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Source: http://pscc.dfw.ibm.com/psmag/sept96/feature/kirklan.htm

[IBM][Personal Systems Magazine]

Kirkland Programming Center --
IBM's Link to Microsoft

As director of IBM's Kirkland Programming Center (KPC) located outside of
Redmond, Washington, Roy Clauson developed the center from initial 
concept
to its present role--ensuring the compatibility of IBM hardware with
Microsoft software. Avalyn Pace, IBM Personal Systems Competency Center
interface to KPC, talks with Clauson about the center's objectives and
development.
                                ------------

This Q&A was conducted by Avalyn Pace

Pace: Roy, let me first thank you for agreeing to this interview. Our
audience for this issue of Personal Systems includes current and
prospective PC Server customers. With the increased focus on implementing
Windows NT as a network operating system (NOS) platform, our relationship
with Microsoft and, more importantly, the added value we gain from that
relationship becomes a crucial point. Would you give us a general 
overview
of your mission at the Kirkland Programming Center?

Clauson: Our responsibility in Kirkland is to ensure that all Microsoft
software works well on IBM's hardware platforms. This means early
involvement in the design cycle, timely adaptation and porting, 
development
of complementary software and drivers, extensive testing, and performance
optimization.

Pace: I was surprised to learn that Kirkland was established several 
years
ago. Give us a little history on the center's origins and some of your
accomplishments.

Clauson: The Kirkland team was initially formed to work on porting NT to
the PowerPC. The work started in January 1993, using Windows NT 3.1. We
successfully shipped Windows NT 3.51 on IBM's PowerPC-based machines last
June [1995]. We also ported Microsoft's Word, Excel, and Visual C++
products to the PowerPC architecture.

Pace: That doesn't sound like a small effort. Please describe your
organization for us.

Clauson: The organization comprises six functional units: planning,
business operations, development, testing, customer technical support, 
and
defect support. The planning group is responsible for interlocking
Kirkland's software plans with IBM's hardware groups' plans. The 
operations
unit keeps the physical facility running in a cost efficient manner and
manages my budgets.

The development and test teams are responsible for the porting efforts, 
as
well as developing and testing new software, drivers, and HALs [hardware
abstraction layers]. Our technical support people help IBM's marketing 
and
sales teams "win" NT--no pun intended--business for IBM, and our defect
support team provides Level 3 support to IBM's HelpCenters around the
world.

Approximately 120 people worked on our PowerPC team last year. With the
addition of the PC Server mission, we are currently hiring and should be 
at
190 people by the third quarter this year.

Pace: What about the facilities to house and support Kirkland personnel?

Clauson: The Kirkland facility is located five miles from Microsoft's
Redmond campus, allowing quick access to the Microsoft team. This is
important, since many of my team members are on the Microsoft campus 
daily
attending "bug fix" meetings, diagnosing problems, writing code, etc.

KPC's facility currently covers 30,000 square feet and is expanding to
50,000 square feet by year end. It houses offices, test labs, porting 
labs
available to independent software vendors and customers, and customer
briefing facilities.

We have intentionally tried to recreate the Microsoft work environment at
our facility, and we have direct, high-speed data links between Microsoft
and our facility that allow for instant access to key databases residing 
on
Microsoft servers. I believe that because of this, we have been able to
build a strong team that is well integrated with Microsoft.

Pace: Let's talk about how you work with Microsoft. Can you describe the
relationship?

Clauson: Overall, the relationship between Microsoft and Kirkland is very
strong. As I mentioned earlier, we are very much a part of the Microsoft
team. We attend and receive work from the daily "bug" meetings. Microsoft
relies heavily on the testing that we do--the results are recorded in
Microsoft's databases by KPC people. We have key contacts in their
organization that help keep the communications channels between our
companies open and information flowing.

Pace: Do you view your relationship with Kirkland as a competitive
advantage?

Clauson: Absolutely, there is no question about it. Good systems are made
up of good software and good hardware. Each component has to know what 
the
other is doing in order for the system to perform well and appear
integrated to our customers. Without the kind of relationship we have 
here
with Microsoft, our systems would never perform as well as they could.

Pace: Can you share some of your current plans/efforts?

Clauson: We have spent the last few months heavily engaged with the PC
Company development teams to synchronize Microsoft's Windows NT plans 
with
the future PC Company product plans. We are developing driver support and
new HALs. We are working on easier install procedures. We are also 
looking
outside for software value-add packages that will make our systems more
attractive to our customers.

Pace: Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?

Clauson: Establishing the Kirkland Programming Center has been one of the
best assignments I've ever had in IBM. The team members are great people
and among the best I've ever had the opportunity to work with. We are
committed to the concept that "the marketplace is the driving force 
behind
everything we do," and we are here to provide what IBM's customers want.

Our motto is "just do it," and our team members exercise this kind of
spirit daily. We are fully committed to making IBM a success by making 
our
customers totally satisfied with our work products.

                                ------------
Pace is an Advisory Marketing Support Representative in IBM's Personal
Systems Competency Center (PSCC), Dallas, Texas. She is currently part of
the PSCC PC Server Team providing pre-sales technical support and
assistance. Avalyn also serves as interface to the Kirkland Programming
Center for the PSCC and is responsible for information sharing.

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