THE OPEN GROUP ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF UNIX® 98 PRODUCT STANDARDS

 The IT Industry Committed To Standardization As A Means Of Protecting Existing Technology Investment And Building Tomorrow’s Internet-Based Systems

Menlo Park, CA (May 20, 1998) The Open Group today announced the availability of a complete family of product standards for UNIX 98 (UNIX 98 Base, UNIX 98 Workstation, UNIX 98 Server). As a demonstration of the industry’s commitment to continued standardization as a means of maximizing the benefits of UNIX and technology in general, IBM, Sun Microsystems and NCR Corporation have already registered the availability of products that carry the UNIX 98 brand.

Building on the success of UNIX 95, UNIX 98 is a result of collaboration between vendors and users to increase the compatibility of the UNIX operating system and to incorporate the state-of-the-art Internet capabilities historically associated with the UNIX system. This new set of product standards, which are designed to work with and complement the recently announced network computing program ( http://www.opengroup.org/nc/ ), provides the server functionality for open platform and Internet server as required in The Open Group's IT DialTone™ Architecture.

 According to Allen Brown, Senior VP at The Open Group, the additional standardization provided by UNIX 98 will help user organizations protect the vast investments they have made in existing systems. It will also assist in the provision of a stable and predictable foundation for tomorrow’s Internet-based systems. Explaining this, Brown, said: "The availability of UNIX 98 server systems offers a unique, and independent, reference-point by which to assess the features of Internet servers. This support for thin client devices and the presence of mandatory Java Runtime Environment is a significant step forward."

The combination of the Network Computer client and Internet server represent the first deployment of the IT DialTone Architecture – The Open Group corporate mission dedicated to providing environments to support business applications which use a ubiquitous infrastructure that is based on the Internet for guaranteed interoperability.

The combination of the Internet server, designed to provide a consistent application environment across many platforms, and UNIX 98, a proven and robust enterprise-ready operating environment, is a pivotal element in the delivery of the IT DialTone infrastructure.

"This is another example of IBM's drive to provide our customers with consistent open interfaces to AIX business solutions which meet the emerging needs of the global, e-business marketplace," said Miles Barel, software marketing manager, IBM RS/6000. "Whether configured for use as an Internet, intranet, or extranet server, the RS/6000 platform, combined with the award-winning AIX operating system, provides the secure, mission-critical foundation necessary for e-business solutions." IBM's AIX 4.3.1 on RS/6000 has been registered as a UNIX 98 product.

"This is a major milestone to delivering our customers a standards compliant 64-bit network operating environment," said Brian Croll, director Solaris Products, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "Our compliance to this standard is further demonstration of Sun's continuing commitment to support open standards."

"NCR is excited by all that UNIX 98 offers customers," said Mark Hurd, vice president of Marketing for NCR's Computer Systems Group. "We see it as a natural, yet important evolution of the UNIX operating system, bringing even greater utility, ease-of-use and portability to users and the ISV community." NCR Corporation has registered Solaris 2.7 on the NCR World Mark and S Series systems.

Technical Notes

UNIX 98 mandates requirements to support standardized threads, real-time, large file system Application Programming Interfaces, is Y2K and 64 bit clean and architecture neutral. UNIX 98 Workstation adds CDE, a standard graphical user interface (GUI) which is shipped by every major UNIX system vendor.

UNIX 98 Server adds the following standardized web services to UNIX 98, JavaTM Virtual Machine support, TCP/IP, SNMP, Hypertext Protocol Transfer Services, Domain Name Service, Terminal & File Services, Mail Services Client Booting Services, Time Services and Directory Services

The register of UNIX 98 products is available on the world wide web at: http://www.opengroup.org/regproducts/