Amdahl Announces Multiple Server Feature for Software Cost Management.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 23, 1998--

MSF offers customers an opportunity to manage software costs and increase flexibility with the Millennium 700 Series of S/390 compatible CMOS servers.

Amdahl Corporation today announced the availability of its unique Multiple Server Feature(TM) (MSF) to help customers better manage software costs. MSF offers customers, working in conjunction with their chosen software vendor,

the opportunity to realize the benefits of system consolidation without incurring a significant increase in software costs.

Before MSF was introduced, enterprises that consolidated systems to decrease hardware and facilities costs usually increased software costs where license fees are based on total system capacity. Now, MSF helps customers manage to their software budgets. This exclusive Amdahl feature allows customers to operate from two to four servers in the same footprint. Each server has a unique serial number and its own model identifier that reflects the size of that server.

"The ability to assign multiple serial numbers to a single S/390 system creates a system-within-a-system option. The use of this option will be important as users strive to control escalating software costs," said Carl Greiner, vice president, META Group.

"We believe isolation of function-specific workloads to a specific system-within-a-system and the continuation of consolidation from smaller to fewer, larger servers will increase dramatically over the next three to five years," Greiner said. "Projected acceptance of Amdahl's innovative MSF approach will force others to offer similar features in the future."

Certain software vendors (ISVs) license software to each server based on the capacity of each server-- and not on the capacity of the entire footprint. Installing multiple servers in one footprint can give customers the ability to control software costs for separate workloads and still obtain the benefits of a consolidated system, including reduced maintenance and environmental costs.

Initially these ISVs have agreed to license their software to individual servers in a Millennium 700 system with MSF: BMC Software, Boole & Babbage, Platinum, Polaris Systems Group, Sterling and the Amdahl Software Group. Amdahl is working on expansion of the ISV list.

"BMC's application, performance and recovery solutions have been widely implemented by the most sophisticated IT organizations in the world to help them achieve a higher return on their IT investment and to reduce the overall cost of ownership of their IT infrastructure," said Leland Putterman, vice president of world-wide marketing for BMC Software, "As such, we see the goals of MSF being very complimentary and synergistic to BMC's mission and we congratulate Amdahl on their efforts."

"We enthusiastically support Amdahl's MSF initiative. Boole & Babbage is committed to flexible, value-oriented pricing and embrace this program because of its potential benefit to our customers," stated Michael Bunyard, senior director of product marketing, Boole & Babbage, a worldwide leader in availability and service level management for distributed systems.

"PLATINUM customers enjoy the freedom to buy what they need, and use it as they need it, paying only for the value that they receive." said Michael Matthews, executive vice president of worldwide marketing at PLATINUM Technology, Inc., a leading provider of infrastructure management software and services. "We have always supported initiatives which improve the value proposition for our customers and are pleased to support the Amdahl MSF initiative."

"Sterling Software is pleased to support Amdahl's MSF initiative," said Gillian Parrillo, president, Systems Management Group. Mike Harvey, president, Applications Management Group added, "We believe it gives our customers more options to get the maximum value from their software investments."

Customers consolidate servers in order to lower their system management and overall IT costs. Amdahl MSF supports that objective and, at the same time, customers receive other benefits. For example, when consolidating multiple, older ECL machines, customers have the opportunity to bring their old systems into Y2K compliance.

With fewer footprints on the floor, customers can expect simplified resource management. Enterprises that provide outsourced processing will be better able to support their customers because each one can be assigned a unique server. In addition, the consolidations that frequently follow mergers and acquisitions can be more efficient and more cost-effective with MSF.

"MSF exemplifies Amdahl's technological leadership to provide added value to our customers in advance of other S/390 suppliers," said Ali Jenab, vice president, Systems Marketing, Amdahl Corporation. "With MSF, customers gain a unique tool to help manage software costs. And they are put in control because they can match capacity to actual usage."

MSF is yet another example of the Amdahl tradition of bringing robust, enterprise-class technology solutions and services to its customers. Amdahl continues to "raise the bar" by providing products and services that help customers gain a competitive advantage in their industries.

"Amdahl's Multiple Server Feature could dramatically alter the buying habits of mainframe users," said John Webster, director, Management Strategies, Yankee Group. "Using MSF should help users to manage and control their software budgets. Mainframe software costs are still the leading budget item in most IT shops, well above the cost of power and floor space."

About Amdahl

Amdahl Corporation, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fujitsu Limited, a leading provider of information technology products and solutions for the global marketplace with revenues of $37.7 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 1998. Amdahl provides integrated enterprise computing solutions designed to meet the needs of the leading, most compute-intensive environments around the world. Amdahl has over 25 years of experience with large-scale computing solutions and client/server technology. The company supports heterogeneous architectures found in mission-critical customer environments that blend MVS(R), Windows NT(R), and UNIX(R) operating systems. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, Amdahl combines hardware and software products and services methods with world class offerings to create customized solutions that help clients gain a competitive advantage in their industries.

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

NOTE TO EDITORS: Amdahl news releases are available on the Internet at www.amdahl.com, the Amdahl Corporation home page. The Amdahl site provides current, in-depth information on Amdahl offerings and solutions for enterprise computing.

Amdahl is a registered trademark and Millennium and Multiple Server Feature are trademarks of Amdahl Corporation. S/390 and MVS are registered trademarks of IBM Corporation. Windows NT is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively (except in Japan where such license is non-exclusive) through X/Open Company, Limited. All other trademarks and product names are property of their respective owners.

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