EDITORIAL CONTACTS: PRNS4700255 Michelle Pritchard, HP, (408) 447-1259 or Melissa Calvo, HP, (408) 447-5456 Keith Mary Rantas, IBM, (914) 642-4618 HP AND IBM ANNOUNCE CICS ON HP'S OPEN-SYSTEM PLATFORMS Cooperative Effort Enriches Platform Choices for Users PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 30, 1992 -- Hewlett-Packard Company and IBM Corporation today announced that a full implementation of IBM's Customer Information Control System (CICS*) software products will be available on HP's PA-RISC*-based computers. CICS is an industry leader in on-line transaction-processing (OLTP) applications and is used by more than 20,000 customers in more than 90 countries worldwide. CICS currently is available only on IBM platforms. HP will distribute, market and support versions of CICS for its own platforms under license from IBM. HP will provide CICS on its open-systems-based HP 3000 and HP 9000 series of business computers and workstations under their respective MPE/iX and HP-UX* operating systems. Availability is expected for the second half of 1993. The CICS software will be implemented on the Open Software Foundation's Distributed Computing Environment (OSF/DCE) and Transarc's Encina technology. CICS on HP platforms will increase platform choices for users building OLTP applications for open-systems environments because it will provide consistent application programming interfaces. It also will present an excellent computer solution for users through the interoperability of a large breadth of IBM applications and HP's high-performance systems. "This exciting agreement, combined with our recent AIX CICS/6000 announcement, demonstrates IBM's commitment to meeting our customers' requirements and is the first step in extending the CICS family beyond IBM platforms," said Ellen M. Hancock, IBM vice president and general manager, Networking Systems line of business. "We look forward to working with HP to provide CICS solutions for their customers and to enhance CICS' position as the leading OLTP product." Willem P. Roelandts, an HP vice president and general manager of HP's Computer Systems Organization, said, "Success in the open- systems marketplace is predicated upon choice. In one bold move, HP and IBM are bringing the flexibility of open systems to the familiar and time-proven OLTP environment of CICS. In choosing open-systems environments, customers will find HP's commercially tuned, cost- effective platforms an excellent complement to the robust CICS environment and the substantial base of CICS applications. "This new solution will be a strong addition to the existing capabilities available through HP's Channel Partners and right-sizing consultants," Roelandts said. Pat Sueltz, IBM CICS products manager, added that "HP's support of CICS has reinforced IBM's belief that CICS has evolved in meeting customer requirements and exploiting technology advances to provide the best OLTP solution in the market for meeting diverse customer and industry needs. This agreement will allow HP and IBM to offer their respective customers compatible best-of-breed OLTP solutions, with associated flexibility in choice of hardware platforms." # # # CICS is a trademark of International Business Machines Corp. PA-RISC stands for Precision Architecture-reduced-instruction-set computing. HP-UX is based on and is compatible with USL's UNIX* operating system. It also complies with X/Open's* XPG3, POSIX 1003.1, FIPS 151-1 and SVID2 interface specifications. UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX System Laboratories Inc. in the U.S.A. and other countries. X/Open is a trademark of X/Open Company Limited in the UK and other countries.