UNIXWARE/OPENSERVER WATCH
An occasional publication from UTG, Inc.
THE "AT LAST!" ISSUE -- VOL. 1, #12 -- MAY 7, 1996
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IN THIS ISSUE:
+ SCO, INTEL GARNER INDUSTRY-WIDE SUPPORT FOR SCO UNIXWARE
+ UTG MEMBERS LEAD THE WAY TOWARD INTEGRATION OF NT AND UNIX SYSTEM TECHNOLOGIES
+ UTG'S MEMBERS SPEAK -- "SOFTLY!"
+ BUT WHAT'S SCO DONE LATELY? THE INTERNET AND SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT!
+ USENIX, UNIFORUM TEAM ON SECURITY CONFERENCE
+ UTG EVANGELISM IN ACTION!
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SCO, INTEL GARNER INDUSTRY-WIDE SUPPORT FOR SCO UNIXWARE
On April 23, SCO, Intel and seven leading computing hardware companies (five of
which are UTG members) announced their support for SCO UnixWare as THE UNIX
System implementation for Intel-based enterprise computing servers. UTG members
Compaq, ICL, NCR, Olivetti and Unisys joined Data General and Siemens Nixdorf
(parent of UTG member company Pyramid Technology) in strongly endorsing SCO
UnixWare for enterprise computing, and committing to extensive support programs
for independent software vendors (ISVs) and independent hardware vendors (IHVs)
supporting and planning to support UnixWare.
The benefits: For ISVs and IHVs, a single development "target" that represents
thousands of potential customers. (IDC estimated the 1995 market for midrange
enterprise systems based on UNIX System technologies at $18 billion, with an
annual growth rate of 20 percent.) This translates into fewer ports, lower
development costs, faster times to market and the ability to focus innovation on
solutions, not operating systems. For OEMs, a greater range of interoperable
products with which to build solutions. For users, greater freedom of choice,
greater economies, and reassurances that what they buy will work with what they
have and what they plan to get.
With the announcement, SCO solidifies its plans and commitments to deliver UNIX
System technologies that are optimized for enterprise computing. UnixWare is the
first step to the "3DA" next-generation UNIX System technology being developed
by UTG member Hewlett-Packard, in concert with SCO and other industry partners.
UnixWare also becomes a critical part of many companies' strategies for
migration from proprietary, single-vendor environments to open, multi-vendor,
standards-based solutions.
UTG is working with SCO and its other members to promote and "evangelize" SCO
UnixWare, and to develop and deliver industry-wide messages that explain the
strengths and values of UnixWare and allied technologies on high-volume
enterprise computing platforms. UTG is also developing and expanding its
programs for technical collaboration among its members and other interested
companies and industry bodies. Stay tuned for more news, especially as our June
Member and Board of Directors Meetings approach. Visit our
now-constantly-evolving Web site at http://www.utg.org, or call or fax us for
more information.
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UTG MEMBERS LEAD THE WAY TOWARD INTEGRATION OF NT AND UNIX SYSTEM TECHNOLOGIES
A lot of press reports would have you view the enterprise market as a
battleground between Microsoft's Windows NT and UNIX System technologies. In
fact, a lot of users and developers will be supporting both environments for
some time to come, and will be looking to hardware and software vendors for help
in doing so.
SCO, of course, remains committed to its "Windows-friendly" strategy, and
continues to support those using Windows technologies in its client and server
products. UTG members are also evolving their strategies, to make sure their
customers and partners have clear, smooth paths toward the future.
The day after the SCO-Intel announcement, UTG member Unisys Corp. announced that
it will support both Windows NT and SCO UnixWare as strategic operating systems.
Unisys, which has long provided its own version of UNIX based on UNIX System V
Release 4 (SVR4), will offer UnixWare 2.1 for all of its Intel-based ClearPath
SMP Series servers by the end of this year's second quarter. The company's
Enterprise Communications Suite and Enterprise Peripheral Set will be available
on UnixWare 2.1 for all Intel-based ClearPath SMP servers by the end of the
third quarter of 1996, the company said.
By the way, here's some of what David McCann, marketing vice president for SMP
(symmetric multiprocessing) servers at Unisys, had to say about UnixWare and the
SCO-Intel announcement. "Over the next [six] months, Unisys will move all of its
value-added software layers to SCO UnixWare 2.1. Additionally, we will provide
the methodology to our over 30,000 SVR4 system customers to transition to the
UnixWare environment at their own pace.
