Excelan Inc has signed for marketing of its Ethernet and TCP/IP communications products with the Alis Unix office automation software developed by Applix Inc of Westboro, Massachusetts: Alis runs on DEC VAXes, on Masscomp and Sun workstations, the IBM Personal AT and RT, and the Compaq Deskpro 386; Excelan says that if Alis is used with the EXOS controllers, users can design hierarchical network systems that use dissimilar host computers.