Redwood City Ð ProNeXT, the loose alliance of corporate users, added several new members and reviewed with NeXT marketing developments at its July 8Ð9 meetings here.
Representatives from Swiss Bank Corporation, Systemhouse, Williams Telecommunications, and government agencies welcomed Chrysler Financial Corporation to the group, according to sources. McCaw Cellular will also join, although it didn't send a representative to these meetings.
Attendees in general told NeXT to ramp up the beta testing of Insignia Solutions' SoftPC, which is scheduled to be bundled into NEXTSTEP 3.2 and is cited as a strong incentive for business users to use the OS. "In the real world, in major companies, it's not NEXT-STEP, it's not NeXT's solvency. It's SoftPC," one source said.
The group also discussed new technical developments, the 3.2 shipping schedule, updates about its new Object¥Enterprise comarketing strategy with HP, and the success of the NEXTSTEP Evaluation Kit. Hard numbers are not in yet from the promotion, a source said, but the qualitative evidence was encouraging. Pro-NeXT members voiced support for NeXT's new marketing initiatives and in-house public-relations strategy.