted annual revenue growth for China's information technology sector of 17 percent through 2009. Closer to home, the company's 2006 North America City-to-City Tour promises a series of seminars, training and sales tool demonstrations built around the company's new Me Inc. mobile services and SCAMP solutions products. Jeff Hunsaker, SCO's senior vice president for sales, said two seminars will be packed into each stop. The first will focus on helping businesses use Me Inc., while the second will offer SCO's SCAMP -- a fully integrated software package that includes the UNIX operating system, the Apache web server, MySQL database and Perl and PHP scripting languages. "The City-to-City Tour and corporate campaign will give our solution partners and customers a first-hand look at some of the innovative technologies that we've recently introduced to the market," Hunsaker said. The exhibitions begin next Monday through Wednesday at the DTR Conference in Las Vegas and reprise April 24-27 at the National Association of Broadcasters Conference, also in Las Vegas. Subsequent seminars are set at numerous locations in India, Germany, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Toronto and other cities. The announcement won investors' endorsement: SCO stock closed Wednesday at $4.94 per share, up 36 cents, or 8 percent. Recreating SCO: Refocused, SCO Group unveils a suite of software and services for a global clientele, heralding market expansion into China with release of OpenServer 6. Closer to home, SCO unveils plans for a promotional tour of U.S. cities; stops also planned in Europe, Canada and India. Analysts are mixed on whether the promotional campaign can successfully divert attention from SCO's ongoing Linux-related lawsuits. |