Amdahl Enters NT Server Market; Midrange Offering Bridges Datacenter-to-Desktop Gap; Company's Two Decades of Experience Providing World-Class Customer Services and Support Brings Datacenter Values to the Windows NT Market.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 1996--Amdahl Corporation, the enterprise computing company best known for supporting critical business functions in complex application environments, today launched a new line of midrange NT servers designed to be the most efficient bridge between the datacenter and the desktop. The EnVista(TM) family of enterprise servers is supported by Amdahl Customer Services and Support, bringing two decades of world-class datacenter experience to the Windows NT market.

With unsurpassed enterprise-class connectivity, based on the Intel Pentium Pro Quad architecture and Microsoft Windows NT, the EnVista family offers the industry's fastest NT server to mainframe connection allowing unprecedented numbers of large enterprise users access to operational data from the widest variety of databases. The EnVista family of products will be shipping in June 1996 in limited quantities.

"Amdahl will drive the deployment of NT servers into a new class of applications for the enterprise," said Michael Carabetta, vice president and general manager of Open Enterprise Systems at Amdahl Corporation. "For the first time, the world's largest organizations will be able to effectively deliver information to the front line of their businesses to better service their customers and, at the same time, leverage operational data to enhance profitability and productivity."

"As companies evolve to multi-tiered architectures with MVS, UNIX(R) and now NT systems, Amdahl will provide customers with mainframe-class products and services across these environments," said Dave Anderson, chief technical officer for Amdahl Corporation. "This allows our customers to make computing decisions based on their business needs."

EnVista Family of Enterprise Servers

The EnVista family will target the world's largest enterprises with geographically distributed business models (branch offices, retail outlets, sales offices), addressing the need for business- critical, transactional or operational data residing in mainframe databases. The servers have the powerful database connectivity tools users need to further leverage their investment in information technology (IT).

EnVista Frontline Server

Offering frontline users easy access to enterprise data, the EnVista Frontline Server (EnVista FS) is a flexible, high-performance enterprise server that specifically addresses the needs for remote office, workgroup and departmental applications. The EnVista FS servers are ideal for use as the distributed components of a customer-care application or a data mart, groupware and intranet web server. EnVista FS is a one, two or four-way multiprocessor with integrated storage bays, packaged in a deskside cabinet.

EnVista Central Server

EnVista Central Server (EnVista CS) is a scalable, high-performance server solution for business-critical functions such as the central site component of customer-care and data warehousing applications. EnVista CS servers provide a cluster architecture that offers the needed scalability and availability to support thousands of users. EnVista CS scales to eight clustered nodes of up to four multiprocessors each.

Fastest Datacenter-to-Desktop Connectivity

The EnVista family brings enterprise-class connectivity to the NT environment for networking and database access. The EnVista family can be configured with powerful database connectivity tools to efficiently integrate distributed systems and provide users with transparent access to data wherever it resides. EnVista servers allow users to access, view and analyze critical business information across platforms and operating systems throughout a worldwide enterprise.

EnVista Enterprise Connectivity Solutions

EnVista Channel for ESCON is the Amdahl high-performance channel that provides a direct connection from EnVista enterprise servers to System/390 mainframes achieving the fastest throughput between NT and MVS. EnVista Channel for ESCON works with Microsoft SNA to provide fast, easy and economical access to mainframe applications from LAN-based PCs and servers.

EnVista Gateway for OLTP (on-line transaction processing) software provides users with efficient, easy access to server databases from frontline business applications. EnVista Gateway for OLTP routes industry-standard open database connectivity (ODBC) transactions from PCs to databases on local and remote servers and mainframes.

EnVista Gateway for DW/DSS facilitates the downloading of bulk data from central mainframes to data warehouses and decision-support systems located on servers. EnVista Gateway for DW/DSS can speed data transport by utilizing the high-performance EnVista Channel for ESCON option.

Cluster Technology and High End-to-End Availability

Amdahl clustering technology plays a critical role in the EnVista product strategy. By combining multiple nodes, customers can create larger systems with high-capacity, high-availability and scalability. With the EnVista family of enterprise servers, Amdahl is the first to announce clustered NT server products.

End-to-end availability for applications and data allows information access whenever it is needed. Amdahl integrates all the components of a highly available solution including the processor, storage subsystem, databases and distributed systems management software.

The EnVista Availability Manager provides for the automated restart and failover of applications. The EnVista family of servers are tightly integrated with the new Amdahl LVS 4500 storage solution, providing security and availability of data with dual-ported node failover capability. The Amdahl LVS 4500 storage solution was also announced today.

Scalability

The EnVista family offers NT scalability through support of its unique clustering facilities. With a product family that ranges from the frontline, single node server to the central multi-node clustered server, Amdahl offers customers room to grow. Unlike other NT servers that are limited to a few processors, the EnVista family will allow future expansion to hundreds of processors, protecting the customer's technology investment.

The clustered architecture and design of the EnVista family enables the deployment of highly-scalable applications required in an RDBMS environment. "Clustered architectures are key to exploiting parallel database technology to achieve greater levels of scalability and performance," said Phil White, president and CEO of Informix Software. "The Amdahl EnVista family of enterprise servers and its unique clustering technology will play an important role in the development of commercial parallel processing on NT for enterprise mission-critical business applications."

Manageability

EnVista family remote management capability allows for control of departmental systems, remote office systems or server farms, enabling centrally located administrators to boot, configure and troubleshoot servers over the network. This approach to system management substantially reduces the cost of deploying NT applications across the enterprise. A single administrative view allows simplified management of large, clustered systems consisting of multiple nodes.

Serviceability

The EnVista family of servers has advanced rules-based console functions to assure the highest levels of serviceability and availability. The customer can choose to have the server call home, initiate failover to an operable node, or to forward alert information to the customer's command center. Availability is further enhanced by the Amdahl integration of hardware and software releases which verifies compatibility with existing applications.

Superior Customer Service

EnVista customers will benefit from over 25 years of successful IT and systems support expertise. The Amdahl world-class service organization's core competencies will be of particular benefit to EnVista customers in areas such as data migration, project planning and implementation management. The Amdahl service expertise has been shaped through continuous experience in complex customer environments, including large scale servers, system management and client/server applications. Amdahl will provide support for all EnVista hardware, operating system, connectivity and network components through Amdahl Worldwide Support Centers using time-based escalation processes.

Under the Amdahl Premier Service plan, EnVista customers are supported by a seasoned field engineering team and the industry's highest availability through guaranteed on-site support within two hours of a service call.

Amdahl Customer Services also offers an extensive portfolio of professional and consulting services.

About Amdahl Corporation

Amdahl (AMEX:AMH) provides enterprise computing solutions designed to meet the needs of the leading, most computing-intensive corporations around the world. Amdahl offerings include large-scale System/390 compatible processors, distributed systems management software and enterprise servers, data storage subsystems, applications development software and development environments. Amdahl and its subsidiaries provide professional and operational consulting services that help clients gain a competitive advantage in their industries. -0-

Note to Editors: Amdahl is a registered trademark and EnVista is a trademark of Amdahl Corporation. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Ltd. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale

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Christian DeNike, 408/559-6090

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