---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash LOTUS TO BRING NOTES TO SUN SPARC/SOLARIS SYSTEMS SunFLASH Vol 45 #22 September 1992 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- September 16, 1992 -- Sun Microsystems, Inc., and Lotus Development Corporation today announced that Lotus Notes, the leading workgroup computing application for PCs, will be added to the suite of Lotus business productivity applications available for Sun systems. Running on the Solaris(R) distributed operating environment. Notes on the Sun(TM) platform will represent a major breakthrough in bringing popular PC business applications to UNIX(R). Notes for Sun systems will be the first such application from a major vendor to offer per-user pricing similar to the PC version. Notes for the Sun SPARC(R)/Solaris platform will be among the first UNIX versions of the product to be available. It is expected to be shipped in the first half of next year. Notes for Sun systems will join other popular Lotus applications -- Lotus 1-2-3, Lotus Realtime and the just-announced version of Lotus cc:Mail -- ported to the SPARC/Solaris platform. These efforts reflect a long-time partnership between Lotus and Sun; Sun workstations were the first UNIX platform selected by Lotus for its products and SPARC/Solaris remains the highest-volume workstation platform for Lotus. The Sun/Lotus partnership is aimed at serving the increasing demand in Fortune 1000 companies for the integration of diverse systems. "Notes on Sun will help Lotus capitalize on the growing trend in businesses to make UNIX a part of their computing strategy," said Scott McNealy, president and CEO of Sun. Analysts have praised Lotus' expansion into the UNIX market because it gives business users a higher-performance platform alternative. "Lotus is the first major software vendor to break the mold and sell UNIX versions at PC-level prices," said McNealy. "We believe this is an important milestone and will help UNIX continue to grow even faster in business environments." Among the many advantages that Notes for SPARC/Solaris systems will offer business users is the option of turning to a high-performance, scalable, multi-user RISC/UNIX server to support Notes clients in PC LANs in addition to the current solution of an OS/2 server. This is made possible through the integration of Netware SunLink(R) -- a Sun product that connects Sun systems with PCs running Novell Netware -- and Notes for the SPARC/Solaris platform. "In a world where mixed computing environments are the norm, customers want to purchase applications that are available on, and compatible across, the major operating system platforms," said Jim Manzi, CEO of Lotus. "As UNIX expands its presence in business and technical market segments, our commitment to deliver the highest-quality productivity tools for UNIX platforms grows. "Since its introduction in 1989, Notes has made it easier for more than 200,000 users to share information and decision making within their organizations. We look forward to helping Sun's large installed base leverage the high performance of the SPARC system architecture and Solaris environment with the defining application for workgroup computing." Many Sun and Lotus customers are looking forward to using the new product. "It is imperative for us that key applications such as Notes be available for all our strategic platforms, including SPARC/Solaris," said Jean-Louis Bravard, managing director of the Advanced Technology Group at J. P. Morgan. "We are a large user of Sun systems and also have Notes running on Windows. The availability of Notes on Sun, especially Sun's servers for Notes clients, should boost performance." Lotus Notes is an open workgroup computing environment that helps people to work together more effectively. It is used to build information-sharing applications that provide an easy means for workgroups to communicate and share information across geographic, technical and organizational boundaries. Notes is a client-server product that runs on all major networks. Lotus Development Corp. (NASDAQ: LOTS), founded in 1982, provides software products and support services that meet the business needs of individuals, workgroups and enterprises. Lotus' extensive range of products form the foundation for the company's Working Together strategy, which focuses on integrating applications, platforms and people. The company's first product, 1-2-3, is the most popular personal computer software application in the world, with more than 20 million users. Lotus markets its products in more than 80 countries worldwide and provides numerous support services, both from its consulting division and its award-winning 24-hour support center. If you have any questions, please contact Susan Hathaway at (415) 336-7064. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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.