Amdahl Announces Enterprise Support for Linux.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 2, 1999--

Amdahl Corp. today announced global, mission-critical, enterprise support for Linux, a UNIX-based open source operating system.

Experienced in OS/390(R), UNIX(R) and Windows NT(R) platforms, Amdahl is particularly qualified to support the enterprise IT infrastructure. Now the Amdahl Enterprise Help Desk (EHD) adds Linux support to Amdahl's roster of expertise.

The EHD is staffed by Linux-certified engineers who provide quick and effective technical response to problem events for all major distributions of Linux on Intel(R) and SPARC(R) platforms.

EHD delivers the highest level of responsiveness in keeping with Amdahl's strategy of seamless integration of Linux in today's world of e-commerce.

EHD Linux support includes the following:

-- Contact set-up by telephone, e-mail, or the Web. -- The latest telecommunications technology. -- High-speed call logging. -- Advice and guidance, problem determination, problem source

identification. -- Monitoring of incident reports and resolution by a Customer Care

Manager. -- Defined escalation process to ensure service level agreements. -- On-site engineer if applicable. -- Premium support with unlimited calls 5x12. -- Premium Plus support with unlimited calls 7x24.

"Amdahl is aware of one of the most serious problems facing businesses today -- lack of quality service and support for enterprise-level systems," said David West, vice president, Systems Marketing at Amdahl. "Frequently, millions of dollars are spent to repair the damage of poor service delivery.

"But at Amdahl, our hallmark has always been, 'A customer problem is an Amdahl problem.' We have the right attitude and great logistics systems to support the Linux operating system, which is running an increasingly large number of commercial applications for the enterprise."

Linux support is part of Amdahl's strategic focus to help customers build a better Internet infrastructure for their business future. Amdahl has developed a database of Linux information so that EHD can rapidly identify solutions if an incident should occur.

Contracts are customized to reflect the complexity and scope of the customer environment and requirements. Customers can identify and pay for only the support needed, and each support contract can be negotiated as an aggregate contract.

Overall, Amdahl EHD Linux support offers the potential to lower total cost of ownership because it minimizes loss from systems failure, which results in loss of revenue and decline in customer confidence.

Amdahl customer service is ISO 9001 registered. Certification is achieved through the practice of voluntary consensus-based standards. Consistent, high-quality service is delivered every time.

For information about Amdahl Corp., visit http://www.amdahl.com/about/abtamh.htm.

For the Year 2000 compliance status of this offering and any others, visit the Amdahl Year 2000 Web site at: http://www.amdahl.com/y2k/.

Amdahl is a registered trademark of Amdahl Corp. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. OS/390 is a registered trademark of IBM Corp. Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corp. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Co. Ltd. SPARC is a registered trademark of SPARC International Inc. Products bearing the SPARC trademark are based on an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems Inc. Windows NT is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. All other trademarks and product names are the property of their respective owners.

The information in this document may be superseded by subsequent documents. For details regarding delivery of specific products, features and services, contact your local Amdahl representative.

Note to Editors: Amdahl news releases are available on the Internet at http://www.amdahl.com/, the Amdahl Corp. home page. The Amdahl site provides current, in-depth information on Amdahl offerings and solutions for enterprise computing.