Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG (SNI) is also mounting a low-end systems push and a scheme to migrate legacy applications to Windows NT. The German company will co-operate with Microsoft Corp in developing BackOffice applications. The initiative centers around what it calls the ComUnity Applications Implementation Framework, an object-oriented environment it is co-developing with Redmond that integrates legacy business applications with Windows NT. NT will be the common user interface for its low-end systems, including departmental servers, personal computers and a new Pentium Pro workstation line. Although it can support NetWare and Unix on some of its low-end boxes, SNI makes it clear that NT is the operating system of choice. ComUnity will use Visual Basic and Object Linking & Embedding Automation to implement BackOffice-type applications. Migration will be supported by Component Link Enabling, a set of communication interfaces and conversion tools.
