Microsoft and Attachmate form an "Enterprise Alliance" to link Intranets with IBM mainframes through Microsoft BackOffice

Business Wire, June 10, 1996

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 10, 1996--Microsoft and Attachmate(r) today announced the "Microsoft-Attachmate Enterprise Alliance" which includes a broad range of product, support and service initiatives between the two companies.

The Alliance is designed to tightly couple Microsoft(r) SNA Server with Attachmate's EXTRA!(r), RALLY!(tm), EMISSARY(tm) and SUPPORTWARE!(tm) product lines to provide customer-ready solutions. Customers will benefit from the tight product support and service integration of these best-of-breed products to satisfy their desktop-to-host and Web-to-host needs.

The Alliance consists of the following initiatives:

-- Attachmate's EMISSARY Host Publishing System (EHPS), which is designed to work with Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS), will be offered as an add-on product to Microsoft SNA Server, thereby establishing SNA Server as the platform for Attachmate's Web-to-host products. EHPS is available now through exclusive preview.

-- Attachmate will develop a "GAP Connector" module which makes SNA Server compatible with the gateway access protocol (GAP) used in existing Attachmate gateways. This add-on capability will allow customers to easily migrate from their existing Attachmate MS-DOS(r)-based gateways to SNA Server running on Windows NT(r) Server.

-- Microsoft and Attachmate will proactively target opportunities to integrate IBM PROFS, OfficeVision and SNADS messaging systems with Microsoft Exchange through the powerful Attachmate EXTRA! Connectors for PROFS and SNADS.

-- Attachmate will develop SNA Server specific versions of its award-winning EXTRA! and RALLY! clients for all popular desktop platforms. Currently shipping are: RALLY! for AS/400 - SNA Server 6.1, EXTRA! for SNA Server 6.1 for Windows(r)95, EXTRA! for SNA Server 6.1 for Windows NT, and EXTRA! for SNA Server 4.3 for Windows 3.x.

-- Attachmate will market its extensive SDLC, X.25 and ISDN product lines to customers migrating from hierarchical SNA networks to TCP/IP-based Intranets via the SNA Open Gateway Architecture (SOGA) support in SNA Server.

-- Attachmate will create a specialized Medallion program as part of its Attachmate Intranet Masters (AIM) reseller initiative to meet the needs of resellers of SNA Server and the Microsoft BackOffice(tm) family. The Medallion program will be closely tied to Microsoft's SNA Specialist program.

The SNA Specialist program is a category under the Microsoft Solution Provider umbrella, intended for companies that specialize in consulting, installation, support and related service opportunities involving Microsoft SNA Server. Together these programs will result in a comprehensive support network for customers.

-- Attachmate will enhance its suite of SUPPORTWARE! offerings by including coverage for Microsoft's SNA Server. The two companies will create an escalation procedure to ensure an integrated and responsive support system for corporate customers.

-- Attachmate will create a dedicated Enterprise Consulting Group (ECG) that will work in close collaboration with Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) to focus on host information access projects involving SNA Server.

-- Microsoft will provide customized training to ensure the certification of Attachmate's support, consulting, sales and systems engineering organizations on SNA Server.

"We believe that Microsoft's SNA Server is the best platform for host connectivity on the market today, and we are committed to assisting customers in their successful implementation of SNA Server and BackOffice-based solutions," said Jim Lindner, president and CEO of Attachmate.

"Attachmate is dedicating significant resources to assure the success of this Alliance, including a team of developers who will build a series of 'value-added servers' on top of the SNA Server platform. Our industry-leading EXTRA! Personal Client will provide the perfect complement to Microsoft's server suite direction so that customers can easily deploy desktop-to-host and host-to-Web solutions."

"Microsoft chose to partner with Attachmate because of its worldwide product, sales and support leadership in the host connectivity market," said Jim Allchin, senior vice president of Microsoft's Desktop and Business Systems Division.

"Attachmate's clients and server add-on products combined with our powerful Internet/Intranet platform including Microsoft SNA Server and BackOffice provide our mutual customers with a complete best-of-breed desktop/Web-to-host connectivity solution."

To achieve a strong and consistent Alliance between Attachmate and Microsoft, the companies will work together to migrate customers who have licensed Attachmate's EMISSARY TCP Server to Microsoft SNA Server. As a result of this Alliance, Attachmate will no longer be marketing EMISSARY TCP Server.

"This Alliance is exactly what our organization needs today," said Bryan Paxson, Telecommunications manager at Freightliner Corp. in Portland, Ore. "We've been seriously looking at Windows NT and Microsoft's Back Office platforms including SNA Server, as well as Attachmate's EXTRA! Personal Client.