Westport, CT Ð NeXT Computer has signed a contract with Trirex Systems, a software developer and long-time UNIX consultant located here, to offer the first off-site NeXT Developer Camp and system-administration training in the United States. Open enrollment classes will begin May 18.
"We're hoping to become the strongest support center in the Northeast," said Sonjoy Jethmalani, Trirex's vice-president. The company has been assisting strategic NeXT corporate sites, including Phibro Energy, Union Bank of Switzerland, and Preferred Health Care, to develop and implement their new systems.
Trirex has used their specific custom-application development expertise to develop a suite of "infrastructure apps" as a foundation for any major installation, according to Jethmalani. These include an alert manager, an automated software distribution system, and a network scheduler.
Trirex's consulting expertise was the key in deciding to offer training there, according to Liz Harris, NeXT's manager of customer education. "We want to make NeXT developer training accessible to all NeXT customers, so they can see past the training to prototyping, getting good designs in place to solve challenges, and improving project-management abilities. More people help to get it done faster," she said.
Instructors at the newly constructed facility will initially come from NeXT, but the company is concentrating on training instructors at Trirex and Sypac, a Toronto-based UNIX consultant and training center for Canadian users, as integral parts of the NeXT Training Consortium. The consortium, formed in 1991, signalled a shift in NeXT's after-sales strategy from simply maintaining control to taking a more proactive approach and offering direction. It also includes VARs doing software and productivity training.
NeXT will continue to offer developer and sysadmin training in Redwood City, California, and Chicago, having moved its Pittsburgh facility.
Trirex Systems is located at 315 Post Rd. W., Westport, CT 06880. Call 203/221-4600 or 800/ 765-6543.