---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash SunNews: Sun Eng.'s Award : Sun & Oracle: Sun in Poland : Sun & Promis SunFLASH Vol 49 #12 January 1993 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- These are four recent Sun press releases. -johnj ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sun Engineer Receives International Award New Oracle and Sun Alliance Sun Microsystems Office Opens in Poland Promis Software Porting to Sun Platform -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Sun Engineer Receives International Award FOUNDED NEW FIELD OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- January 13, 1993 -- Whitfield Diffie, 48, Distinguished Engineer at Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (SMCC), was recently awarded the degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences, Honoris Causa, by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. The award was given for founding a new field of scientific research, public key cryptography, which grew out of discoveries Diffie made at Stanford University in 1975. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, or ETH after the initials of its German name, is one of the most prestigious technical universities in the world. It counts among its alumni some of the foremost scientists of the 20th century, including Albert Einstein and John VonNeuman. Doctorates "by reason of honor" make up less than one tenth of the total number of doctoral degrees awarded by the ETH. They are granted for major scientific or engineering achievements and are given only after a nomination and review process taking two to three years. In conventional cryptography, encrypting and decrypting messages were inseparable; anyone who could create an encrypted message could also read it and vice versa. By separating these functions, public key cryptography allows people to guarantee the privacy of conversations with people they have never met before and to apply unforgeable "digital signatures" to their messages. In Diffie's words: it does what signatures and envelopes do for ordinary mail. At the time Diffie began his work in cryptography, he was one of only a handful of people not employed by government intelligence agencies who took a serious interest in the field. Today, the International Association for Cryptologic Research, of which he is one of the founding directors, has hundreds of members from industry and academia worldwide. Diffie joined Sun in the summer of 1991 with the title of Distinguished Engineer, although one of his inventions had already been used in the company's security products since 1987. In hiring Diffie, Sun recognized both the rising importance of security in computer communications and the critical role of cryptography in achieving that security. In the latest Sun(TM) Solaris(R) operating system, the original "secure RPC" has been improved, while more comprehensive applications of cryptography are planned for future versions of Solaris. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: New Oracle and Sun Alliance The following announcement was made today by Oracle Corporation and Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation. The announcement is part of the Sun integration partner program and is especially applicable to the pharmaceutical market. Press inquiries should be directed to Vicki Ferrando, Hi-Tech Communications, 415-904-7000 x259. ORACLE AND SUN ANNOUNCE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY ALLIANCE Agreement Includes Systems Integration and Application Development REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., January 13, 1993 -- Oracle Corporation today announced the formation of a strategic alliance with Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (SMCC) to develop, market and sell products and services targeted at the pharmaceutical industry. Together, the two companies expect to realize $200 million in hardware, software and services revenues by 1997. This alliance consists of two components: * A systems integration effort from Oracle that addresses complex application needs of pharmaceutical companies, such as regulatory document tracking. A "template business model" for pharmaceutical customers is being developed that will aid in rapid application development and, when appropriate will serve as a framework for integrating third party packages. * Joint development of a software program to expedite the computer- assisted new drug application (CANDA) process for pharmaceutical companies. The alliance combines Oracle's industry-leading RDBMS technology, expertise in the pharmaceutical industry and systems integration, with SMCC's industry-leading SPARC(R) systems running the Solaris(R) operating environment. The research, development and clinical testing of a new drug takes many years and may cost upwards of $200 million dollars before it can be brought to market. Therefore, CANDA is an attractive solution for pharmaceutical companies that are looking for ways to streamline the approval process. Currently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a backlog of over 100 New Drug Applications (NDAs), which means that approvals may take as long as 4 years. The FDA has therefore mandated that all NDA submissions be in electronic format by 1995. By submitting applications in electronic format, recent FDA statistics show a dramatic reduction in review time. This format accelerates the approval date, expanding the time pharmaceutical companies have to market their drug to the public prior to patent expiration, thereby increasing revenues. SMCC and Oracle believe their CANDA solution will offer an open, powerful database computing platform that also allows different hardware and applications software to be integrated. Thus, a variety of desktop publishing, statistical analysis, word processing and imaging software solutions typically used in a CANDA solution can be employed. This system will be built using a client-server architecture that will also support Windows(TM) and Macintosh(R) clients. "A system as large and complex as CANDA can only be fully implemented using an open systems approach," states Robert Shaw, senior vice president of Oracle Consulting. "By combining the best attributes of both companies, customers now can have a single point of contact for powerful, flexible pharmaceutical solutions." "This joint development project will show how Oracle products coupled with SMCC's high-performance workstations and servers can dramatically reduce the time needed to prepare, review and approve new drug applications," said Robert Sepanloo, SMCC's market segment manager for pharmaceutical and chemical markets. "This benefits the FDA by reducing the overall workload, and benefits the pharmaceutical industry and the general public by bringing new drugs to market faster." Subject: Sun Microsystems office opens in Poland