Amdahl Strengthens Ultra Enterprise Offering with Oracle and Exide Electronics Alliances; Company Also Introduces A+InterConnect High Speed Channel Connection between S/390 Systems and Open System SPARC Servers.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 16, 1996--Amdahl Corporation, an enterprise computing company, today announced alliance agreements with Oracle Corporation and Exide Electronics to support its Ultra(TM) Enterprise(TM) server offerings and strengthen Amdahl open systems capabilities. Through the Oracle(R) alliance, Amdahl will provide the entire spectrum of standard Oracle products on a worldwide basis. The relationship with Exide Electronics allows Amdahl to offer Uninterruptible Power Systems (UPS) products. Amdahl also introduced A+ InterConnect Gateway, a high speed, OEMI channel solution linking System/390 mainframes to SPARC(R) servers.

Oracle is the world leader in relational database management (RDBMS) systems(1). Oracle products provide enterprise-level, integrated solutions that are scaleable, reliable and secure for data management applications across multiple platforms. UPS products from Exide Electronics ensure system availability and offer the protection necessary for applications running on these environments in the event of an electrical power failure.

"The relationships with Oracle and Exide Electronics are extremely important to Amdahl as we continue to expand our open systems capabilities," said Jim Hilbert, vice president, worldwide sales and marketing, server business, Amdahl Corporation. "Companies running business critical applications require integrated software solutions at the enterprise-level along with extremely high system availability. These agreements provide us with the tools to fulfill those requirements."

Oracle Products

Amdahl will offer Oracle multi-platform products worldwide including RDBMS software, gateways and protocol adapters, tools, development aids, web and new media products, and educational services. Oracle products sold by Amdahl will be backed by a dual level of consulting, support and educational services. Amdahl offers experienced consultants to assist in database definition and to optimize the overall system for maximum performance and cost-efficiency.

Exide Products

The Exide Electronics agreement enables Amdahl to resell all Exide UPS products. These products provide power protection in the event of an electrical power failure, and give the data residing on the Ultra Enterprise server the level of protection previously afforded to mainframe systems. This level of availability can be moved down to the departmental and even desktop level using UPS products provided by Amdahl.

A+InterConnect Gateway Offering

Through an agreement with Data/Ware Development Inc. coupled with Amdahl developed software, Amdahl is providing the A+InterConnect Gateway Offering, a high speed OEMI parallel channel solution linking S/390 applications and data to Ultra Enterprise servers as well as other SPARC servers offered by Amdahl. A+InterConnect provides Application to Applications Communication (peer to peer), up to 500 sessions; bulk data transfer up to 2 MB/second/channel; SNA Log-in of up to 1000 server attached workstations; and, bi-directional job submission using Network Job Entry (NJE) protocols. The channel connection is twice the speed of a standard SNA connection.

Amdahl Customer Support and Service

Amdahl has over 25 years of experience in business-critical applications systems and offers complete "end-to-end" service and support. Through its operational services group and its DMR Group subsidiary, Amdahl has more than 4,000 people to help customers implement enterprise-wide applications in distributed networks offering knowledge and expertise from the desktop to departmental servers to enterprise solutions. The Amdahl comprehensive open systems solution includes strategic software applications, consulting, training and support for distributed systems management.

For Oracle RDBMS, technical support is offered through the flexible Oracle "Metals" range of services. Customer care options include SupportLink through CompuServe, real-time telephone technical assistance, program enhancements, email and online access to the Oracle Real-Time support system, proactive alerts, designated support teams, and subscriptions to SupportNotes and SupportNews. Training options include formal Oracle classroom education conducted at more than 25 Oracle education centers, as well as self-paced media-based programs for on-site use.

About Amdahl

Amdahl Corporation (AMEX: AMH) is a worldwide supplier of large-scale System/390 compatible processors, UNIX systems software and servers, data storage subsystems, data communications products, applications development software, and a variety of educational and consulting services. Amdahl products are sold in more than 30 countries for use across all types of computing environments.

(1) With a 43 percent market share, the UNIX system environment is the preferred platform for RDBMS software and Oracle is the premier database management system within the UNIX environment, according to International Data Corporation. -0-

Note to Editors: Amdahl is a registered trademark of Amdahl Corporation. Sun, Sun Microsystems, Ultra, and Ultra Enterprise are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. SPARC is a registered trademark of SPARC International, Inc. UltraSPARC is a registered trademark of SPARC International, Inc. licensed exclusively to Sun Microsystems, Inc. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark in the U.S. and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Ltd. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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