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Delivering Affinity, Wave 1

DESCRIPTION

Digital and its business partners are announcing a new family of products
and services that facilitate the integration of the OpenVMS and Windows
NT operating systems. These products represent the first major wave of
capabilities that deliver on the OpenVMS and Windows NT Affinity Program,
which was announced by Digital and Microsoft on May 8, 1995. The program
takes advantage of the natural affinity between the OpenVMS and Windows
NT operating systems, by bringing the strengths of OpenVMS --high
availability, data integrity, system security, scalability, and low cost
-- to the Windows NT environment and the scores of applications it can
run.

The integration of OpenVMS and Windows NT benefits two major user groups:

o  Affinity allows OpenVMS users to easily add Windows NT servers and their
   huge application reservoir to their environments, while allowing them to
   continue to enjoy the proven strengths of OpenVMS.

o  Affinity allows Windows NT users to easily add OpenVMS back-end servers
   to create and deploy Windows-based solutions with true 24 x 365
   availability, disaster tolerance, and scalability on the world's largest
   clusters.

The first wave of Affinity products is highlighted with a new version of
OpenVMS and is supported by software, tools, and services from Digital
and its business partners. By taking advantage of an array of new
products and services, users will find it easier to develop, deploy,
integrate, and manage applications across OpenVMS and Windows NT
platforms.

Commenting on the integration of the OpenVMS and Windows NT environments,
Scott Fancher, director of technology at Cerner Corporation, stated,
"Digital's integration of OpenVMS and Windows NT will allow us to run an
application wherever it makes sense for it to run. [This integration]
enhances OpenVMS viability in the marketplace, and extends the potential
of Windows NT to areas where maybe it's not ready to deliver enterprise
computing."

OpenVMS V7.0 for Alpha systems

OpenVMS V7.0 for Alpha systems represents a significant increase in the
operating system's functionality. This new functionality includes:

o  64-bit data addressing, which allows the creation of 64-bit very large
   memory (VLM) and very large database (VLDB) applications. VLM and VLDB
   capabilities allow databases to run up to 200 times faster than
   conventional 32-bit databases. Oracle Rdb7 database for OpenVMS will be
   available in early 1996, with Oracle7 to follow.

o  Spiralog V1.0 log structured file system -- The first major
   implementation of a new file system based on log structured technology,
   Spiralog V1.0 addresses the issue of mechanical disk storage activity,
   which is the bottleneck in many applications. Spiralog V1.0 supports huge
   data capacities, and enables up to two times the online backup
   performance and transparent failover and load balancing.

o  Kernel thread support, which provides faster symmetric multiprocessing
   (SMP) performance.

o  Network transport independence with a choice of new Digital TCP/IP
   Services V4.0 or new DECnet/OSI V7.0 software.

The addition of 64-bit addressing and Spiralog technology further extends
the unlimited high-end capabilities of OpenVMS and ensures that
Windows-based environments integrated with OpenVMS achieve scalability,
availability, integrity, and security not available alone. For existing
OpenVMS users, these new OpenVMS V7.0 technologies have been engineered
to allow existing applications to run unchanged. Users can begin to use
these new features within their existing environments. To provide
functional equivalence between VAX and Alpha systems, a new version of
OpenVMS for VAX users is also being announced, and will be called OpenVMS
V7.0 for VAX.

Transaction-processing software

Digital is introducing major new transaction-processing software products
for the Windows NT and OpenVMS environment. Users can develop and deploy
transaction-processing applications easily in the Affinity environment
where the vast majority of core users are on Windows NT and OpenVMS data
servers. These servers allow the applications to scale up to an
integrated OpenVMS and Windows NT installation. These new products make
it easier for users to develop on Windows NT, since the vast majority of
the code runs on Windows NT. Users can integrate OpenVMS data servers to
allow applications to scale up to huge clusters with 24 x 365
availability and disaster tolerance.

Four major product families are announcing new features and enhancements
that deliver on the promise of the OpenVMS/Windows NT Affinity Program.
These products are ACMSxp, Reliable Transaction Router, DECADMIRE, and
DEC C. For more information on these products, see the individual
middleware articles in this issue of Customer Update.

Business partner applications

Many of Digital's software partners are introducing application
development tools, databases, software tools, and industry-specific
applications for the Affinity environment. All of these applications
support the integrated environment of Windows NT and OpenVMS, and are
shipping now or will be shipping shortly. This first major wave of
applications is targeted primarily at users who develop large
Windows-based enterprise applications requiring the strengths of OpenVMS.
A number of software partners have confirmed their commitment to the
Affinity strategy with application development environment products and
marketing awareness campaigns. At press time, these vendors included
Bristol, Cognos, Compuware, Forte, Information Builders, Inc.,
International Software Group, Magic Software, Open Environment Corp.,
Oracle Corporation, Progress Software, Ross Systems, Sapiens, SAS,
Software AG, and Texas Instruments.

In addition, Oracle Corporation is demonstrating its support with the
introduction of Oracle Rdb7, a 64-bit VLM implementation that brings
OpenVMS users performance increases already demonstrated on Digital UNIX
with Oracle7. Oracle also announced its commitment to deliver Oracle7 on
OpenVMS.

Systems integration services

Digital is announcing the availability of over 30 systems integration
services designed expressly to help enterprises move to the Affinity
environment. These services support the four stages of an application
environment lifecycle: aligning business and IT strategies; building a
client/server infrastructure; integrating and migrating to the new
Affinity environment; and managing and operating the environment.

Digital is also announcing the availability of new services from leading
business partners that cover all aspects of consultancy, design,
integration, management, training, and maintenance that are required for
OpenVMS and Windows NT integration. Service providers include Science
Applications International Company (SAIC), The Cushing Group, and
Ioele/Griggs.

Microsoft support

Microsoft is supporting the Affinity strategy through a set of products,
services, and support programs that will help Digital meets its
commitment to make OpenVMS the industry's most integrated system with
Windows NT. In the area of product development, Digital and Microsoft
engineering organizations are cooperating to meet the needs of enterprise
users. For targeted three-tier applications, Microsoft and Digital are
encouraging independent software vendors to use Win32 APIs on OpenVMS to
obtain enterprise capabilities, such as 24 x 365 operation support,
disaster tolerance, and cluster scalability. Microsoft is also supporting
Digital's integration of the ALL-IN-1 and MailWorks products with
Microsoft Exchange Server and clients. Microsoft and Digital are jointly
marketing the Affinity program through seminars that are expected to
reach thousands of users, as well as joint activities designed to engage
Affinity users. For more information, see the "Digital and Microsoft Form
Alliance for Enterprise Computing" article in the September 1995 issue of
Customer Update.

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Microsoft is a registered trademark and Windows NT is a trademark of
Microsoft Corporation.