Digital Equipment Corp and Systems Center Inc have announced the fruits of a joint project designed to enable users manage combined IBM Corp SNA and DECnet networks. DEC has also been active in other areas, adding to its both its open network and network management products, and announcing the result of an alliance with Integrata. The new multi-vendor network management systems are designed to be used with DECmcc and either IBM’s NetView or System Center’s NET/Master, and are claimed to enable managers to monitor and control SNA, DECnet Phase IV, TCP/IP and DECnet OSI networks simultaneously. The Reston, Virginia-based Systems Center side of the new offering, designated Solve:Connect for EMA, is the link between the DECmcc management system, and either of the two SNA systems. It provides an object-oriented data model of the SNA environment – and is claimed to be the first product to do this – designed to interface with open systems-based applications. This data model is used to map the SNA-generated Network Management Vector Transport event streams onto the Open Systems Interconnection Common Management Information Protocol, CMIP: users of this application can then manage SNA objects using icons and menus in the DECmcc Director.

Polycenter

Polycenter SNA Manager is an extension of the existing software that interacts with DECmcc to enable the automation of systems and network management tasks across combined SNA and DEC networks. Indeed, the company claims that with this product, SNA networks can be managed with the same level of functionality as is available for DEC networks. The products are due to start shipping at the start of November, although neither company has given out any pricing details. And, following the SNA-DECnet integration theme, the company announced that it will sell and support the MEP-VT220 for 3270 Services product from Bonn-based Integrata GmbH. This product is designed to enable IBM 3270 series terminals connected via SNA networks to emulate Digital VT220 terminals for access to any application in the VAX/VMS environment. DEC has also announced three more new products for DECmcc as part of its PolyCenter system. Systems Census v1.0 collects system configuration information dynamically, gathering it into an SQL-compatible database, which managers can then control using multiple simultaneous graphical representations. Automatic detection, notification and possible correction of system problems is provided with the second of the new products, the Polycenter System Watchdog v1.0, while Polycenter Account Manager v1.0 is designed to enable managers to authorise others to register or delete network users while still maintaining system security.

By Matthew Woollacott

On the open networks side, DEC has introduced a new option for its Pathworks network operating system, which enables remote MS-DOS personal computers to act as clients over an X25 network. Called Pathworks X.25 (MS-DOS), it uses an X.25 AT-bus board from Montreal, Canada-based Eicon Technology Inc: as well as network file and print services, terminal emulation and file transfers, the new product also enables the personal computer to use client-server applications and Windows- or DECnet-based applications. These include the Pathworks Mail and DEC MailWorks for Windows electronic mail systems, X Window System servers such as DECwindows, Motif and eXcursion, and database access using SQL systems and DECquery. The DEC EtherWorks EISA TP/BNC board is a new 32-bit, multi-buffered Ethernet controller, for which the company is claiming up to 45% faster performance than competing products, and which is used for connecting EISA bus-based personal computers to Ethernet networks. It includes 128Kb of memory and supports shielded and unshielded twisted pair and coaxial cable.New for Fibre Distributed Data Interface is the DEC FDDIcontroller/EISA, which enables users of EISA bus personal computers to link into FDDI networks. Drivers for Santa Cruz Operation Inc Unix and Novell Inc NetWare are available, and several of the devices can be installed i

n a single system, enabling it to be configured as an Ethernet-to-FDDI or FDDI-to-FDDI router for IPX and TCP/IP networks.DEC has also said that its Token Ring products now also have full support for Source Routing, implemented as a DECnet Phase IV datalink service, and arbitrary 802.5 Token Ring MAC layer addressing within the DEQRA, Pathworks and Proteon products. The company also promises that DECnet Phase IV 802.5/Token Ring Datalink Specification public will be made public, meaning that third-party companies can now develop products that interoperate with DEC’s and Proteon’s products.

PrintServer

The PrintServer 32 is a new high-volume laser printer for network printing in SunOS, OSF/1, Unix and OpenVMS environments. It can handle a maximum of 150,000 pages per minute, and can be used on DECnet or TCP/IP networks, or both simultaneously.For the future, DEC has said that by the middle of 1993, it will make available Token Ring support for DECnet/OSI Phase V; its next generation of systems and servers; its DECnis family of multiprotocol routers; the next generation of IBM Interconnect products, and DEC hubs. DEC has confirmed that it still doesn’t have a firm release date for DECnet/OSI for VMS – the standards-based version of its network. The product was originally scheduled for release in September 1990, slipped to this summer and now the company is saying only that it will be out sometime this autumn. Part of the delay is apparently due to beta test customers’ dislike at finding that the new release will handle only global naming of devices, throwing out the existing local scheme inherent in DECnet Phase IV. The company is also adding FDDI support and looking at TCP/IP.