Attachmate Announces Complete "Office-Link" Strategy for Microsoft BackOffice and Office Suites.BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 7, 1994--Attachmate Corp., a leading provider of host connectivity solutions, unveiled its new "Office-Link" strategy that includes new software products and technologies that dynamically link into and enhance Microsoft BackOffice See BackOffice. and Office suites. As part of this strategy, Attachmate announced their new EXTRA! SNA (Systems Network Architecture) IBM's mainframe network standards introduced in 1974. Originally a centralized architecture with a host computer controlling many terminals, enhancements, such as APPN and APPC (LU 6. Server Professional -- specifically designed and optimized for the Microsoft SNA Server, which began shipping Oct. 28, 1994, in conjunction with the Microsoft SNA Server Industry Conference. The company also disclosed other products and technologies it is developing that will enhance the performance and usability of host applications with the Microsoft SQL Server A relational DBMS from Microsoft that is a major component of the Windows Server System. It is Microsoft's high-end client/server database and is closely integrated with Microsoft Visual Studio and the Microsoft Office System. , Microsoft Exchange Server Microsoft Exchange Server is a messaging and collaborative software product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is widely used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure solutions. , Systems Management Server (SMS (1) (Storage Management System) Software used to routinely back up and archive files. See HSM. (2) (Systems Management Server) Systems management software from Microsoft that runs on Windows NT Server. ), SNA Server and Microsoft Office Microsoft's primary desktop applications for Windows and Mac. Depending on the package, it includes some combination of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Outlook along with various Internet and other utilities. applications, like Word, Microsoft Excel (tool) Microsoft Excel - A spreadsheet program from Microsoft, part of their Microsoft Office suite of productivity tools for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh. Excel is probably the most widely used spreadsheet in the world. Latest version: Excel 97, as of 1997-01-14. , Microsoft Access A database program for Windows, available separately or included in the Microsoft Office suite. Access is programmable using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). Access can read Paradox, dBASE and Btrieve files, and using ODBC, Microsoft SQL Server, SYBASE SQL Server and Oracle data. , Mail and PowerPoint. "Attachmate is committed to the success of the Microsoft BackOffice strategy," said Frank Pritt Frank Pritt was a salesperson and product manager for Harris Corporation in the 1970s, then founder of Attachmate Corporation in 1982. Attachmate went on to become Washington's largest privately held software firm. , President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Attachmate. "Attachmate's strategy is to provide quality host connectivity and seamless data access products that support large organizations that have chosen to standardize on Microsoft desktop office and Microsoft BackOffice offerings." Attachmate's new "Office-Link" strategy is designed to provide a high-performance, reliable and seamless exchange of legacy information -- using Microsoft BackOffice -- and to populate desktop Microsoft Office applications with host information that is usable and recognizable. "Attachmate has clearly made a strong commitment to supporting all the components of Microsoft BackOffice," said Jim Allchin, vice president for the business systems division at Microsoft. "Attachmate's connectivity expertise and the power of its products enhance the Microsoft BackOffice goal of providing the means to improve organizational productivity and streamline business processes." Microsoft SNA Server, Microsoft Office & EXTRA! SNA Server Professional The Attachmate EXTRA! SNA Server Professional will give Windows users high functionality specifically optimized for the Microsoft SNA Server. The foundation of this product is based upon EXTRA! for Windows, which was tested and certified by The TOLLY Group to have the best user interface, administration and workspace, and the fastest file transfer speeds in the industry when bench-marked to all other leading PC-to-host connectivity products. EXTRA! SNA Server Professional will also provide users with an application-centric interface that transforms legacy applications into familiar, point-and-click Windows based (1) (Windows-based; upper case "W") Refers to Microsoft Windows. (2) (windows-based; lower case "w") Having resizable windows. Same as "graphics based" or "GUI based." Graphical user interfaces are all windows based. Contrast with text based. applications. This new software package combines the best of Attachmate and Microsoft technology, providing a high-performance, reliable LAN-to-mainframe connection. "Attachmate's