"We have seen more progress in UNIX since SCO took over than we believed
possible," McCann continued. "If they fulfill their task as well as they have
begun it, there is a strong and viable future for UNIX systems. Companies
already using UNIX for their enterprise solutions should realize that the power
of Intel and the other hardware and software vendors united around SCO guarantee
its success. We have wanted this for a long time."
Meanwhile, Chen Systems -- UTG member, AIM Technology "Hot Iron" Award winner
running UnixWare and supplier of high-powered servers based on multiple Intel
processors -- has decided to support Windows NT as well as UnixWare. While
Windows NT has yet to prove its mettle as an enterprise-class server platform,
according to many industry reports and participants, users and developers are
still exploring it eagerly. Chen's strategy will support that experimentation
and implementation on state-of-the-art Intel-based server hardware, and offer
those who remain unsatisfied with NT a "safety net" in SCO UnixWare. It's not
"either/or," it's "and/both," according to the company.
UTG is also discussing with its members the best approach to addressing issues
and messages related to interoperability with Microsoft's environments. Contact
UTG directly for more information on this, or for contacts at Unisys
(http://www.unisys.com) or Chen Systems (http://www.chensys.com).
===============
UTG'S MEMBERS SPEAK -- "SOFTLY!"
Not all of UTG's member companies are hardware OEMs (original equipment
manufacturers) supporting SCO UnixWare. Some of them are ISVs supporting SCO
UnixWare! Several of these software-supplying UTG members endorsed the April 23
announcement made by SCO, Intel and others; their comments appear below,
courtesy of our colleagues at SCO.
"Micro Focus is excited by the possibilities," said Peter Katz, vice-president
of marketing for Micro Focus (http://www.microfocus.com or
http://www.mfltd.co.uk). "UnixWare will streamline the delivery of Micro Focus
COBOL which is already available on a myriad of platforms. SCO UNIX has been,
and continues to be one of our lead environments. We're looking forward to
delivering Micro Focus enterprise products on UnixWare," Katz said.
"We're excited about the strong industry support SCO has generated for SCO
UnixWare 2.1," said Marc Epstein, vice president of product management for
Novell (http://www.novell.com). "Not only is SCO UnixWare the premier UNIX
application server environment for the Intel platform, it also integrates
Novell's industry-leading global directory, file and print services. By
incorporating Novell's advanced services such as NDS [Novell Directory
Services], UnixWare provides over 60 million NetWare users with seamless
connectivity to UnixWare resources today. SCO is one of Novell's key industry
partners, and we look forward to expanding our partnership with future network
services releases."
"We applaud SCO's progress in moving to a single application binary that's
supported across multiple enterprise-class hardware environments," said Paul
Humenansky, chief operating officer of Platinum Technology Inc. [now the parent
company of UTG member Locus Computing, now known as Platinum Solutions, Inc. --
http://www.platsol.com]. "As the industry moves towards a single binary,
Platinum's systems management solutions will be there with UnixWare support for
our end users. We are also pleased to see that SCO is continuing its support of
the enterprise customer and existing UNIX installed base."
"[The] announcement is heartening to open computing advocates everywhere," said
Richard Usanis, manager of third-party relations at SAS Institute
(http://www.sas.com) and chairman of the multi-vendor ABI+ [Application Binary
Interface Plus] for Intel Architecture steering committee. "This is the
culmination of several years' effort to unify the Intel microprocessor-based
UNIX market space, which the Institute has been championing through its support
of the ABI+."
"We applaud the move to make SCO UnixWare the standard UNIX for Intel-based
enterprise servers," said Bruce Armstrong, vice president and general manager of
the Server Products Group at Sybase (http://www.sybase.com). "A single binary
supported across multiple enterprise-class hardware environments reduces our
development costs and allows us to focus on developing better next-generation
products for our customers."
These and other ISVs will help ensure that a broad, powerful range of
applications and development tools are available to those who choose SCO
UnixWare. UTG is working to garner the interest, input and support of other ISVs
for SCO UnixWare and its anticipated descendants; contact us for more
information, especially if you're an enterprise (or enterprise-bound) ISV!
===============
BUT WHAT'S SCO DONE LATELY? THE INTERNET AND SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT!
Now that SCO UnixWare is gaining momentum as an enterprise computing standard,
SCO isn't sitting on its laurels. It's touting Internet/World Wide Web solutions
based on SCO UnixWare and on SCO OpenServer. (These two environments are being
merged into "Gemini," which SCO is expected to begin shipping later this year.)
