---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash Industry Leaders Work To Develop PC Workstation Management Solutions SunFLASH Vol 42 #1 June 1992 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SunConnect, Intel, Microsoft and Novell, recently announced that they are working together to address PC workstation management issues. The press release is attached for your reference. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- INDUSTRY LEADERS WORK TO DEVELOP PC WORKSTATION MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS INTEROP '92, WASHINGTON, D.C., May 19, 1992 -- Intel Corp.; Microsoft Corp.; Novell Inc.; SunConnect, a Sun Microsystems Inc. business; and SynOptics Communications, Inc. today jointly announced at Interop '92 Spring that they are working together to address PC workstation management issues. Specific customer concerns that the group expects to address include: resource management, configuration management, performance analysis, software monitoring and security. The group intends to specify PC workstation information that can be integrated into a variety of network management environments. Microsoft, Intel, Novell and SynOptics are working together to develop an open, common set of APIs that will enable the management of individual PC workstations on a network. They intend to provide a reference implementation and an open architecture. This open standard will enable vendors and users to develop value-added solutions that are both interoperable and compatible. In providing an open standard for PC workstation management, group members are responding to customer demand for a unified, rather than fragmented, approach to network management solutions. The reference implementation that is under development will be distributed at no charge. SunConnect will integrate this PC workstation information into the overall management solution, providing end users with easy access to the management information they need. PC Workstation Management "Today we are beginning an open, industry-wide effort to standardize node management," said James Flach, vice president of Intel Corp. "We invite industry leaders to provide input as we work toward solving this important customer need. The result will be that everyone from a LAN administrator to an IS manager will find node management much easier and more productive." To date, there has been no standard method for integrating PC workstation information into existing network management systems. Individual PC workstation management traditionally takes place at the PC workstation -- a process that often proves time-consuming and inefficient. The group's work is designed to let network managers access information and work with individual PC workstations from network management consoles. "With the explosion of desktop PCs connected to networks, we're committed to making desktops as manageable on PC networks as network servers are today," said Paul Maritz, senior vice president of Microsoft systems. "Through the standards developed by this group, network administrators will be able to apply unified node management methodology and reach directly down to workstations located anywhere throughout their large, complex network." "A large part of Novell's success comes form our ability to address customer needs through partnerships with other industry leaders," said Ray Noorda, president and CEO of Novell. "By working together to define and promote a common standard, Novell and its partners are helping network managers do their jobs more efficiently and leading the way in advancing the growth of the network computing industry." "We fully support all collaborative efforts to develop common management directions for the entire enterprise," said Denis Yaro, general manager of SunConnect. "An important element of this is providing effective management of PC workstation systems. SunConnect will pull together a broad range of technologies in order to make complete management solutions available to end users." "We are very excited to be part of this group," said Bill Lanfri, vice president of marketing for SynOptics. "SynOptics' existing distributed management architecture is designed to support the management of networks all the way to the end-station. Until now, however, there has not been a standard approach to enable the development of specific products. The efforts of this group will benefit our customers by providing that standard approach and encouraging the development of products in a timely manner." Industry leaders interested in the group's effort may contact any of the member companies to offer comments or obtain additional information. ### For SunConnect press information, contact: Erica Vener x63566 For more information on SunNet Manager, contact: Stewart Noyce x65700 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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.