Bull Launches 'Powerful Advantage' Reseller Program, Signs The Systems House as First Master VAR.

BILLERICA, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 30, 1997--

New program marks Bull's return to volume indirect channel market

for its open system products. The System House will resell Bull's

broad UNIX system offerings nationwide

Renewing its focus on high-volume indirect distribution for its open system platform products, Bull unveiled today the new "Powerful Advantage" program in North America, and announced that veteran reseller The Systems House, Inc., (TSH) Clifton, N.J., has joined the program as its first Master VAR.

"The Powerful Advantage program is a key element in Bull's success strategy and renewed commitment to the North America marketplace," said Don Zereski, president & CEO of Bull North and South America. "The Powerful Advantage program provides VARs and OEMs highly scalable and powerful open computing platforms, competitively priced and backed by a strong service and support organization. We're deeply committed to the channel business, and are proud to welcome TSH to this new program. We will be actively recruiting other high-volume VARs and distributors, and have kicked off a special VAR Incentive Program (VIP) campaign to quickly attract quality resellers during 1997."

While Bull has always maintained an indirect channel program in North America, contracts had been negotiated and managed through Bull corporate in France. The Powerful Advantage program is directed by Bull North and South America, allowing a more aggressive yet flexible market-driven operation.

Initial products available under the Powerful Advantage program are Bull's Escala family of high-performance symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) PowerPC-based UNIX workstations and servers. The Systems House, a successful VAR established in 1979, will resell these systems through its nationwide dealer network.

"We're committed to being a 'one-stop' source for all pre- and post-sales support needs -- to both our dealers as well as their customers," said Sy Fertig, president of The Systems House. "We back our dealers with hardware and technology integration services, network design and installation support, as well as operating system and hardware support services"

"In partnering with Bull," Fertig said, "we're working with an organization with a long record of successfully managing indirect programs. We believe in their commitment to this channel, and regard the Bull product line as offering superior, performance, scalability and functionality. In addition, Bull's high-availability solution is just what our dealers and end-users need for their mission-critical applications."

Escala Server Family Features Unmatched Scalability, Performance, High Availability 

Bull's Escala family of AIX-based servers are very competitively priced, and offers the industry's broadest performance range of binary code-compatible servers. The newest Escala Series Models E and T, offering up to four-way multiprocessing, are rated at up to 7,472 transactions/min (tpm). Both machines are 64-bit-ready and built on 225 MHz PowerPC technology, featuring available dual PCI bus design and a new native high-availability capability. Available in mini-tower, deskside and rack configurations, midrange Escala models perform at up to 9,100 tpm. High-end Escala Powercluster models offer up to 64-way computing and are rated at more than 30,000 tpm.

"AIX-based applications can run unmodified over the entire Escala processor range, which represents tremendous value to VARs, system integrators, OEMs and distributors," Zereski said. "Equally important to resellers and end users alike is that Escala features unsurpassed high-availability for unparalleled uptime. This includes new hot-swappable internal RAID subsystems and the unique capability to mirror internal disks between two systems. Finally, Bull's new WatchWare control management software, included with all Escala models, uses standard Web browsers to allow users to quickly and easily monitor system, storage and network operating status."

The Systems House is Proven Master VAR

The Systems House, Inc. was founded in 1979. In 1988, TSH became a Master VAR and developed a program designed to be more responsive than other VAR programs in the areas of pre- and post-sales support. Working with its VARs, TSH has installed and supports more than 1,000 systems, running under AIX and Windows/NT operating system.

TSH provides a total support program to its VARs and their end-users. These services include pre-sales configuration support, hardware and technology integration and network implementation as well as 24x7 operating system and hardware support for AIX and Windows/NT-based systems. TSH also offers complete Internet services, ranging from Web site creation to complete Web site hosting. TSH's Web-based Customer Information System, which allows customers to place orders, inquire about order status and look up product information directly on the Web, is available through TSH's dealer network.

About Bull

With a presence in more than 85 countries, more than 21,000 employees, and combined revenues in 1996 of $4.7 billion, Bull offers a wide range of systems, infrastructure software and IT services through focused innovation, alliances with the best partners, and its own integration expertise.

Bull's North and South America headquarters is located in Billerica, Mass., with significant R&D marketing and customer support services in Phoenix, Ariz. The company also employs a nationwide network of direct sales people. Bull is recognized for innovative products such as Escala servers, Sagister multiframes, CP8 smart cards, and infrastructure software of such as ISM/OpenMaster for the management of systems and networks. The Bull Web address is http://www.bull.com . -0-

Powerful Advantage is a trademark of Bull HN Information Systems, Inc. Escala and Powercluster are trademarks of Bull S.A. Windows NT is a trademark of Microsoft Corp. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/(Open Company Limited. PowerPC and AIX are registered trademarks of IBM and are being used under license. All trademarks, service marks and company names are the property of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Bull HN Information Systems Inc.

Bill Bradley

978/294-5812

[e-mail]