Banging the drum for the Precision RISC Organisation supporters’ club
One year after its inception, the members of the Precision RISC Organisation supporters’ club say they have successfully built and delivered a new business model for industry consortia, Hewlett-Packard Co reports. Individual members are cross-licensing technologies and developing new Precision Architecture RISC-based products, and are actively developing standards and compliance-testing technologies, and are forming special-interest groups, councils and task groups, the company claims. Examples of technology exchanges include the agreement between Hitachi Ltd and Oki Electric Industry Co to align on standards for embedded control chips, and the agreement between Hewlett and Convex Computer Corp to cross-license compiler technologies. As a primary objective, the establishment of standards-based hardware and software interfaces to enable usersto move software easily among different vendors’ systems using the RISC family, has advanced significantly, Hewlett says. The board of the club is expected to approve the Precision Architecture RISC application programming interface this summer and the applications binary interface by the end of the year. Compliance-testing technology is being developed to help ensure the adherence to the Organisation’s standards and thus compatibility of Precision Architecture hardware and software products from multiple vendors. The club has been looking at the 88open test suites, and the testing technology will be available in late 1993. A special-interest group is developing standards for Precision Architecture RISC embedded control applications. Councils meet to focus on technology and promotional topics, Hewlett-Packard adds. Task groups are formulating standards for the areas of multiprocessor technologies, compliance technologies and native language system localisation. Precision RISC Organisation sponsor and senior members are Convex Computer Corp, Hewlett, Hitachi, Hughes Aircraft Co, Mitsubishi Electric Corp, Oki, Samsung Electronics Co, Sequoia Systems Inc, Stratus Computer Inc, Winbond Electronics Corp and Yokogawa Electric Corp. Together, these companies have aggregate electronics-related turnover exceeding $70,000m and total revenues of more than $160,000m, Hewlett-Packard reckons. It also cites RISC Management Newsletter, which suggests that Precision Architecture RISC is the industry leader in RISC-system and related software sales, saying that analysis of 1992 RISC-system revenues said that Precision Architecture RISC has achieved more than 30% of an estimated $17,500m market.
Coming down to the wire with FileNet imaging, WorkFlo products
Hewlett-Packard Co has finalised its agreement with Costa Mesa, California-based FileNet Corp for implementation of FileNet’s document imaging and WorkFlo software products on the Precision Architecture RISC-based HP 3000 and HP 9000 business systems and servers. The Image Management Services software, a set of application modules that control the processing, storage, retrieval, and printing of document images, is expected to be available on the computers by the end of the year. The two say they have already begun joint marketing activities in the US, France, Germany, the UK and Australia.
Ask calls in Hewlett to market
Ingres in Eastern Europe, Russia Hewlett-Packard Co has taken a licence from Ask Computer Systems Inc to distribute the Ingres relational database and application development tools throughout Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. The countries covered by the agreement, which allows for joint sales and marketing activities, include Bulgaria, the countries of the former Soviet Union, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. Use of Ingres products has been expanding rapidly in Eastern Europe over the past few years through local distributors in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia, the company says, with customers including the Polish Central Statistical Office and the Stock Exchange in Budapest, Hun
gary.
Hewlett takes Micro Resources’ phone company software products
Hewlett-Packard Co is working with Micro Resources Inc to offer the latter’s applications and service for the telecommunications industry on the HP 9000 Unix family. Target customers include the regional Bell operating companies, independent phone companies, and network software suppliers. Micro Resources will provide its SwitchTerm software throughout the US and Canada, and will provide systems integration services in the midwest. Micro Resources’ SwitchTerm is an X Window and Unix-based tool that enables network managers to consolidate multiple operating systems onto a single console, where they can be viewed in windows on the screen. No indication of prices.
Walker Richer to the rescue with communications software for HP 3000 users
Hewlett-Packard Co has turned to Walker Richer & Quinn for terminal emulation, networking and client-server software for the HP 3000. Under the expanded relationship, the two companies will work together to offer HP 3000 users a trade-in programme from HP AdvanceLink to Reflection for terminal emulation (HP will continue to support HP AdvanceLink customers). More cost-effective client-server solutions implementations and better communications via software bundled on a new HP client, and communications for the HP 95LX palmtop. Walker’s Reflection 1 for MS-DOS and Reflection 1 for Windows are alternatives to HP AdvanceLink products, and are available to AdvanceLink users as trade-ins at $100 per user. And later this year, Hewlett-Packard will ship a new client intended to be a universal Windows client. Bundled with the client will be Windows-based Reflection software for concurrent access to HP 3000, Digital Equipment Corp VAX, and Unix servers. And users of the 95LX palmtop will get access to remote HP 3000 applications when Reflection-To-Go ships in July. Reflection-To-Go is a customised version of Walker’s Reflection 1, which emulates HP 700/92 and 2392A terminals. The palmtop edition will offer enhanced modem dialling and screen handling and will be streamlined to conserve memory. A full-featured modem will be integrated with Reflection on the same PCMCIA card. No prices were given for anything.
