By William Fellows
We never could understand why Unix-to-PC connectivity company Syntax Inc didn’t do a better job of evangelizing its highly- regarded TotalNet server. The software provides seamless Unix access to files and data stored on multiple operating environments. Well now the worm has turned. Sun Microsystems Inc, by far Syntax’s most important customer, recently decided to adopt AT&T Co’s implementation of Windows NT network services on Solaris as its route into the world of NT, over and above TotalNet (which it currently sells as SunLink), under the name Project Cascade. In reaction, Syntax has sworn to start getting more serious about its work. Cascade, it believes, is the wrong technology for Sun. Syntax, which did not have a salesperson until 1994 and is now staring the loss of its main revenue stream in the face, has used technology three years in the making to deliver a functional implementation of NT’s key primary domain controller, in a new version of TotalNet due out next week. Unaccountably, Syntax didn’t tip Sun’s hand to its plan until too late, although it claims Project Cascade would have gone ahead in any case. It will also try to gather-up cross-industry support for its common file format technology that enables it to translate between a range of different network protocols. And its work is now up on the mainframe, courtesy of Hitachi Ltd. See Barbed Wire for more details.