SUN MICROSYSTEMS OFFICE OPENS IN POLAND MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - January 19, 1993 - Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (SMCC) announced today that its intercontinental division has opened an office in Poland. The new office, located in Warsaw, will allow the company to provide local sales, service and marketing support directly to its distributors, value-added resellers, and customers in Poland and the Baltic States. With this addition, SMCC now has a total of 13 offices in Europe. "We've seen a dramatic increase in demand for UNIX based systems in this region, and this has created a need for establishing a direct service and support organization for Sun's SPARC(R)/Solaris(R) systems," stated Tim Dwyer , vice president of intercontinental operations. In fact, more than 50 percent of 1991 multi-user shipments in Poland were sytems based on the UNIX operating system, according to International Data Corporation (IDC). Dwyer added, " We also want to build on the excellent relationships with customers established over the last few years by our local partners, and to make Sun(TM) systems an integral part of the developing Middle European market." These partners will continue to focus on penetrating the banking/financial services, education, telecommunications, and government markets. Recent wins in Poland include the prestigious University of Mining and Metallurgy in Cracow, and the Polish Border and Immigration Service at Warsaw's Okecie Airport. Together, these sites have purchased more than 100 SPARCstation(TM) and SPARCserver(TM) systems. The systems will be used in a broad range of applications, from scientific research and development to central adminstrative processing operations. More than 50 percent of SMCC's revenues come from non-U.S. markets. The new Polish office is part of the company's efforts to expand worldwide. SMCC also has offices in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, the People's Republic of China, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom. Jerome Fidelin has been named country manager of the new office in Warsaw. Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation, a subsidiary of Sun Microsystems, Inc., is the world's leading supplier of open client-server computing solutions. SMCC has its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. For more information, please contact: Susanne Vagadori at (415) 336-0529. Subject: Promis Software Porting to Sun Platform PROMIS SOFTWARE PORTING TO SUN PLATFORM San Jose, California, January 4, 1993 -- Promis Systems Corporation (PSW-T) announced today that it is porting its PROMIS software to the SPARC/Solaris platform from Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (SMCC). PROMIS is one of the two most popular solutions for plant floor/manufacturing execution and previously was only available on VAX systems. PROMIS is migrating to UNIX because of increasing customer demand for open hardware. "Many of our customers are asking for open, UNIX-based solutions," said Elliott Wasserman, president and chief executive officer of Promis Systems. "We expect dramatic sales growth from our Sun-based product." The Gartner Group predicts that the percentage of installed manufacturing applications running on UNIX will increase from 10 percent in 1992 to nearly 50 percent in 1997. Promis Systems specifically chose SMCC because of its marketshare leadership in the UNIX area, the quality of its technology and the competitive price/performance of SPARC-based workstations and servers. Promis Systems was also impressed with the ease in which programs can be ported from VMS to SPARC/Solaris. All core PROMIS functionality -- including tracking, scheduling, quality, resource management and automation -- will be ported to SPARC, making it the most fully-functional UNIX-based manufacturing execution program. In addition, Promis Systems' Object Based Cell technology, an automation platform which links the plant floor and control software, will be available on Sun hardware. "More and more of the requests for manufacturing execution systems include a UNIX base as the architecture," said Julie Fraser, manufacturing execution systems software senior analyst at Advanced Manufacturing Research. "However, manufacturers still require the full functionality of an established plantwide software system. PROMIS software running on the Sun SPARC platform will provide both UNIX and broad functionality." PROMIS on SPARC, which runs on the Oracle RDBMS, is targeted at a variety of manufacturing industries including telecommunications, aerospace, electronics, pharmaceuticals and chemicals. Currently, VAX-based versions of PROMIS are installed at such companies as Motorola, Northern Telecom, ITT, AT&T, Raytheon, Rockwell, Texas Instruments, McDonnell Douglas, Hughes Aircraft, General Electric and Marion Merrell Dow. "The presence of our client-server technology in the manufacturing area is growing rapidly," said Mario Dal Canto, director of Technical and Industrial Market development for SMCC. "Adding PROMIS to the SPARC/Solaris portfolio further illustrates our momentum in this area." SMCC's revenues from the manufacturing systems market are expected to grow from $150 million in 1991 to $820 million by 1994, according to Advanced Manufacturing Research. The first customer shipment of PROMIS on SPARC will be June 1993. Since its formation in 1978, Promis Systems Corporation has become a predominant supplier of plant floor management software and manufacturing execution systems. Currently, more than 800 PROMIS software modules are installed in 17 countries at over 100 leading manufacturing sites. Promis helps businesses solve manufacturing challenges including regulatory compliance, time to market, quality, competitiveness, productivity and customer service. The company is headquartered in Toronto, Canada with sales and marketing headquartered in San Jose, California. Promis has sales and support locations throughout North America, Europe and Asia. For questions, contact: Robert Manetta at x60979. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ For information send mail to info-sunflash@Sun.COM. Subscription requests should be sent to sunflash-request@Sun.COM. Archives are on solar.nova.edu, uunet.uu.net, sunsite.unc.edu, src.doc.ic.ac.uk and ftp.adelaide.edu.au All prices, availability, and other statements relating to Sun or third party products are valid in the U.S. only. Please contact your local Sales Representative for details of pricing and product availability in your region. Descriptions of, or references to products or publications within SunFlash does not imply an endorsement of that product or publication by Sun Microsystems. John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, flash@Sun.COM. (305) 776-7770. TRACE: To: sunflash@suntri Errors-to: owner-sunflash@suntri.east.sun.com