Two UK companies have collaborated with ICL to produce an open systems file server package aimed at ICL users, which integrates the VME, Unix and MS-DOS operating systems (CI No 1,185). The new product, EXS, is the result of work carried out by communications specialist Network Designers Ltd of Kingston Bagpuize, Oxfordshire (not Woking, as stated previously – that’s where the company’s flackery, which omitted to give a location for its client, lives) in collaboration with Industry Standard Software Ltd – no location given – and ICL’s mainframe systems division, and enables an ICL Series 39 mainframe running VME to act as a fileserver to MS-DOS and Unix systems connected to it via ICL’s Oslan Ethernet local area network. The first result of the collaboration is EXS/NFS, which provides an implementation of Sun Microsystems’ Network File System under VME, supporting transparent data sharing between the three operating systems. At the personal computer level, display, printer and file access is provided by PC-NFS in conjunction with Network Designers’ Tango range of products, which have just been adopted by ICL for use with its newly launched MS-DOS DRS range of personal computers. Installed at several trial sites, EXS will be available from both Network Designers and ISS from October 1989.
