As expected, SunSoft Inc last week said it is now offering Solaris 1.1 (SunOS) as an option on its entry-level microSparc-based Classic and LX workstations after pressure from corporate users. European and Asian language versions will be available in 45 days. Previously the machines were configured only with the Unix System V.4-derived Solaris 2 – which is incompatible with many of the existing BSD Solaris 1.1-based applications. Customers have to buy Solaris 1.1 as an additional item on top of Solaris 2. Indeed, to try and speed up the pace of transition to Solaris 2, SunSoft is extending the functionality of many of its migration tools. The Solaris 2 binary compatibility package, which currently enables dynamically-linked Solaris 1 applications to run under Solaris 2, is being uprated to include support for statically-linked applications. SunSoft says this should enable more third-party and in-house Solaris 1-based software to run unchanged under Solaris 2. The extended package will be bund led with the next release of Solaris, version 2.3, expected sometime in the autumn. The company will also offer a network transition kit that will enable users to run their Solaris 1 NIS network configuration and administration server software under Solaris 2, while they get to grips with NIS+ which features on the new operating system. The transition kit costs $125 for a site licence and is due in 60 days.
Training centres
The company claims to have shipped 250,000 Solaris 2 licences in the last six months and says 650 applications are now up under the environment. It has signed Bell Atlantic Business Systems Service, Computervision Corp and CSA Automated Systems Pte Ltd, Singapore, to provide Solaris service and support, and has 15 new Solaris training and education centres around the world including Siemens AG in Germany, Georgia Institute of Technology in the US and Tower Education in the UK. Sun has also set up a new Solaris communications centre which will provide daily migration information over electronic mail such as product updates, technical articles and access to patches.
