The expansion of the relationship with Digital Communications Associates Inc, Alpharetta, Georgia, will see the two developing workstation software, to be sold by both companies, enabling users of Banyan Systems Inc’s Enterprise Networking Services to access IBM Corp mainframe and AS/400 environments. The software will be available for systems including Windows, Macintosh, OS/2 and MS-DOS, say the companies, and will work in conjunction with Banyan gateways including the SNA Communications Server which was developed with Digital Communications Associates, and the latter’s IrmaLAN for Vines. The first of these implementations is available now: called Irma Workstation for AS/400, it is priced at $2,800 for 10 users, rising to $15,800 for 100 users. The companies say they will explore further joint development projects. Finally, Banyan is to work with the Metromail subsidiary of R R Donnelley & Sons Co of Chicago to develop a set of StreetTalk directory network service applications aimed at the direct marketing industry; Banyan says the agreement will result in its first enterprise network service application to go beyond the traditional local area network operating system environment. Called National Directory Assistance, the first of the products is intended to provide an alternative to directory enquiries services for Banyan users and will also include an application programming interface for integration into other software packages. It will be formally launched next quarter and sold by Metromail, with the pricing scheduled to be announced nearer the time.
