ORBiT International won’t be merging with German software supplier SER, after the German firm announced it signed a letter of intent in August 1998 to acquire ORBiT.

ORBiT CEO Paul Meszaros reported that his company has declined an offer of a merger with the German data storage management firm. ORBiT makes the Backup/3000 software for MPE/iX systems and for HP 9000 systems. The company also sells the Hourglass 2000 Year 2000 testing tool from Allegro Consultants, as well as the TimeShift 2000 data aging and analysis product from G.R. Helm Information Services.

Meszaros said ORBiT and SER “will attempt to find other avenues of cooperation. While a merger with SER would have provided certain benefits like economies of scale, the decision to remain independent will allow ORBiT to focus its research and development efforts on the new generation of HP 3000 computers, and on continuing to serve the market with superior backup utilities and Y2K testing tools.”

Industry sources said that SER wanted to acquire ORBiT to gain a foothold in the revived HP 3000 marketplace for its own document management system product ITA, already installed at IBM AS/400 and mainframe sites. SER also planned to take ORBiT’s Backup product into the Windows NT market. SER’s Web site reported that ORBiT’s 1997 revenues were 12.5 million German marks, about $7.5 million US dollars.

ORBiT, a privately held firm, said it serves over 4,000 HP customers around the world. Major customers include Ford, 3M, Coca-Cola, Volkswagen, BP, Shell and McDonald Douglas. Meszaros said that after some tough times in the 3000 market a few years ago, the company is riding the rebound of 3000 business to new sales heights.

“We’re enjoying more success now than ever,” he said. ”Ironically, this will be our best year in the 15 years we’ve been on the planet. It’s ironic when you think that five years ago we were wondering how long we could stay alive, while everyone was putting nails in the coffin of the HP 3000.”

ORBiT won’t be dropping its HP 9000 product line to focus exclusively on HP 3000 solutions. “We got into the 9000 product line largely as a result of our existing [3000] customers saying, ‘Do you have anything for me on HP-UX?’ “ Meszaros said. “But I don’t see any deviation from our core business, especially with the resurgence of business in the HP 3000. It’s very encouraging to us.”

The company remains a leading source of HP 3000 development talent, with several members of the HP 3000 Masters group of programmers employed there. Having such resources at hand is making ORBiT popular with companies which have moved on to other platforms and need to find a home for their HP 3000 customers.

Meszaros said ORBiT has been approached by other companies that “have made the shift into other platforms and have a legacy group of [3000] customers that they are in a quandary about what to do with. There’s some opportunities for companies like us who have started and stayed in the 3000 arena.”