EXTRA! SNA Server Professional is one of the best client packages available supporting the Microsoft SNA Server," said Vesa Suomalainen, General Manager, SNA Server Product Unit at Microsoft. "With its tight integration, seamless installation and full end user functionality, EXTRA! SNA Server Professional is everything a user should expect in a powerful 3270 client." EXTRA! SNA Server Professional also works with Attachmate's award-winning Tools for Visual Basic, which received the Visual Basic Programmer's Journal Reader's Choice Award and allows developers to build graphical applications that significantly enhance user productivity. Attachmate's EXTRA! Tools for Microsoft Office Professional, the first such product to ship, is designed specifically for Microsoft Office. It allows users to easily and intuitively access host data from within popular Microsoft applications without ever having to see or interact with the host application. For example, from Microsoft Excel, the user is given a unique Attachmate toolbar A row or column of on-screen buttons used to activate functions in the application. Many toolbars are customizable, letting you add and delete buttons as required. Toolbars may be fixed in position or may float, which means they can be dragged to a more convenient location in the that, when clicked, can log on to the host, navigate to the correct screen, capture multiple pages of data, intelligently paste it into a spreadsheet, graph it and then export it into a Word document or report. All of this is performed automatically with Attachmate's IntelliCopy technology. Microsoft SNA Server & other Client/Host Access Software In addition to these offerings, Attachmate also offers a complete range of other desktop clients designed for use with Microsoft SNA Server and Microsoft Office, including EXTRA! for Windows, EXTRA! for Windows NT (Windows New Technology) A 32-bit operating system from Microsoft for Intel x86 CPUs. NT is the core technology in Windows 2000 and Windows XP (see Windows). Available in separate client and server versions, it includes built-in networking and preemptive multitasking. , EXTRA! for Macintosh, EXTRA! Extended for DOS, RALLY! for AS/400 and the company's new integrated Windows-to-any-host based software package -- Attachmate Enterprise. The company now offers the most complete complement of desktop clients to access mainframe or AS/400 applications via the Microsoft SNA Server. Microsoft SNA Server & Attachmate ZIP! Host Print Manager Attachmate's ZIP! Host Print Manager is a new product that complements the Microsoft BackOffice strategy. This product will centralize host printing to a single server machine. The ZIP! Host Print Manager will utilize the SNA Server to communicate with host-based printing services. Print output can be directed to any Windows supported device, Novell print queues or user-defined printer devices. This removes traditional limitations associated with the number of printer ports in Windows. Future releases of Host Print Manager (HPM HPM High Power Microwave HPM Health and Productivity Management HPM Hyper Page Mode HPM Human Performance Modeling HPM High Pressure Mercury HPM Hazardous Production Material (1997 Uniform Fire Code) HPM Human Potential Movement ) will include seamless AS/400 printing, remote configuration and monitoring, native service Windows NT, AFP/IPDS support and TN3287, direct UNC (Universal Naming Convention) A standard for identifying servers, printers and other resources in a network, which originated in the Unix community. A UNC path uses double slashes or backslashes to precede the name of the computer. support. Microsoft SQL Server & Attachmate SELECT! The Attachmate SELECT! product family supports the SQL Server of the Microsoft BackOffice infrastructure through a set of powerful, direct database access and management tools. Attachmate SELECT! also provides additional decision support power via OLE and DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange) A message protocol in Windows that allows application programs to request and exchange data between them automatically. DDE - Dynamic Data Exchange links directly into Office applications including Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel. Attachmate SELECT! for Database Access provides direct database access, database-to-database transfer, and database-to-PC application transfer capabilities. Attachmate SELECT! Supervisor provides IS Managers and Administrators with powerful security tools to easily supervise and control end user access to AS/400, DB2, and ODBC (Open DataBase Connectivity) A database programming interface from Microsoft that provides a common language for Windows applications to access databases on a network. -- compliant data sources. These products are scheduled for release in January, 1995. Gateways for Microsoft BackOffice, Microsoft Exchange Server & Attachmate Leveraging its expertise in LAN (Local Area Network) A communications network that serves users within a confined geographical area. The "clients" are the user's workstations