HP Announces New Suite of Highly Scalable SNA Connectivity Solutions for IBM Mainframe and AS 400 Environments; Next Generation of SNAplus2 Interconnect Products and Integration with Cisco Series 7000 Family of Routers Provide Cost-effective and Scalable Solutions for Legacy Computers

Business Wire, July 1, 1996

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 1, 1996--In its ongoing commitment to meet the ever-increasing cost-of-ownership, scalability and applications-availability demands of computer users in heterogeneous environments, Hewlett-Packard Company today introduced the next generation in its family of high-performance Systems Network Architecture (SNA) interconnectivity solutions.

These innovative networking products, which enhance HP's position as the world's leading provider of mainframe-alternative solutions, enable customers to more rapidly and cost effectively link HP 9000 commercial computing environments with large production systems from IBM.

HP also announced it has completed interoperability testing with Cisco Systems' Channel Interface Processor (CIP), a high-performance data-center product that supports ESCON and bus/tag connectivity as part of the popular Cisco Series 7000 router family. The CIP is the strategic piece of the internetworking puzzle that meets customers' needs to place mainframe data centers onto high-speed internetworks. HP is the first non-mainframe computer manufacturer to integrate Cisco Systems' CIP into its data-center offerings.

The Cisco 7000 and CIP product combination offers significantly better performance at a cost many times less than a front-end processor, which historically has connected IBM mainframes and AS/400 systems to other computing environments.

With the extension and enhancement of the SNAplus2 family of solutions and the integration of the Cisco Channel Interface Processor into its portfolio, HP is solidly positioned to meet the most demanding connectivity requirements of customers that run information-intensive data-warehouse projects on IBM mainframe and AS/400 computer systems.

"Network managers today face an array of technical and financial challenges in an ever-increasing world of multicomputer environments, and users have become more vocal in their demand for better response time and availability," said Mark Hudson, director of network marketing for HP's General Systems Division. "In IBM environments, customers can dramatically reduce cost-of-ownership by consolidating multiple SNA and non-SNA networks into one multiprotocol internetwork. In conjunction with business partners such as Cisco, HP is delivering best-in-class products to our customers, and our latest ventures in this area solidify and extend our leadership position in providing availability and scalability for applications from any point in the network."

SNAPLUS2 FAMILY FACILITATES MOVE TO OPENNESS

The next-generation, highly scalable series of SNAplus2 networking products -- a one-stop shop for SNA connectivity products, integration, consulting and support -- further enhances the capabilities of systems running the HP-UX(1) operating system in mainframe environments. SNAplus2 offers an array of new features and benefits:

-- The SNAplus2 product family can accommodate a virtually

unlimited number of simultaneous users and sessions and

can scale up, depending on available system resources.

-- SNAplus2 implements Advanced Peer-to-Peer Networking

(APPN) end-node functionality, which provides direct

end-to-end communications between host and peer

computer -- in particular, making it easy for IBM

AS/400 customers to migrate to an HP 9000 server.

-- Concurrently supporting an array of local area and wide

area networking protocols, SNAplus2 easily integrates

into existing network infrastructures, ensuring that

customers' investments are protected.

-- New graphical-user-interface-based configuration tools

let administrators manage large numbers of SNA servers

from a central console. Until now, a central graphical

monitor did not exist for HP's SNA solutions.

-- An enhanced set of industry-standard Application

Programming Interfaces (APIs) supports connectivity to

a larger number of existing applications distributed

between HP 9000 servers and an IBM host or peer system.

HP also offers a comprehensive package of financial incentives, hardware upgrade paths, migration tools and professional service assistance that helps preserve customers' existing investments and makes the transition to open client/server computing easier to manage.

The latest release of HP's HP-UX SNAplus2 features five comprehensive solutions that enhance system scalability and application availability in data-warehousing and mainframe-migration environments. With these, customers can better consolidate their disparate computers into a more easily managed system environment.

-- HP-UX SNAplus2 Link -- configured as a stand-alone or

as a client/server solution, SNAplus2 Link provides

enhanced communication capabilities between an HP 9000

server or workstation and an IBM mainframe or peer

system, such as an AS/400.

-- HP-UX SNAplus2 3270/3179G -- configured as a

stand-alone or as a client/server solution, this

provides interactive communications between an HP 9000

server and IBM-compatible mainframe or peer system

using SNA 3270, 3278 and 3179G/3192G emulation.