Iona sharpens focus on customers and products in bid to deliver value

IONA TECHNOLOGIES has made significant progress over the last 12 months and is well-placed to deliver value in the future, shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting heard yesterday.

Iona co-founder and chief executive Dr Chris Horn said it had sharpened its focus on customers and products and strengthened its management team to cope with the challenges ahead. He said Iona’s new Artix product, which aims to integrate different computer platforms and cut customers’ IT-related costs, would provide significant opportunities in the future.

“I am greatly encouraged by the energy and focus of the Iona team and the positive feedback we continue to receive from our customers and prospects, who consistently tell us that Artix delivers unique business value,” said Dr Horn.

Analysts expected Artix to provide a significant boost to revenues but were disappointed when Iona issued a profit warning earlier this summer. Iona said customers remained cautious on IT spending and that this had affected Artix sales.

But Dr Horn said the company was at an advanced stage in Artix projects with American telecom giants BellSouth, AT&T and Sprint, as well as financial and medical services companies in Europe. The company announced earlier this week that mobile video company 3 Italy had selected Iona as its partner for a major IT system project. Chief operating officer Peter Zotto told shareholders that the company had beefed up its sales and marketing functions and had established relationships with independent software vendors and systems integrators. Mr Zotto said Iona would do all that was necessary to continue to innovate and ensure that the company’s core CORBA product remained a market leader. It appointed two senior executives earlier this year to head up revamped corporate marketing and worldwide sales functions.

Iona shares rose almost 5% to $3.58 on New York’s NASDAQ yesterday. The stock has retreated from the $8 level seen before the profit warning earlier this year but is comfortably ahead of the $1.30 low reached last year. It traded at an all-time high of $101 at the height of the technology boom in 2000 before shedding 98% of its value over the next three years.