German High-Tech Firm Enters North American Marketplace

OPAL Business Solutions, a software consulting subsidiary of the German firm OPAL-EDV, opened its first North American consulting operations in the Los Angeles area recently.

The current staff of seven is projected to grow to 30 by 2001. The company chose Southern California because of its proximity to clients, which include German multimedia conglomerate Bertelsmann(a), and to the entertainment industry, a target market for the firm. In addition, the company currently maintains project locations in New York, Chicago and Phoenix, with more planned for Indianapolis and Denver.

Among OPAL's unique offerings is Data Transformation Tools, which make transferring large amounts of data to new or upgraded applications faster, easier and less costly. Depending on the size of the database and the complexity of the software, migrating data can be a tremendous undertaking, especially in end-to-end Internet environments (in which data exchanges take place between two parties by passing through a third).

Using OPAL's visual mapping tools, even nonprogrammers can transfer data at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions. Based on talks with a leading technology research firm, OPAL officials believe this is one of the few tools of its kind in the U.S., if not the industry.

OPAL is also the exclusive North American certified solutions provider for media software developed by Bertelsmann. The firm is gearing up to introduce to the nation's top media companies Solutions for Media (S4M), arguably the most advanced media application available anywhere, according to North American Managing Director Anthony E. Ghosn.

"The software, which works in a Windows environment, is far ahead of the existing mainframe and AS 400 systems used by most media companies today both in terms of functionality and flexibility," Ghosn explained.

OPAL's primary source of revenue derives from the fees it earns for implementing, integrating and customizing enterprise resource planning and database systems such as SAP, Oracle and SyBase, to name a few. The firm is also working to help clients fully participate in Internet marketplaces, such as Covisint, an alliance formed by auto makers as a way to purchase parts and supplies.

"With our new facilities in Southern California, we're bringing U.S. businesses the best of German software engineering coupled with local support and American-managed project teams," said Ghosn.

OPAL-EDV was founded in 1997 in the city of Leopoldshohe, Germany by Juergen Weiss, whose expertise lies in algorithmic mathematics and whose experience includes working with some of Germany's largest corporations and government agencies. Weiss founded OPAL Business Solutions in the spring of this year with the aim of bringing the expertise of Germany's top software engineers to the U.S. marketplace. Ghosn was the general manager of the Ontario office of Zland.com, a developer of Web-based business applications, prior to joining OPAL.

The company name, OPAL, is the acronym for "organization, programming, administration, logistics," which represents the life cycle an organization experiences when installing enterprise-wide software applications.

For more information about OPAL, contact Anthony E. Ghosn at 909-944-2569.

(a) Bertelsmann is a global multimedia enterprise with holdings that include Random House, Doubleday, BMG, as well as numerous European television networks.