For OpenServer, SCO and Oracle Corp. (http://www.oracle.com) recently announced
Oracle WebServer 2.0 for OpenServer 5.0. This powerful, scalable solution lets
users build and manage World Wide Web sites easily and economically. It will
begin shipping in June, priced at $2,495 including tools for secure
transactions, development of applications based on SunSoft's Java and other
features. (SCO has also announced plans to license Java and include it in future
Internet Family products.) For more info, contact SCO (http://www.sco.com) or
Oracle (http://www.oracle.com).
SCO also recently announced other members of its Internet Family, which will
come to include products for SCO OpenServer and SCO UnixWare. Components of this
product family include Internet/intranet server products from Netscape
Communications, as well as Netscape's world-famous Navigator browser. SCO is
also launching an Internet Fast Start bundle, which combines a single-user
version of SCO OpenServer 5.02 with Netscape client and server software and
other tools designed to get you on the Internet quickly.
SCO also recently began shipping SCO Doctor, a systems management product for
OpenServer. SCO Doctor for Networks can manage OpenServer networks small and
large, over a LAN, a WAN or dial-up links. The server/console software is $900,
with client packs starting at $500 each or $2,200 for five.
More SCO products for the Internet, corporate intranets and systems management
are coming, some of them soon. Contact your local SCO office, visit SCO's Web
site (http://www.sco.com) or keep in contact with UTG for more information.
===============
USENIX, UNIFORUM TEAM ON SECURITY CONFERENCE
The USENIX Association and UniForum Association are co-sponsoring The 6th USENIX
UNIX Security Symposium in San Jose, Calif. from July 22 to 25. The conference
will have a special focus on applications of cryptography and their legal and
business impacts and implications. Other topics will include security and
privacy, electronic commerce, Internet/intranet firewalls and new research in
these and related areas. Also, for the first time, the Symposium will include
displays of select vendors' security offerings.
(USENIX conferences are almost purely technical in nature. The association
positions itself as a bridge between research and practical offerings, and its
members include developers, system administrators, scientists and technicians
developing the technologies the rest of us will likely be using within the next
few months and years.)
If you're interested in attending, the complete conference program and
registration materials are available on the Web at http://www.usenix.org, via
e-mail to in...@usenix.org (with the text of your message reading "send security
conference"), or via a call to the USENIX Conference office at +714/588-8649.
Press and analysts may register for free by contacting Zanna Knight via e-mail
at za...@usenix.org or via telephone at +510/528-8649. If you're interested in
becoming an exhibiting vendor, contact Cynthia Deno via e-mail at
dis...@usenix.org or via telephone at +408/335-9445.
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UTG EVANGELISM IN ACTION!
The May issue of "SCO World" magazine contains an article written by Michael
Dortch of UTG and focused on the transition from OpenServer and UnixWare to
"Gemini" and "3D" next-generation UNIX System technologies. Also, UTG is working
with Open Group and UniForum Association to develop follow-up materials and
events to our successful Open Systems Pavilion, which made its debut at
February's UniForum '96 show in San Francisco.
In addition, UTG's vice president of technology, John Carl Zeigler, is
organizing a meeting of members of the ABI+ group during UTG's Board of
Directors and Members' Meetings in June. Further, UTG is reaching out to
enterprise ISVs through an ISV Advisory Council now being formed.
These and other efforts are designed to promote and advocate UNIX System
technologies in enterprise computing solutions, and to facilitate technical
collaboration among UNIX System vendors. These are UTG's two primary focal
points, and you'll be seeing and hearing a lot more from UTG in both areas over
the coming months. Stay tuned, and contact us directly to get involved!
===============
UNIXWARE/OPENSERVER WATCH
UNIXWARE/OPENSERVER WATCH (UOW) is produced by UTG, Inc., a not-for-profit
global trade association with one purpose: to provide a forum in which member
companies promote, influence and advance the development of UnixWare and allied
technologies. Michael Dortch, UOW Editor/Vice President and Chief Evangelist,
UTG Inc., 238 5th Av., San Francisco, CA 94118-2308.
E-mail: dor...@utg.org
Phone: 415/386-2867
Fax: 415/386-9854
World Wide Web: http://www.utg.org
This publication is copyrighted May 1996 by UTG. Reproduction and distribution
freely encouraged with attribution.
UNIX is a registered trade mark in the United States and other countries,
licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Limited. All other trademarks are
the property of their respective companies.
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