Interactive Systems Corp has launched a set of networking products designed to bring Unix System V licensees capabilities beyond those in AT&T’s Unix System V Release 4 and those published in the Unix International Roadmap. Interactive, which acquired networking specialist Lachman Associates last year, already supplies the TCP/IP components bundled in as standard part of AT&T’s System V.4. The new technology, called Streamware, is aimed at OEM customers of Unix System V.4, and augment networking capabilities beyond that of standard TCP/IP using V.4’s Streams networking capabilities. There are three components. Streamware TCP/IP is the latest release of the widely used Unix protocol, which Interactive claims is from 25% to 50% faster for bulk throughput, with increased support for military standards and maintenance fixes. It includes enhancements developed at the University of Berkeley on TCP/IP. Streamware SNMP extends TCP/IP with the Simple Network Management Protocol, and enables any Unix system to be configured, controlled and monitored by an SNMP station anywhere on the network. Streamware NetBIOS provides a NetBIOS program interface for standard TCP/IP communications services, enabling MS-DOS-based network applications, such as Microsoft/Hewlett Packard’s LAN Manager/X, to operate in Unix environments, giving personal computer users access to Unix network resources such as printers or databases. All areavailable immediately, and are available in source code form under simple licensing terms, with one year of source-level maintenance and support. Interactive says it will provide a shrink-wrapped version of Unix System V.4 including the new technology in 1991, for end-users and resellers of Intel-based computers. The company is also working on Open Systems Interconnection-based communications products for V.4 in conjunction with Retix Inc, which is also based in Santa Monica, California.
