Iona boss predicts success

IONA Technologies boss Peter Zotto says the group’s new software solution, Artix, will return the company to the success it enjoyed with CORBA, the package that launched it worldwide.

CORBA emerged out of Trinity College and allowed different software systems to talk to each other.

It made Iona and its founder Chris Horn international names.

Then the group lost its way in the post hi-tech bubble and has struggled since. It reported its first profit of the new millennium in the first quarter of this year when shares in the group started to pick up.

They hit a hit a high of €4.80 but fell back after a series of profit warnings during the second quarter undermined credibility with the markets.

Chairman Kevin Melia, who has spent a lifetime in the hi-tech sector, believes the group has the products and marketing skills needed to deliver value to clients and investors.

Mr Melia has no wish to see the group delisted.

“It is good for the group to be publicly quoted. It gives it a public profile so that clients have full knowledge of what’s gong on in the group,” he said.

As for the bad news “we have to suck it up and get on with it,” he said.

Mr Zotta described Artix as a “value proposition” for companies who deploy it.

One international user claims to have saved between $15 million and $20m (€16m) by using the software to drive its customer server base.

Iona claims to be ahead of the curve with this latest product the same way it was with COBRA.

That claim was boosted when Gartner, one of the world’s top technology monitors, said that with Artix, Iona was back at it innovative best.

Iona holds its annual general meeting in Dublin today. Shares in the company were down 1cent at €2.65 yesterday evening.