Pipeline, the graphical interface access tool for the Internet has been licensed by software developers InterCon Systems Corp of Herndon, Virginia. Pipeline, developed by Jim Gleick in between writing his best-seller Chaos, on the history and meaning of the Chaos theory, is already popular with Internet users and InterCon plans to make it available to a wider set of commercial users. InterCon, with its TCP/Connect II product line, was the first company to produce a commercial TCP/IP product for connecting Macintosh systems to local and wide area network systems, including the Internet. It has also introduced Network File Server and UUCP, Unix-to-Unix Communications Protocol, products into the Macintosh world, and more recently, despite a continuing pro-Mac bigotry, the company has extended its reach to include Windows environments. Pipeline is a client-server product that runs on a Unix server and has a choice of either Windows or Macintosh clients. The client packages, version 2.0 for Windows and 1.0 for Macintosh, are designed to simplify the task of accessing the Internet, and support the World Wide Web Internet graphical hypermedia tool. The server product also allows for the customisation of user menus and dialogue boxes and can support multiple clients over local or wide area networks. Pipeline can be used to exchange electronic mail and multimedia attachments, participate in Usenet newsgroups, navigate databases and research facilities and download files and software. As well as the World Wide Web, access to Internet tools such as Gopher, Archie, Veronica, Wide Area Information Servers and File Transfer Protocol is available. Pipeline Server for Internet service providers, information providers and corporations costs $7,500 in the US. The client software is licensed to corporations and service providers on a per user per year basis, with prices from $50 per user per year, with quantity discounts. Both client versions are available immediately. The Solaris version of the server product is also available immediately, with other Unix versions scheduled to appear next quarter. HP-UX, UnixWare and Santa Cruz Operation Inc Unix versions are high on the list. Products are available on a 30-day free trial period to users who have anonymous File Transfer Protocol access to the Internet. To install the trial software, the user downloads the files from the File Transfer Protocol server directory/ intercon/sales/*. The directory contains installation information in a Readme file. A serial number and access key can be obtained through electronic mail at salesUKPintercon.com. InterCon Systems has a UK subsidiary in Reading, Berkshire, and distributes products through companies such as Unipalm and Principal. At the Paris Interop Show in October, InterCon also announced version 2 of TCP/Connect II for Macintosh, a System 7.5-compatible Power Macintosh native application including Multipart Internet Messaging Extension-compliant electronic mail, a Gopher client for Internet access, a Point-to-Point Protocol implementation and automatic decoding of all incoming files including File Transfer Protocol.
