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                                                        The Florida SunFlash
      SUN MICROSYSTEMS AND FOXBORO SIGN STRATEGIC AGREEMENT
   
SunFLASH Vol 24 #9					       December 1990 
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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. --December 10, 1990-- Sun Microsystems and The
Foxboro Company, a Siebe Company, have signed a joint technology and
business agreement.  This agreement will allow Foxboro to incorporate
SPARC(R) and other advanced Sun computer technologies into Foxboro's
I/A Series(R) industrial process management and control system on an
ongoing basis.  The agreement also includes an exclusive marketing
arrangement whereby Foxboro will provide an integrated product offering
to satisfy the requirements of their industrial automation customers.

"This agreement with Foxboro represents the first major application of
Sun's technology for real-time industrial process control and plant
management, which we expect to be an increasingly important market for
Sun," said Bill Larson, vice president of market development for Sun.
"The nature of the relationship is complementary -- allowing both
companies to focus on what they do best."

According to Dick McAllister, Foxboro's vice president of marketing and
services, "We chose to work with Sun because of their sophisticated
technology and leadership in UNIX(R)-based, open systems -- which is
consistent with our own open industrial system approach.  As I see it,
the technological aspects of this partnership with Sun represent a
commitment, from both Foxboro and Siebe, to continue to deliver the
ever-increasing functionality and performance levels our customers
expect."

McAllister emphasized that all future system enhancements will be
absolutely compatible with the thousands of I/A Series systems already
controlling and managing processes in chemical, oil and gas, pulp and
paper, food, pharmaceutical, power, municipal, mining and metals, and
other industrial plants around the world.

      Foxboro/Sun Application Interface Products Introduced

The first three products to emerge from the Foxboro/Sun agreement will
be available in February 1991.  These Foxboro products allow a
bidirectional exchange of information between Foxboro's I/A Series
Systems and Sun's SPARCstation workstations and servers, MS-DOS
personal computers running Sun's PC-NFS(R) software, and other
platforms. The products are the Foxboro I/A Series Application
Interface Software; the I/A Series Open Application Platform, a product
that includes both the application interface software and a
SPARCstation(TM) workstation; and the I/A Series Open Information
Server, a SPARCserver(TM)-based networked hardware/software product.

These new application interface products give engineers, managers and
other supervisory network users direct access to plant production
information.  The products also provide process control operations
personnel with access to appropriate engineering or business
information.  With Sun's ONC(TM) networking capabilities, this high
degree of interoperability and functional integration also extends to a
wide assortment of other networks and host computers.

The Foxboro Company is a major, international supplier of advanced
systems, high-quality instruments and services, and comprehensive
solutions for industrial process automation and real-time information
management.  Foxboro is a member of the Siebe PLC International
Engineering and Controls group.

Sun Microsystems, Inc., headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., is a
leading worldwide supplier of network-based distributed computing
systems, including professional workstations, servers and UNIX
operating system and productivity software.

SPARC is a registered trademark of SPARC International.  SPARCstation
and SPARCserver are trademarks of SPARC International, licensed
exclusively to Sun Microsystems, Inc.  Products bearing SPARC
trademarks are based on an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems,
Inc.  PC-NFS is a registered trademark and ONC is a trademark of Sun
Microsystems, Inc.  UNIX is a registered trademarks of UNIX System
Laboratories, Inc.  I/A Series is a registered trademark of The Foxboro
Company.  All other products or services mentioned in this document are
identified by the trademarks or service marks of their respective
companies or organizations.

PR contact:  Erica Vener (415) 336-3566
The Foxboro Company Paul Miller (508) 549-6240
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publication by Sun Microsystems.

John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, flash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. (305) 776-7770.