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Happy Birthday Dynix!

Peter Evans
Published in: Biblio-Tech Review, August 27, 2003

I first came across Dynix in 1984 - Biblio Tech was then building their own systems. Realising that it would be better to distribute Dynix than compete, we brought the system to the UK where its features and flexibility soon brought in academic and public library customers.

The original PICK operating system and database has since given way to a more mainstream environment but the innovation has returned recently to boost the prospects of Dynix for the future.

The 20th Anniversary of Dynix has brought forward a list of industry "firsts" to show the influence on the industry that the company has had. Here they are:

First Windows catalogue (PAC for Windows)
First Web-based catalogue (WebPAC)
First single interface to multiple databases (VISTA)
First user authentication software (RPA)
First electronic interface between the library and a collection agency (Horizon Debt Collect)
First electronic ordering/receiving interface (BISAC)
First client/server automation system for libraries (Horizon Information Management System)
First to implement interactive, Web-based training for customers
First to test NCIP information transfer between two disparate systems
First user interface with self-service checkout
First telephone messaging system for libraries with automatic renewals
First user-placed holds through the public catalogue

AND I think they were the first to release an ISO 10160/61 compliant ILL system – RSS.

2003 highlights and the future

The year 2003 has seen Dynix begin to re-gain the momentum lost during the nineties. New customer sales in the first 7 months are up by 243 percent on last year and a number of the key functional differences between the classic Dynix and Horizon have been rectified. This, along with the streamlined migration of systems from the old to the new, has meant that fewer libraries have "jumped ship" from Dynix.

Jim Wilson, one of the founders 20 years ago, has returned as library advisor and will add the reassurance factor to many of the older customers whose systems are coming up to a "must renew" situation.

The new Dynix Institute has been successful with over 2,000 librarians participating in a series of on-line presentations from industry specialists.

Replication of the first dizzy years of Dynix is probably not on the cards and not required at this stage. Consolidation of the customer base and product to provide solid technical foundations for the next phase is what is required – and it looks like we are getting it.