Softway Systems Inc has revealed the first of what it says are a series of big OEM contracts for its OpenNT middleware. Dell Computer Corp has agreed to bundle OpenNT, middleware that provides Unix-like services on top of Windows NT, with every Dell Workstation 400 it sells to the Federal Government. But Dell also says that all of its business customers will be able to have OpenNT installed when they order any Dell system running NT. Softway estimates that some 1m NT servers and 12 million desktops will be sold this year. Going by current progress, Dell systems could account for between 10% and 15% of that number. Dell passed Compaq Computer Corp last year as the number one supplier of desktop systems to local and federal government. OpenNT, which can be used to re-host entire Unix applications on top of NT or just to provide peripheral Unix services such as shellscripts, telnet and messaging, has been most popular in government circles, where Unix procurement rules are still in place. The agreement takes effect immediately in the US, but may take some months to filter through to the rest of the world. List prices for the workstation lite version of OpenNT without software development kit is $229, but Softway wasn’t revealing the terms of its agreement with Dell. It said Dell was also carrying the rest of its product line. Privately held Softway, based in San Francisco, California, says it’s just reached the end of its fiscal year, and will be celebrating with champagne, but not expensive champagne. The company’s competitors include DataWare Inc’s NuTcracker, and Uwin, the NT port of the Unix korn shell written by Unix guru Dave Korn himself and marketed by New Jersey-based Global Technologies Ltd – although the main competition still comes from in-house porting efforts.
