---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash CICS On UNIX SunFLASH Vol 38 #2 February 1992 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a third party press announcement that is interesting. -johnj ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUN to open up IBM's "Glass House" market with VIS/TP CICS Compatible SUN servers to penetrate IBM's proprietary mainframe OLTP market DALLAS, TX., January 22, 1992 -- VISystems Inc. today announced they have signed a porting agreement with Sun Microsystems for the VIS/TP - Transaction Processing System product line, known as "CICS ON UNIX", to Sun workstations and servers. The port gives Sun the capability to increase sales of its high end servers, as "IBM mainframe-compat ible" distributed platforms, to Fortune 1000 companies. The agreement marks the culmination of on-going discussions between the two parties, which were finalized this week. Both companies are looking forward to a long-term relationship and expect to have general availability of VIS/TP on Sun workstations and servers within 90 days. VISystems and Sun are creating marketing programs for introduction to Sun's direct sales force and third-party distribution channels. The initial focus will include the high<#1e>density mainframe market in the Central and Northeast regions of the United States to take advantage of existing relationships. Sun will be able to speed its penetration in mainframe accounts with a faster rat-of-return strategy by moving existing SAA applications into production on open systems, rather than waiting for new applications to be developed. By providing IBM CICS/COBOL application compatibility, portability and interoperability, Sun will be able to continue to gain marketshare in IBM's high-margin proprietary business. With the availability of CICS on UNIX, customers can take advantage of future innovations. They will be able to move their mainframe applications to a leading UNIX platform, while leveraging their current hardware and software environment," said Bruce Golden, director of commercial market development at Sun Microsystems Computer Corp. "With the widespread proliferation of downsizing projects at IBM mainframe sites, the VISystems/Sun relationship will capitalize on the customer's desire to reduce mainframe hardware and software maintenance expenditures while they retain present investments in existing application portfolios and user training. The relationship will further benefit both parties by offering an attractive upscale solution alternative to the large install base of Sun customers with IBM mainframes. "IBM's customers that are committed to a mainframe growth strategy will be able to use Sun servers as a common distributed environment for application processing and off-load development capabilities", said Elhamy Kamel, president and CEO of VISystems. "And those that are not committed will find that Sun workstations and servers will be able to completely replace their existing mainframe environments at reduced costs." VISystems will benefit from Sun's penetration and proven marketing capabilities to the Fortune 1000 companies. VISystems also benefits by opening new distribution channels to the large installed base of existing Sun workstations and servers. The companies are planning to recruit leading IBM mainframe business software application providers and systems integrators. Together, they will also focus on complementing the product offering with leading strategic UNIX products vendors (i.e. RDBMS, CASE, 4GL, etc.) that are common to the strategies of both companies. Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation, a subsidiary of Sun Microsystems, Inc., is the world's leading supplier of client-server Computing solutions, which feature networked workstations and servers that store, process and distribute information. Used for many demanding commercial and technical applications, Sun's products command the largest share of the computer industry's fastest-growing market segment: workstations and servers. The company, founded in 1982 and headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., is a multi-billion dollar corporation doing business worldwide. VISystems Inc., founded in 1987 and headquartered in Dallas, Texas is a full-service systems-software firm offering a family of patent-protected transaction processing products and services for migrating IBM mainframe applications to open systems platforms. VISystems retains all rights to its products and will continue to market VIS/TP through it`s other distributors and direct sales force. VIS/TP is a trademark of VISystems Inc. Sun is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems Inc. IBM is a registered trademark and Customer Information and Control System and SAA are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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, paris.cs.miami.edu, uunet.uu.net, 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@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. (305) 776-7770.