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SUBJECT: IBM AND DEC COLLABORATE ON NET MANAGEMENT
SOURCE: ZiffWire via First! by INDIVIDUAL, Inc.
DATE: August 20, 1993
INDEX: [1]
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PC Week via First! : IBM and Digital Equipment Corp. will make public this
week an agreement to create a version of IBM's NetView/6000 AIX-based
integrated management platform for DEC's Alpha systems running the OSF/1
operating system.
As part of the agreement, the two vendors will also work together to meld
their respective third-party developer programs for NetView/6000 and for
DEC's Polycenter suite of network and systems management tools, according to
sources close to the two firms. The agreement will be announced at the
InterOp show in San Francisco.
The two giants are hoping to encourage developers to create more robust
management applications, a key requirement in managing enterprise networks.
"They are both bringing technology to the party," said a source close to
the firms. "Some of those [management] apps will get transformed to use the
new API so DEC apps can run on the IBM box and vice versa."
The work that the two vendors are collaborating on could extend to other
players as well, hinted a second source.
"When you tell vendors to use my database and my map API, they say I can't
deal with all these APIs from all these vendors," said the source. "There
are significant agreements that will take place to try to normalize those
APIs and raise the sophistication of integration they can accomplish without
raising the cost."
Officials at IBM and at DEC of Maynard, Mass., declined to comment on the
announcement.
Paula Musich, PC Week
[08-20-93 at 22:07 EDT, Copyright 1993, ZiffWire, File: c0820051.4zf]
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S50419.TXT
Digital and IBM Relationship for Network and System Management
Contacts:
Dennis Biedrzycki, DTN 381-1064, (603) 881-1064, ZKO
Bill Gassman, DTN 381-2299, (603) 881-2299, ZK0
HIGHLIGHTS
o This Digital and IBM relationship includes licensing of NetView/6000, and
acting as partners for joint development engineering, joint ISV program,
and joint marketing
o Digital's new POLYCENTER NetView product will be the network management
solution as well as the next generation framework for integrating system
and network management applications on Alpha AXP systems
o Availability expected in the first quarter of 1994
CUSTOMER PROBLEM
The growth of client/server computing has stretched existing system and
network management solutions to the point where customers recognize the need
for integrated management systems to automate and simplify day-to-day
operations. While many integrated management frameworks have been
introduced by a growing array of vendors, the industry's interest has
focused around the promise of the OSF Distributed Management Environment
(DME). This effort, however, has been slow to deliver; the first release
has been delayed, with the expectation of "real" OSF DME management
applications being available in 1995.
In the meantime, HP's OpenView and IBM's NetView/6000 (which is an
enhancement of HP's OpenView) have emerged as the de facto industry
standards for network management and as integrated management frameworks.
ISVs have written many applications which utilize these OpenView based
frameworks. Many other vendors, including Digital, have continued to offer
their own frameworks and network management products. This has fragmented
the industry and limited the ability of application developers to solve the
customer problem of managing the client/server computing environment.
DIGITAL SOLUTION
Digital recognizes the current state of the system and network management
industry and has entered into a relationship with IBM to jointly offer the
industry's most advanced implementation of an OpenView based management
platform. This relationship will move the industry forward by increasing
the support for existing OpenView based products, and will attract even more
ISVs. IBM's NetView/6000 has received top ratings in independent lab tests
published in Communications Week and LAN Computing for its user interface
and features.
NetView/6000 will be ported to DEC OSF/1 on Alpha AXP systems and is
expected in the first quarter of 1994. This new Digital product will be
marketed as POLYCENTER NetView. The Digital-IBM relationship will also
produce management solutions for Windows NT on both Alpha AXP and Intel
FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY
systems (targeted for 1994), followed by OpenVMS on Alpha AXP systems.
The Digital and IBM relationship is comprehensive and includes licensing of
NetView/6000, joint engineering development, a joint ISV program, and joint
marketing. Beyond porting the NetView/6000 to Digital platforms, the joint
engineering effort will include enhancing the product. These enhancements
will include managing the Digital networking environment, as well as adding
other advanced management functionality. Digital and IBM will be shipping
identical products and all new releases will be made available
simultaneously.
Digital and IBM will combine their POLYCENTER Partner and NetView/6000
Associates programs for ISVs. Through this joint ISV program, Digital and
IBM will increase the quantity and quality of ISVs. With three major
computer vendors supporting the same standard, ISVs will have a more viable
market for their applications, and a strong business case for developing on
POLYCENTER NetView. Existing IBM NetView/6000 associates will be encouraged
to support Digital's POLYCENTER NetView by initially porting their
applications to DEC OSF/1 on Alpha AXP systems. Joint marketing will
include announcement and promotional activities, and a combined ISV catalog.
TeMIP, Digital's standards-based management solution for Telecom networks
will continue development and be ported to DEC OSF/1, delivering on existing
commitments. TeMIP will also take advantage of POLYCENTER NetView to move
to the OSF DME faster and enhance its functionality.
CUSTOMER BENEFITS
Digital customers will benefit from having a broad range of ISV applications
running on Alpha AXP based systems, the industry's most powerful processor.
The ease of porting to DEC OSF/1 will attract the large majority of OpenView
"ready" management applications. The "hot" performance of Alpha AXP systems
will attract ISVs who need more powerful systems for their applications and
also allow many different applications to reside on a single system.
Current POLYCENTER customers will also benefit from this partnership and the
increased choice in ISVs. Through the joint engineering development effort,
POLYCENTER NetView will be enhanced to provide many of the capabilities
currently available on the existing POLYCENTER Framework, POLYCENTER,
Network Manager 200 and 400, and the POLYCENTER SNMP Manager 300. This will
allow POLYCENTER customers to enjoy enhanced functionality with a product
based on de facto industry standards, and with a broader choice of ISV
management applications.
PRICING/ORDERING INFORMATION
Special pricing and incentive programs will be available at product
announcement for existing POLYCENTER customers who are interested in using
the new POLYCENTER NetView product. Migration tools and services are
planned to help customers who decide to move to this new product.
RESOURCES
Internal
Within the next few months, further details will be provided as part of the
product announcement. A White Paper on this partnership is available in the
POLYCENTER public directory:
VINO::POLYCENTER$PUBLIC:[SALES_TOOLS]POLYCENTER_ NETVIEW.TXT. This public
directory also has copies of the Communications Week and LAN Computing
FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY
articles on NetView/6000. In addition, a customer presentation is available
through OPAL.
External
Contact the authors for additional information.
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IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines
Corporation.
OSF is a registered trademark of Open Software Foundation, Inc.
NetView is a registered trademark of International Business Machines
Corporation.
Intel is a trademark of Intel Corporation.
OpenView is a trademark of Hewlett-Packard Company.
FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY
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| Well, it is not quite right, but as you can see from the Sales Update
information it has a lot of truth. Look in the VINO::POLYCENTER
notes conference for more information (note 173, I think).
This information was intended to be Digital Confidential until the program
announcement today at InterOP. We thought that the DVN last week was worth
the risk, but apparently someone was not able to resist the temptation
to leak this to Computerworld. That detracts from the formal announcement,
and gives, for example, HP time to prepare a response.
-- Erik
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