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1990-05-10
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Gary Wolfe or Jennifer Jester
Banyan Systems Incorporated
(508) 898-1000
Brenda Hansen or Marty Taucher
Microsoft Corporation
(206) 882-8080
Pam Edstrom or Collins Hemingway
The Waggener Group
(503) 245-0905
BANYAN AND MICROSOFT ENTER COOPERATIVE ALLIANCE
Are Sharing Information to Facilitate Interoperability and
Compatibility
WESTBORO, Mass., May 8, 1990 -- Banyan Systems Incorporated and
Microsoft Corporation have agreed to cooperate to ensure that the
LAN ManagerR and VINESR environments will be interoperable and
compatible with respect to DOS and OS/2 clients and application
servers. In this effort, the two companies are exchanging advanced
specifications and product plans to guide their development of
future networking products.
As a result of this cooperative effort:
* LAN Manager clients and server-based applications will
interoperate with VINES servers and networks, since both
companies will support the SMB, NETBIOS, named pipes and
mailslot protocols. As a result, network users will gain
access to a wider variety of applications than heretofore
possible.
* Developers will be able to write network applications to
run under both LAN Manager and VINES.
* Some advanced network services developed by the two
companies will offer common interfaces and protocols to
ensure compatibility and interoperability.
The benefits to the user community will be significant:
* LAN Manager and VINES customers will be able to choose
from a broader and more powerful array of network
applications.
* Corporate-wide PC networks will be able to exploit the
combined powers of Banyan's and Microsoft's complementary
products and services.
As explained by David C. Mahoney, Banyan President, "The networking
business has taught us all that no vendor can be an island when it
comes to meeting the needs of the customer. Banyan and Microsoft
recognize that true interoperability between LAN Manager and VINES
will be vital to the success of corporate-wide PC networks. This
cooperative alliance is an exciting opportunity for all network
users and developers."
According to Steve Ballmer, Senior Vice President of Microsoft's
Systems Software Division, "In view of Banyan's position as a
leader in corporate-wide PC networks, we are delighted that they
have made such a strong commitment to OS/2 and the LAN Manager APIs
for developing network applications. Banyan's expertise in
advanced networking technologies is an excellent complement to
Microsoft's expertise in bringing the most powerful applications
and tools to the desktop of every user."
In February Banyan announced and demonstrated VINES support for
OS/2 clients and applications servers. That product's support for
many key LAN Manager APIs was enhanced through discussions held
between Banyan and Microsoft under this agreement. Subsequent
product releases by the two companies will deliver on the
interoperability features described above.
###
About Banyan Systems Incorporated
Banyan Systems is the leader in corporate-wide PC networking. Banyan's premier product is VINESR, a fully-
integrated network computing environment based on industry and international standards. VINES permits
the convenient accessing, sharing, and managing of computer information and resources in distributed
systems ranging from localized PC clusters up to the largest multinational PC networks in the world.
Operating on a growing variety of popular personal computers as well as on Banyan's own family of network
servers, VINES transparently internetworks PCs, minicomputers, mainframes, and other resources with local
and wide area networks. The resultant network is secure and convenient to administer, yet it provides a
single easy-to-understand user interface at each workstation. VINES users need no knowledge of network
topology. They perceive the entire network as a virtual extension of their own PCs, and simply access
needed resources via Banyan's StreetTalkTM, the world's first and most powerful global directory service.
Banyan Systems is headquartered at 120 Flanders Road, Westboro, MA 01581. (508) 898-1000.
Banyan and VINES are registered trademarks, and StreetTalk is a trademark of Banyan Systems.
About Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ "MSFT") develops, markets and supports a wide range of microcomputer
software for business and professional use, including operating systems, languages and application
programs, as well as books, hardware, and CD-ROM products for the microcomputer marketplace.
Microsoft and LAN Manager are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.