IBM warns patents cover APPN protocol

Electronic News, August 24, 1992 by Elisabeth Horwitt

Raleigh, N.C.--IBM stirred up a hornest's nest recently when it warned a gathering of developers that its Advanced Peer-to-Peer Networking (APPN) protocol--the much-vaunted "open blueprint" for multivendor, enterprise wide communications--is protected by at least eight different patents.

The patent question could well prove to be a stumbling block for would-be APPN developers, at least in the short term. Licenses for the APPN Network Node, which defines the systems that coordinate communications across the enterprise, is not scheduled for general release until next year. In addition, the price has not been disclosed by IBM. However, industry sources estimated that it will be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

IBM APPN architect Marcia Peters said the patents were necessary to protect IBM's intellectual property. "In my opinion it is impossible to develop (APPN Network Node) products without using technology that is protected by those patents," she said, but this should "be no surprise" to vendors because IBM previously indicated it was planning a licensing program the APPN Network Node.

"IBM deserves a fair return on its investment" of millions of dollars on developing the architecture, she said. Nevertheless the cost of a license will be low enough that vendors can price their APPN products competitively, she added, declining to be more specific.

Some third party developers are immune to the dispute. 3Com Corp., Network Equipment Technology, Inc. and Novell, Inc. have already signed up for APPN licenses from IBM under reciprocal technology agreements. On the other hand, Cisco Systems, Inc., Systems Strategies, Inc., Brixton Systems, Inc. and "anyone else who is doing APPN software today has a problem staring them in the face," said a Cisco spokesman. "In the long term, we're interested in licensing APPN Network Node; in the short term, this affects us."

The patent question extends further than APPN development, according to Kevin Kalajan, senior product manager at Sun Microsystems, Inc. subsidiary SunConnect. For example, a protocol called adaptive session level pacing, which comes under the APPN patents, is also used in the far more numerous Advanced Program-to-Program Communications products and installations, he added. "The real question is how much IBM plans to enforce" the patents, Mr. Kalajan added.

Also raised at the conference was the question of whether IBM intends to enforce the patents on, or charge a license fee for, the APPN End Node.

End node products, several of which are now on the market, can access APPN resources but cannot perform the sophisticated directory and routing functions defined by the APPN Network Node.

Enforcement of the APPN patents could cool whatever enthusiasm the industry has for adopting the protocol as an industry wide standard, sources said, particularly with protocols such as Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol so well established and popular among users that it is a rival de facto enterprise networking standard.

"It would be foolish for IBM not to make APPN an open architecture if it wants the protocol to succeed, and here it seems like they are trying to close it," said Pat Mayer, a local-area network administrator at Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. "IBM should make it as easy as possible" to implement APPN, Mayer added. "It's likely that we will implement APPN, but I think that a lot of vendors that might otherwise have supported it won't now. I don't understand IBM."