---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash Sun Releases Localized Asian-Language Products SunFLASH Vol 30 #4 June 1991 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUN REINFORCES LEADERSHIP IN ASIAN-LANGUAGE SUPPORT FOR WORKSTATIONS AND SERVERS Ships Asian-Language OpenWindows and Announces Localized Connectivity Products for PCs and Mainframes April 16, 1991. Sun Microsystems, the world's leading manufacturer of UNIX/RISC workstation and server systems, today announced three major localized products for Korea, Taiwan and the PRC: o Chinese & Hangul OpenWindows (TM) 2.0, an X-based application environment including the OPEN LOOK (R) graphical user interface; o enhanced PC-NFS with Asian-Language support (TM), a networking product that integrates PCs into networks of UNIX workstations and servers; and o a localized version of SunLink (TM) SNA 3270, a communication gateway product which allows Sun workstations to communicate with IBM or IBM-compatible mainframes. Taken together, Sun believes its announcement will attract a large number of customers who rely on Chinese-Language and Korean-Language applications, particularly those in the commercial market. The company also predicts these new products will spur software writers to rapidly develop Chinese-Language and Korean-Language applications for Sun's UNIX/SPARC (TM) platform. "This is a clear signal to software developers and customers that Sun is committed to providing state-of-the-art localized products," said Mr. Neil Mathison, Sun's vice-president, Asia Group. Sun was the first company to ship Hangul and Chinese UNIX on RISC-based systems to Korea, Taiwan and the PRC. It includes localized versions of SunOS (TM) kernel, libraries, commands, SunView (TM), ONC (TM), and C-language compiler. In addition, Sun has produced a Korean and Chinese-Language keyboard and a Fortran-language compiler. "Today, Sun realizes the next step in our localization strategy with Hangul and Chinese OpenWindows 2.0, enhanced PC-NFS with Asian-Language support and localized SunLink SNA 3270," Mr. Mathison said. Major Korean and Chinese-Language software applications already run on Sun today, such as all four dominant database applications: ORACLE, Informix, Ingres, and Sybase. In addition, key local-language applications including medical systems, capital management, office automation, CASE and desktop publishing systems have ported to Sun. "That's only the beginning. This announcement will trigger hundreds of other local software applications to be available for Sun," Mr. Mathison said. According to Mr. Mathison, software developers often pick the Sun platform as their first UNIX port for two basic reasons: volume and standards. Software developers will naturally write applications for the largest UNIX installed base. Last year, Sun was again the volume leader when it topped IDC's survey of the worldwide workstation/server market with 38% market share (based on shipments), followed by Hewlett-Packard which lost share over the same period with 20% of the market. As for the RISC market, Sun also has a dominant position with over 65% market share, followed by MIPS at 18% market share in 1990. In addition, software writers prefer Sun's Korean and Chinese-Language development environment because it meets international and industry standards as well as Korean and Chinese linguistic, user interface and cultural conventions. "It is the most complete and portable development environment available today," Mr. Mathison said. HANGUL and CHINESE OPENWINDOWS 2.0 Sun is currently shipping Hangul and Chinese OpenWindows 2.0, a comprehensive X-based application environment, including OPEN LOOK (R) -- the standard graphical user interface for UNIX System V Release 4. OpenWindows also includes the X11/NeWS (TM) window system, DeskSet (TM) productivity tools and the XView (TM) toolkit. Hangul and Chinese OpenWindows allows users to manipulate powerful UNIX workstations and servers -- known for their multi-user and multi-tasking capabilites -- as easily as a PC. Hangul and Chinese OpenWindows 2.0 is based on the latest OpenWindows Version 2, which features OPEN LOOK in 3-D and localized versions of DeskSet and XView toolkit. According to Mr. Mathison, with Hangul and Chinese OpenWindows, the 2,800 applications written for Sun workstations and servers can easily be localized for the Korea, Taiwan and PRC markets. Sun introduced Japanese OpenWindows in August of 1989. It has already gained considerable momentum, having been endorsed by 58 software vendors such as Toshiba, Fujitsu and Fuji Xerox. ENHANCED PC-NFS WITH ASIAN-LANGUAGE SUPPORT "Localized PC-NFS will help bridge Asia's PC users into the more advanced world of UNIX workstations and servers," Mr. Mathison said. "It brings many benefits of client/server computing to DOS PCs users. With enhanced PC-NFS with Asian-Language support, they can share in this client/server world without losing their existing investment." The PC-NFS family is a comprehensive solution for integrating PCs into multi-vendor networks of diverse systems. It gives PC users a range of services and capabilities that are usually reserved for more powerful networked systems. With these products, PC users can expand their access to information located on diverse systems while still staying in their familiar DOS and Windows 3.0 environment. Sun's enhanced PC-NFS with Asian-Language support is based on the just-introduced PC-NFS Advanced Telnet, a new terminal emulation product that gives PCs greater access to applications on mainframes and minicomputers. The comprehensive PC-NFS family is the industry leader in its field. PC-NFS is based on Sun's ONC (TM)/NFS (R), an industry standard in multi-vendor networks, with an installed base of 1.3 million systems. This gives PCs equipped with PC-NFS access to any system that utilizes ONC/NFS. LOCALIZED SUNLINK SNA 3270 "The doors to the commercial market are wide open to us," said Mr. Mathison. "Local conglomerates which rely on Korean and Chinese-Language applications will quickly seize the opportunity to use advanced UNIX workstations to flexibly improve their organization's productivity without having to forego their huge investments in mainframes." Localized SunLink SNA 3270 allows a Sun processor to emulate an IBM cluster controller and provides interactive IBM access to any system on a Sun network. No changes are required to the hardware or software on the IBM or IBM-compatible mainframe. According to Forrester Research, a leading industry analysts firm, 40% of Sun's workstations and servers will make their way into the commercial arena by 1994, giving Sun the largest market share of UNIX workstations sold into the commercial client/server environments. AVAILABILITY AND PRICING Hangul and Chinese OpenWindows 2.0 is available now for all Sun SPARC-based systems. It comes bundled with standard OpenWindows 2.0 media in Korea, Taiwan and the PRC. Enhanced PC-NFS with Asian-Language support will be available by the end of this month. It comes bundled with PC-NFS Advanced Telnet 1.0 in Korea, Taiwan and the PRC. Localized SunLink SNA 3270 will be available in May this year for all Sun SPARC-based systems in Korea. It will be available in July for all Sun SPARC-based systems in Taiwan. It comes bundled with SunLink SNA 3270 in both countries. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ For information send mail to info-sunflash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Subscription requests should be sent to sunflash-request@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Archives are on solar.nova.edu and paris.cs.miami.edu. 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@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. (305) 776-7770.