---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash SUNSOFT UNVEILS NEXT-GENERATION DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING TECHNOLOGIES FOR SOLARIS SunFLASH Vol 42 #6 June 1992 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SunSoft today announced its distributed computing technology directions for Solaris. The press release is attached for your reference. SMCC Note: As with all Solaris technology directions, SMCC expects to make Federated Services and ONC+ a standard part of all configured systems. ______________________________________________________________________ Enables Integration of NetWare, DCE and OSI Boasts Enhancements to Core ONC Services MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 1, 1992 -- SunSoft, Inc. today unveiled new technologies for its Solaris software environment allowing users to integrate multiple networking services into a single solution. Called the Solaris Federated Services, the technology allows third-party network products to plug into the Solaris software. These include Novell's NetWare, the Open Software Foundation's Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) and the International Standards Organization's Open Systems Interconnect (OSI). In addition, SunSoft enhanced its existing Solaris networking technology to feature new naming, filing, distributed application and security services. Called ONC+, the technology builds on the largest installed base in the heterogeneous networking arena. According to Dataquest, a market research firm based in San Jose, Calif., SunSoft's ONC technology currently has an installed base of 3.1 million nodes, a 42 percent growth increase since 1990. To date, more than 300 organizations have licensed ONC technology, including IBM, Apple, Hewlett-Packard and Novell. In addition, ONC implementations provide interoperability across all major types of computers from PCs to mainframes and across all major operating systems including MS-DOS, MacOS, OS/2, UNIX, MVS and VMS. "Networking is the technology that separates PC operating systems from enterprise-ready operating systems, "said Bill Coleman, vice president of system software at SunSoft. "With our announcements today, the gap between these PC operating systems and Solaris just got wider." In a related announcement, Transarc, the leading supplier of network filing systems for DCE, announced that it will integrate Encina and DCE into Solaris using the Federated Services architecture. Other software vendors endorsing SunSoft's new technology, include Novell, Lotus, Tivoli, SunConnect and SunSelect. "Since UNIX is an integral part of the multivendor enterprise, the ability and flexibility to utilize different network services becomes a more pressing need," said Bob Davis, director of marketing for UNIX connectivity products at Novell, Inc. "Solaris Federated Services will provide Solaris users and developers with broad access to mutliple networking technologies." "The Federated Services architecture shows that SunSoft is addressing the technology requirements of ISVs for building next-generation, distributed applications," said David Rolm, director of UNIX products at Lotus Development Corp. "With this technology we will be able to quickly develop applications for Solaris that will not be restricted to specific networking protocols or services." Solaris Federated Services The Solaris Federated Services technology consists of a series of interfaces that enable integration of different types of filing, naming and security services into the Solaris solution. Networking technology providers, such as Transarc, Novell, SunSelect and others, can utilize these interfaces in order to plug their particular networking services into Solaris. The multiplenetworking services run underneath the Solaris application development environment, allowing developers to leverage these technologies in their application creation efforts. For example, a U.S.-based spreadsheet user in the Solaris ONC+ environment can easily access a colleague's spreadsheet located in a DCE-based environment in Paris by simply clicking an icon on the Solaris desktop. In addition, Solaris applications do not need to be re-engineered or modified as new networking services are plugged into the environment. This makes migration to new technologies easier and cost-effective for end users and software developers. ONC+ ONC+ is a new and enhanced version of the widely-implemented Solaris ONC core distributed computing technology. ONC+ is a set of high performance, enterprise-wide distributed computing services that features a multithreaded NFS file system for faster performance; NIS+ naming service for streamlining administration of enterprise networks; transport-independent RPC for network-independent distributed applications; and Kerberos and DES support for increased network security. All of these features are incorporated into the Solaris 2.0 solution. Additional features of ONC+, including local disk caching for improved performance and scalability; connection-oriented protocol support for access to NFS servers via low-speed links; and RSA support for system security and authentication, will be incorporated into future versions of Solaris in 1993. ONC+ is backward-compatible and interoperable with existing ONC implementations, allowing users to preserve their software investments. Pricing and Availability A Federated Services demonstration technology for naming, filing and security will be available in Solaris 2.0 next month. Federated Services interfaces for integrating multiple naming, filing and security services will be published and available in early 1993. SunSoft will also license the Federated Services technology to software and hardware vendors. Pricing and availability will be announced at a later date. SunSoft will license all of ONC+ and its components to the industry. The first component, NIS+, will be available for licensing by the end of this year. Availability of other components will follow. Pricing for all of ONC+ and its components incorporated into Solaris 2.0 will be announced within the next 120 days. SunSoft will also publish specifications for the ONC+ services as they become available. Product inquiries should be directed to 1-800-227-9227 in the United States and to local SunSoft offices in Europe and Asia. ### Copyright 1992 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, SunSoft, Solaris, ONC, ONC+ and NFS are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. All other product names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners. For press information, please contact: Laura Ramsey SunSoft, Inc. (415) 336-0739 Claudia Carasso Hi-Tech Communications, Inc. (415) 904-7000 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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.