---------------------------------------------------------------------------- NETWORK-BASED WORKGROUP BUSINESS SOLUTIONS FOR UNIX AND OS/2 WITH DOS PLATFORMS INTRODUCED BY XEROX SunFLASH Vol 21 #20 September 1990 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 19, 1990 -- For the first time, business teams can use the power of Xerox Corporation's workgroup computing applications on UNIX and OS/2 with DOS industry-standard desktop computers. This capability is now available with the new Xerox GlobalView network computing environment, the company announced today. The Xerox announcement, made at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), includes the introduction of two major hardware products: the Xerox 6520 workstation, based on SPARC/UNIX technology from Sun Microsystems, Inc., and GlobalView-for-the-PC, a coprocessor board that turns DOS and OS/2 personal computers into multitasking, networked workstations. These two new products, part of a strategic move by Xerox to make its workgroup software usable on industry-standard desktop computers, have the potential to link over 30 million installed desktop computers into enterprise-wide environments. Xerox GlobalView is a networked desktop environment that integrates functions previously available only as isolated features. The purpose of GlobalView is to improve white-collar productivity by making computers easy to use and interconnected so that individuals in the same office or in locations around the world can work together. GlobalView is specifically designed to help business teams collaborate across computer networks, providing the foundation for a broad range of applications including: * Integrating text, graphics and data into compound documents; * Managing projects and teamwork; * Accessing and sharing documents across networks; and * Supporting enterprise-wide communications. Applications built upon GlobalView also support more than 100 foreign languages and dialects, rich graphics capabilities and transparent access to corporate data on host or departmental computers. Through the Xerox icon-based graphical user interface (GUI), GlobalView makes it easy for non-technical professionals to perform complex tasks that would normally require the expertise of a management information systems (MIS) professional. Applications running under GlobalView share the same consistent GUI, and users benefit from the high degree of integration that it provides. The GlobalView power comes from its design in which workstations, or "clients", are linked to shared network servers. Because of this client/server foundation, GlobalView-based applications offer the ability to share resources among multiple users from multiple computer platforms across the network. The GlobalView environment offers features previously unavailable or limited on desktop computers. These include: * Portable Desktop -- Unlike GUIs on personal computers, the GlobalView desktop is "network-based", giving users access to their personal desktops from workstations anywhere on the network. When a user logs on at a workstation, within the same office or at any location around the world, the personal desktop appears on the monitor exactly as it was left from the last use. Electronic mail finds its way to the "in-basket" and all of the resources of the network are transparently accessible. * Agent -- GlobalView special user-defined routines, or "agents," can be created to perform tasks for a user "on their own" -- either on the workstation or across the network. A typical use might be the automatic creation and distribution of weekly sales reports, in which sales figures on the corporate mainframe are downloaded into the "weekly sales report" document each Friday evening and then printed at sales offices around the country the following Monday. The Xerox GlobalView announcement is part of the company's strategy to provide complete document-oriented solutions to its customers. It represents an important step in the company's position as "The Document Company." "GlobalView is designed to increase productivity in a rapidly decentralizing, document-intensive, team-oriented business world," said Joseph W. McGrath, vice president of marketing, Xerox Integrated Systems Operations (ISO). "In particular GlobalView will help project teams scattered throughout different locations in mid- to large-size companies accomplish more and in far less time than previously possible." McGrath said the availability of such a broad range of collaborative office productivity solutions on Sun's SPARC architecture will spur the movement of UNIX from the technical environment to more mainstream business applications. GlobalView-for-the-PC upgrades PCs to take advantage of the same range of collaborative solutions, he said. "Sun and Xerox share a common vision of empowering the group, which means making workgroup computing easy for Fortune 1000 customers," said Scott G. McNealy, president and chief executive officer of Sun Microsystems, Inc. "GlobalView running on SPARC is a preview of how the office of the 1990s will realize this promise of distributed computing." GLOBALVIEW PLATFORMS The UNIX version of GlobalView will run on the new Xerox 6520 workstation, a product of the company's previously announced technology alliance with Sun. It operates at 15.8 million instructions per second (MIPS), comes with eight megabytes of main memory, expandable to 48 megabytes, and includes SunOS, Sun's standard UNIX operating system. Customers may choose from among four display options, including color and monochrome. Xerox GlobalView-for-the-PC is a hardware/software solution for personal computer users. It consists of a coprocessor board that plugs into a standard AT bus, plus a 19-inch high-resolution display. More than 96 percent of the installed base of Intel 80286 and 80386 chip-based personal computers will now be able to take advantage of GlobalView-based applications, such as document search and retrieval, text editing and enhanced graphics applications. XEROX GLOBALVIEW SOLUTIONS The GlobalView environment supports a wide spectrum of personal and group productivity software for creating and managing documents, sharing information and documents and analyzing data. Several enhanced graphics applications for vertical markets are available such as Xerox Chemical Illustrator, which aids in the creation of complex chemical models and formulas for the pharmaceutical industry. Xerox also markets advanced distributed-computing applications that use the GlobalView desktop as a front-end processor for powerful document control, collaboration, management and translation functions running on Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) VAX minicomputers and International Business Machines (IBM) mainframe computers. The GlobalView environment enables the production of high-quality hardcopy documents on Xerox laser printing systems and other electronic or digital printing and publishing products. Xerox PARC is the birthplace of distributed computing and of the company's heritage of innovation in advanced computing technology. GlobalView technology is based on the original Xerox ViewPoint environment, which runs on proprietary Xerox 6085 and 8010 workstations. Both workgroup environments are the result of work begun more than 10 years ago at PARC. Icons, windows, "What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get" (WYSIWYG) display, Local Area Networks (LANs) and client/server architecture were developed at PARC. PRICING AND AVAILABILITY Both UNIX and PC workstation products come with the GlobalView networked desktop and the GlobalView Starter Kit software -- a basic set of network and document processing applications. In the United States single unit list price, including the GlobalView Starter Kit software, for the SPARC-based Xerox 6520 GlobalView workstation starts at $9,995. Xerox GlobalView-for-the-PC starts at $3,995, including GlobalView Starter Kit Software and a 19-inch monochrome monitor. All systems are fully configured. Volume discounts are available. Order taking begins immediately, with worldwide shipments beginning in November 1990. For customer information contact Xerox at 1-800-835-9013. XXX Press contact: Barbara Burke, Xerox, Los Angeles, (213)333-3613. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Sunflash is an electronic mail news service from Sun Microsystems, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA. It is targeted at Sun Users and Customers. For additional information about SunFlash send mail to info-sunflash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM SunFlash is distributed via a hierarchy of aliases. Try to address change requests to the owner of the alias that you belong to. If you want to be added to the SunFlash alias, please contact the systems engineers at your local Sun office and/or send mail to sunflash-request@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Address comments to the SunFlash editor (John McLaughlin) at sun!sunvice!flash or flash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. (305) 776-7770.