Through its new deal with Bay Networks Inc, Microsoft Corp is planning to promote Windows NT Server as a system for routing services. Specifically, the two companies will work together to embed Bay’s Routing Services into the Cairo release of NT Server, expected after the first quarter next year, and will provide a routing Application Programming Interface and a Routing Table Manager model in NT to enable router manufacturers to add routing protocols to the system. Microsoft hopes that in this way other suppliers will develop NT-hosted services including wide area networking, dial-up services, remote client access, security, traffic prioritisation and bandwidth management. Microsoft’s rationale is that NT-based servers are powerful enough to handle routing alongside other functions and that users will want to consolidate their networking requirements wherever possible. Through the agreement, Bay’s Open Shortest Path First software will be integrated by the two companies into NT and they will also work on netw ork management: Bay’s Optivity suite will be used to manage the Routing Services embedded in Windows NT Servers, while Microsoft is planning to provide management tools integrated in NT Server. The fact that Microsoft went to Bay must be something of a disappointment to Cisco Systems Inc (although the company denies this), since Cisco is on a mission to promote its own Internetwork Operating System as the de facto standard for internetworking (CI No 2,650). Indeed, the two companies have an agreement dating back to 1993 (CI No 2,284) that called for the development of a board-level remote access software router for Windows NT Advanced Server environments. Paul Stanton, marketing manager for Microsoft, said the decision was made because we have a lot of common views regarding what customers need. He would not directly comment on whether Microsoft discussed signing with Cisco instead, but said that there really haven’t been any deliverables from Cisco from [the 1993] announcement – implying that this may have had something to do with it. For its part, Cisco is putting a brave face on things: Bob Michelet, director of corporate relations, said We don’t think it’s a setback, adding that Cisco has signed more than 30 vendors as licensees to its Internetwork Operating System. He also hi nted strongly that Cisco will use the Bay-Microsoft developed application programming interface to develop routing offerings for NT.
