IBM veteran draws task of ending woes in software division at Ashton-Tate Corp.

IBM veteran draws task of ending woes in software division at Ashton-Tate Corp.

David R. Proctor, after spending 23 years with IBM Corp., has been assigned the risky task of heading Ashton-Tate Corp.'s dBASE division -- a division that must ship a software product soon before the company becomes the subject of a takeover, analysts said.

Two executives have already resigned from the Torrance-based personal computer software company following the ill-fated, 1988 release of the last dBASE product, dBASE IV. Soft sales of the ambitious-but-cumbersome program have been blamed for four losing quarters in a row. Several months ago, President and Chief Operating Officer Luther Nussbaum resigned under pressure, and earlier this month, Edward M. Esber Jr. resigned as chief executive officer of the company, still unable to deliver a better version of dBASE IV.

Proctor is confident he can ship the new version of dBASE IV soon.

"[The new version of dBASE IV] is in much better shape than people think," he said.

Still, he conceded there is some degree of risk in his new position as vice president and general manager of the dBASE division. The popularity of dBASE products drove Ashton-Tate from being a garage start-up to a pioneer in personal computer software. Profit and revenues in 1988 topped out at $47.8 million and $307 million, respectively, making Ashton-Tate one of the largest personal computer software companies in the world. At year-end 1989, however, those figures fell to a loss of $28.6 million on revenues of $265.3 million -- dBASE products still representing the major portion of the revenues, 70 percent. The company lost $1 million on revenues of $57 million during the first quarter of this year.

Nonetheless, Proctor left the job security of IBM to join Ashton-Tate because he sees more growth potential in personal computer software -- especially for a new breed of higher-powered and more graphically oriented personal computers known as workstations. Although his first priority will be to ship the new version of dBASE IV, he will not put too many people on that project, he said. He will not overlook the opportunity to develop dBASE products for different computer systems, or platforms, he said.

"It's a high risk but a high return," he said. "I wouldn't have taken this job if I didn't think it would be successful."

Proctor's experience at IBM proves that he is very strong in developing products and marketing them, he said. Most recently, he set up a software unit in Japan for IBM.

"The penetration of software applications [by the U.S.] in Japan lags the penetration in Europe and the U.S.," said Proctor. "My [IBM] business grew at a substantially higher rate than the rest of the industry."

Proctor, who holds a masters degree in mathematics from Stanford University, also developed on-board space shuttle software while at IBM, a "very tough but successful contract."

Proctor cited as another positive his good relationship with William P. Lyons, the new president of Ashton-Tate. The men worked together for two years while at IBM's Baton Rouge office, he noted. Lyons is also chief operating officer.

"The key thing is the relationship I've had with Bill," said Proctor. "I think we make a good team."

Carmelo J. Santoro, chief executive officer of Silicon Systems, Tustin, was named chairman of Ashton-Tate late in April, replacing Esber. The CEO post at Ashton-Tate has not been filled.