Wang Forms an Alliance With Software Giant

Troubled computer maker Wang Laboratories Inc. announced an alliance Thursday with software giant Computer Associates International Inc. under which Computer Associates will use Wang’s computer imaging technology.

Wang will also provide software and equipment to Computer Associates’ mainframe computer customers, the companies said.

Financial terms of the agreement weren’t revealed.

In June, Wang announced a major alliance with International Business Machines Corp. Under it, Wang will curtail its own computer making in favor of selling relabeled IBM computers.

Wang has undergone layoffs and other cutbacks in recent years and has reported steep losses. The Lowell, Mass.-based company pioneered office word processing in the 1970s, but its minicomputer-based systems lost favor to personal computers in the 1980s.

Wang reported a loss of $385.5 million on revenue of $2.09 billion in the fiscal year ended June 30.

Wang has staked much of its future on imaging, in which paper-based documents such as letters or customer records are converted into computer code and stored electronically. These images can be retrieved on high-resolution computer screens.

Under the alliance, Wang hopes to sell to Computer Associates customers its desktop computers, image storage devices called optical jukeboxes and associated software.

William Ferry, a Wang senior vice president, told a New York news conference that the alliance should “bring substantial revenue in calendar year 1992.”

Computer Associates, based in Garden City, N.Y., is a leading maker of software for mainframe computers. It also makes software for minicomputers and personal computers made by IBM, Data General Corp., Digital Equipment Corp. and other companies.

Kurt Seibert, a Computer Associates vice president, said the company searched for several months for a partner to provide imaging technology, which it does not now offer. He said his company’s customers, which include many manufacturers, want imaging technology but don’t want to have to rewrite their software.

Under the agreement, Computer Associates will integrate Wang’s imaging software into existing Computer Associates products. These should be available in the first quarter of next year, Seibert said.

In the past year, Computer Associates announced alliances with computer makers Hewlett-Packard Co. and Apple Computer Inc. The company also has expanded through acquisitions. In recent months it has announced the purchases of On-Line Software International and Pansophic Systems Inc.

Alliances are becoming commonplace in the computer industry, faced with declining sales due to the recession and a profit squeeze as computer hardware becomes virtually interchangeable.