Sun Microsystems, Inc. and Lotus Development Corp. Joint Initiatives Underscore Commitment to Enterprise Customers; Strong Relationship Expands Through Tighter Integration of Domino Server and Solaris Operating Environment, More Lotus Products For Solaris SPARC and Intel Edition, Continued Java Development and New Channel Program

Business Wire, Jan 27, 1997

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 27, 1997--In response to growing customer demand, Sun Microsystems, Inc. and Lotus Development Corporation today announced several joint initiatives further building on the companies' commitment to providing the most complete Internet/intranet solutions for the enterprise.

The two companies are expanding their efforts to provide tighter integration between the Lotus Domino(TM) 4.5 server and the Sun Solaris(TM) operating environment, to pursue joint Java(TM) applet and application development, to develop more Lotus products for SPARC(TM) and Intel Platform Editions, and to create a new channel program.

At Lotusphere, Sun will be demonstrating in booth A79-84 the following Lotus products for Solaris SPARC and Intel Editions: Domino 4.5 server, Notes(TM) 4.5 client, cc:Mail(TM) messaging system, NotesPump(TM) data distribution server, SMTP Message Transfer Agent (MTA), plus Java APIs and connectivity tools.

"Lotus and Sun share a common vision of interoperable and scalable solutions for the enterprise and Internet/intranet," said Eileen Rudden, senior VP, Communications Product Development, Lotus Development Corp. "The current joint activities we are undertaking are exciting and will continue to result in even more tightly integrated and scalable solutions for our joint enterprise customers and business partners."

According to Mark Tolliver, vice president of Market Development at Sun Microsystems, Inc., "Sun is enthusiastic about its relationship with Lotus because the company sees a real need for solutions that are scalable in the area of enterprise Internet/ intranet computing. We are particularly pleased with the level of support from Lotus in their Java development efforts and the work that is being done to support customers."

New Domino 4.5 Integration with Solaris for SPARC and Intel Platform Editions

Domino 4.5 for Solaris SPARC and Intel Platform Editions has been enhanced in this release to provide tighter integration with the Solaris operating environment, taking advantage of native Sun event logging, fault recovery and high availability features. These features give users more reliable access to their data and better uptime on their server.

Domino 4.5 for Solaris SPARC and Intel Platform Editions provides administrators with a single event tracking environment for both Domino and the Solaris operating environment. The fault recovery system in Domino 4.5 for Solaris enhances reliability and automates the process of system clean-up, restart and diagnostics in the event of a Domino server fault.

It allows an administrator to completely customize the response to a Domino server including integration with Sun's logging and debugging facilities.

Additionally, Lotus and Sun are working together to provide high availability for Lotus Domino on Solaris. This joint development includes Lotus Domino integration with Solstice(TM) HA software, Sun's high availability products and technologies for enterprise management. Automated failover support is also available for Sun's currently shipping Solstice HA 1.2 product.

Expanded Java Development

Lotus and Sun continue to work together on a large and rapidly growing list of Java based application initiatives. To date, these include a prototype of a Java-based client for Lotus cc:Mail messaging system, shown at Sun's October 29, 1996 JavaStation(TM) launch in New York; a set of business productivity applets developed in Java, being previewed at Lotusphere '97; integration of Java into the Notes 4.5 client and Domino 4.5 server, and more. Other announcements are planned for the future.

Increased Functionality for Customers Running Solaris for SPARC and Intel Edition

In line with Lotus' commitment to cross-platform availability, the following Lotus products are now, or will shortly be, available for the Solaris operating environment:

-- NotesPump: A server-based data transfer engine, NotesPump enables high-performance and scalable exchange of data between database management systems such as Oracle and Informix. Beta testing on Solaris SPARC and Intel Platform Editions will be available in February; commercially available late Q1/early Q2.

-- Domino.Action: Provides a powerful set of easy-to-use tools that allow users to create, populate and manage a Web site, and leverage the collaborative functionality of Domino to enable and manage multi-site distributed authoring. Available Q1 for Solaris SPARC and Intel Platform Editions.

-- Domino.Merchant: Transforms Web sites into online business centers, creating a complete and secure commerce solution that fits easily into an organization's current selling model. Available in Q2 for the Solaris operating environment.

-- SMTP Message Transfer Agent (MTA): Provides a reliable, standards-based messaging backbone for SMTP networks by extending native protocol and directory support to the Lotus Domino 4.5 server. Now available for all platforms with the Domino 4.5 server.

-- HiTest C API: Gives C developers access to the robust, distributed services of Domino using a high-level, object-based C API. Allows programmers to quickly learn and exploit the power of Domino. Beta for Solaris SPARC and Intel Edition now available on the Lotus Web site, http://www.lotus.com .