Data General Corp, Westborough, Massachusetts has announced 30 new communications and office automation products that are said to enable users to integrate existing desktop devices and computer networks (CI No 1,718). The new products are designed to facilitate the integration of systems like the Apple Computer Inc Macintosh, the Digital Equipment Corp VAX and IBM Corp’s AS/400 and 9370 systems, into one network. Also, the company introduced new personal computer local area network products that support IBM Token Ring local area networks. AViiON Office Information Systems, based on Redwood International Ltd’s Uniplex office software, enables users to integrate applications from a variety of desktops machines. AViiON Office Information Systems is a family of server-based office automation products based on Uniplex. The four base products are AV Office, AV Office DOS, AV Office Windows and AV Object Office. Three optional modules are also available – AV Office DocConvert, AV Office Datalink and AV Office Dictionaries. Designed for use with character-based terminals, AV Office includes document processing, a relational database management system, group communications, time manager, personal productivity tools and presentation graphics. AV Office DOS operates in either a stand alone or an integrated MS-DOS environment and enables the use of applications like Lotus 1-2-3 and Wordperfect within the Unix environment. The AV Office Windows is office automation software for X-terminals and Unix workstations. Office Windows is compatible with Motif and the X Window System, and it enables all functions to be accessed through a graphical user interface. AV Object Office, formerly called Open Systems Office/pc.DAA, was announced earlier this year.
NewWave
It is based on Microsoft’s Windows 3.0 and Hewlett-Packard Co’s NewWave 3.0, and unites AViiON Unix servers and personal computers across NetWare local area networks. AV Office DocConvert provides document conversion for Uniplex and WordPerfect, and additional document conversion facilities provide conversion capabilities to and from a range of systems including MultiMate, Word Marc and Microsoft Word for personal computers, Macintosh computers and Windows. AV Office Datalink, fully SQL compatible, enables users to access and use the information stored in several databases such as Oracle, Informix and Ingres. AV Office starts at $2,000 and a 30% discount is available when AV Office Information Systems is purchased with accompanying AViiON hardware. The communications announcement covers two key areas – products that connect micro local area networks to AViiON servers, and products that connect AViiON servers to other systems like the VAX or a mainframe. Based on AT&T Co’s LAN Manager/X and Microsoft’s LAN Manager technology, LAN Manager for AViiON Systems, LM/AV, MS-DOS and OS/2 desktops to AViiON and Eclipse MV servers. OpenMAC for AViiON provides application integration of AViiON with the Apple Macintosh and enables AViiON connections to Macintosh desktops over Ethernet, Appletalk or Token Ring. NetWare for AViiON means that users can now choose between Ethernet or Token Ring. In addition, Data General has announced DNI, DECnet Interface, which enables AViiON servers to communicate with VAX servers over DECnet. SNA Token Ring software facilitates the connection of AViiON servers over Token Ring local area networks to the AS/400 or 9370. Users can transfer files, access IBM-based applications and write co-operative programs. X400 for AViiON enables customers to transfer mail to X400 users on other computing systems, and TCP/IP for AViiON and for Eclipse MV servers supports Token Ring. Finally, Data General’s network management architecture, based on Simple Network Management Protocol, enables an AViiON or Eclipse MV server to be managed by an SNMP-based network management application, and the SNMP software comes bundled with TCP/IP.