typically running Windows, although Mac and Linux clients are also used. to PROFS connectivity, Attachmate will also provide a PROFS/OV gateway product for the Microsoft Exchange Server. This new product will run on top of Microsoft Exchange and the new Microsoft SNA Server to provide transparent interoperability between Microsoft Mail, Schedule+ and IBM's PROFS and OfficeVision/VM. Microsoft Systems Management Server Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) is a systems management software product by Microsoft for managing large groups of Windows-based computer systems. SMS provides remote control, patch management, software distribution, and hardware and software inventory. (SMS) & Attachmate Client Console The Attachmate Client Console enhances configuration and customization control for EXTRA! SNA Server Professional. It complements the Microsoft Systems Management Server by providing enhanced "drill-down" capability into the necessary configuration files, which can then be distributed to the workstation with SMS. It also adds advanced enterprise-wide software management capabilities by creating, distributing and maintaining user configurations, application-specific "schemes", and other EXTRA! SNA Server Professional features from a central location. When used in conjunction with SMS, it combines the power of SMS with the flexibility of Client Console and delivers the benefits of EXTRA! SNA Server Professional to the entire organization easily. Most importantly, it reduces the overall costs associated with software ownership including distribution, training and support costs. Availability Attachmate's new EXTRA! SNA Server Professional, PROFS/OV Exchange Gateway, Tools for Microsoft Office and Visual Basic, Attachmate SELECT! for Database Access, and Attachmate Client Console make up an unprecedented range of complementary solutions. All products listed here are available and shipping today, with the exception of the PROFS/OV Exchange Gateway, which will ship near the availability of Microsoft Exchange Server, and SELECT!, which is slated for early 1995. US pricing for the Attachmate EXTRA! SNA Server Professional is $300. International pricing will vary. About Attachmate Attachmate is a leading provider of enterprise connectivity products that enable users of individual and networked desktop computers to access, exchange and manipulate information and applications residing on host computers, including IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) and IBM-compatible mainframes, IBM AS/400 midrange computers, Digital VAX (Virtual Address eXtension) A venerable family of 32-bit computers from HP (via Digital and Compaq) introduced in 1977 with the VAX-11/780. VAX models ranged from desktop units to mainframes all running the same VMS operating system, and VAXes could emulate PDP models and Alpha AXP The brand name Digital gave to its first family of Alpha-based computers. In 1998, Digital was acquired by Compaq. See Alpha. computers and UNIX UNIX Operating system for digital computers, developed by Ken Thompson of Bell Laboratories in 1969. It was initially designed for a single user (the name was a pun on the earlier operating system Multics). host systems. The Company's leading product lines are the EXTRA!, RALLY!, KEA!, and the Attachmate Enterprise family of client connectivity software products and the ZIP! family of host server software products, that support the Windows, Windows NT, MS-DOS MS-DOS in full Microsoft Disk Operating System Operating system for personal computers. MS-DOS was based on DOS, developed in 1980 by Seattle Computer Products. Microsoft Corp. bought the rights to DOS in 1981, and released MS-DOS with IBM's PC that year. , OS/2 and Macintosh operating systems. The SELECT! family of products provide direct database access, analysis and management capabilities. In addition, the company offers products that automate routine tasks, provide management and network services and integrate LAN-based calendaring and e-mail capabilities with host calendaring and e-mail systems. With headquarters in Bellevue, Wash., Attachmate maintains direct sales and support offices in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Australia. Attachmate Corp., 3617 131st Avenue SE, Bellevue, WA 98006. 206/644-4010. -0- Editor's Notes: --------------- Attachmate, EXTRA! and ZIP! are registered trademarks and Attachmate Client Console, Attachmate Enterprise, KEA!, RALLY and SELECT! are trademarks of Attachmate Corp. Microsoft, PowerPoint, MS-DOS, Access, and Excel are registered trademarks and Windows, Windows NT, and Visual Basic are trademarks of Microsoft Corp. IBM, AS/400, OS/2 and DB2 are registered trademarks and OfficeVision/VM is a trademark of International Business Machines Corp. Digital is a registered trademark of Digital Equipment Corp. Novell is a registered trademark of Novell Inc. Other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. CONTACT: Attachmate Corp., Bellevue, Wash. Dennis L. Sullivan, 206/649-6551 |
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