Montreal, Canada-based Eicon Technology Inc has announced what it claims to be the first Windows NT-based local network interconnection product to route TCP/IP across the wide area. The news follows the company’s TCP/IP router for OS/2. Eicon says the new product is a demonstration of its close collaboration with Microsoft Corp, and it is claimed to provide communications using ISDN, Frame Relay, X25, leased lines, or via dial-up connections using the Point-to-Point Protocol. Called the IP Router for Windows NT, it is designed for installation in existing server personal computers, and is said to be fully compatible with backbone routers from vendors including Wellfleet Communications Inc, Cisco Systems Inc and IBM Corp. While the initial product launch is not SNMP manageable, an enhanced version – designed for Daytona, the next release of Windows NT – is to be launched at an unspecified date, also including support for Digital Equipment Corp Alpha. Shipping immediately, the router is to cost $1,400. The product comes hard on the heels of a new release of the company’s WAN Services for Windows NT, at $835, a personal computer-based communications adaptor for use with Microsoft’s SNA Server, which is also said to provide X25 communications for Microsoft’s Remote Access Service.
