For SirsiDynix, All Systems Lead to Rome

The future of SirsiDynix has been marked with questions since the two megavendors merged in 2005. The questions now may have been answered. Although Sirsi was dominant, both vendors’ legacy and flagship systems received continued support, but everyone knew that it was only a matter of time before either Sirsi’s Unicorn or Dynix’s Horizon won out. The time has come. SirsiDynix announced in early March the fourth-quarter debut of a new platform, tentatively dubbed Rome, that is based on Unicorn, although the vendor said that parts of Horizon 8.0 and Corinthian also will be present.

Rome is the result of some soul-searching following the vendor’s 2006 purchase by Vista Equity Partners. “Over the last month or so,” said marketing and sales support director Tom Gates, “we’ve taken a close look at where we are as a company and how well positioned we are to help libraries meet their needs. Frankly, we found ourselves wanting in a number of areas.” Company officers realized that from “a packaging, a new release of software, a terminology, and [an]organizational structure standpoint, we had too many products we were attempting to bring to market to be successful,” Gates said.

With the need for change in mind, SirsiDynix set a goal to create a new platform that encompasses “the full range of library technology building blocks,” said Gates. It had to “incorporate the core ILS functions libraries and consortia need to run their operations and manage their resources; include 'user experience solutions’ such as portal and search technologies”; and address “the broader definition of content management: ERM, the back-end management, and the front end, as well as managing digital assets and digital objects for public consumption.” Another objective was getting it to market ASAP.

In determining which system to use as the platform’s base, Talin Bingham, chief technical officer, said the company looked at all its solutions to decide what features it needed, how fast it could get a product to market, and the most cost benefits from a resource, dollar, and market sales perspective. “The fundamental answer is that Unicorn, with where it’s at today, the legs it has, and the quality aspect [made it] night-and-day different as far as time to market,” said Bingham.

“We have six different ILS systems in support mode and two to three in active development at all times,” Bingham said, “and it’s been very interesting how we’re trying to approach that and be all things to all people. This Rome platform is how we’re going to do it.” SirsiDynix has developed migration plans for its customers running everything from Unicorn, Horizon 7X, and Horizon 8 to the die-hards still clinging to DRA and Dynix Classic. “For all of them,” said Bingham, “the way forward is Rome.”

Gates insists that the company is “not end of lifing Unicorn/Horizon 7X products. Our customers can remain on those products if they choose. We’re not forcing our customers to do anything.” However, future R&D efforts will be focused on Rome. As for Horizon 8, “We’re taking all its features and capabilities and making them part of Rome,” said Gates. Rome’s search engine is still in development but will be released this year as “a combination of existing and new technology and a third-party search engine.”

The vendor firmly believes that Rome will allow it “to develop the promises we’ve talked about for years.”