Insiginia Solutions Plc, the High Wycombe, UK SoftWindows company, has been busy getting its Ntrigue Windows-on-X application server out to a wider audience, and has announced deals with Sun Microsystems Inc and Motorola Inc, and corporate licensing agreements with Hewlett-Packard Co and Texas Instruments Inc. Launched last year (CI No 2,778) Ntrigue was co- developed with X terminal company Network Computing Devices Inc. It includes Citrix Systems Inc’s Winframe and a Microsoft Windows NT server, and enables users to access Windows applications from whatever personal computer or workstation they have on their desk, including Unix, Macintosh, X terminals or network computers. The Sun Microsystems deal adds Ntrigue support for Sun’s new JavaStation network computer, enabling it to run Windows applications via an Ntrigue server. Sun is bundling Insignia’s X client for Java on the JavaStations at no extra charge, so that users can run Windows 3.x, Windows 95 and NT applications, thus eliminating a major barrier to the network computers. Insignia says the Java client is optimized for local networks, intranets and the Internet. Sun will also reference sell Ntrigue to its JavaStation and Sparcstation customers that want to run Windows applications. Meanwhile, Motorola Computer Group has signed an agreement with Insignia that will add Windows 95 to the applications customers are able to run on its PowerPC- based PowerStack II systems, alongside NT applications.
Internal systems
As well as the Sun and Motorola deals, Insignia has licensed Ntrigue to both Texas Instruments and Hewlett-Packard for use throughout these companies. Insignia has concluded a corporate licensing agreement with Hewlett-Packard, for use in its internal systems worldwide. Texas Instruments also says it will deploy Ntrigue at its locations around the world. Project manager Gilbert Hu said Texas Instruments will integrate Ntrigue within its overall network, to enable all users to access Windows applications such as Microsoft Office. Insignia says Texas is one of an ever increasing number of companies moving to integrate Windows NT with their existing systems. The company said it doesn’t believe Unix will go away, and companies will continue to want to integrate legacy systems with new NT applications for the foreseeable future.
