Bull and NEC Sign Agreement Whereby NEC Supplies Bull with a High-End Platform Based on Intel Itanium Architecture.Business/Technology Editors PARIS Paris, in Greek mythology Paris or Alexander, in Greek mythology, son of Priam and Hecuba and brother of Hector. Because it was prophesied that he would cause the destruction of Troy, Paris was abandoned on Mt. & TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 6, 2000 Bull S.A. (Bull) and NEC (NEC Corporation, Tokyo, www.nec.com, www.necus.com) An electronics conglomerate known in the U.S. for its monitors. In Japan, it had the lion's share of the PC market until the late 1990s (see PC 98). NEC was founded in Tokyo in 1899 as Nippon Electric Company, Ltd. Corporation (NEC) today announced an agreement whereby NEC will supply Bull on an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and basis with the 16-way hardware platform (code named AzusA), which it has developed using the Intel(R) Itanium(TM) architecture. Bull will integrate the AzusA platform with the AIX (Advanced Interactive eXecutive) IBM's Unix-based operating system which runs on its Intellistation workstations and pSeries, p5, iSeries and i5 server families. (R)5L operating system operating system (OS) Software that controls the operation of a computer, directs the input and output of data, keeps track of files, and controls the processing of computer programs. and market it worldwide as part of its range of enterprise servers. NEC and Bull intend to secure their technical leadership in the Intel(R) Itanium(TM) architecture market by combining the strengths of both companies. NEC has expertise in high performance and high reliability technologies based on its mainframe and supercomputer development experience. NEC has been strategically focusing on planning and marketing server products using the Intel(R) Itanium(TM) architecture as it sees that the Intel(R) Itanium(TM) processors will provide the mainstream for future server platforms due to projected superior performance and price competitiveness. Bull has a long experience in developing enterprise systems and enterprise-class operating system software for both mainframes and open systems, including a long-term contribution to the AIX operating system with scalability and workload management features. Notably Bull is the first vendor to have successfully ported and run AIX5L on a 16-way Itanium(TM)-based platform. Bull is also actively assisting ISVs to transition their applications to the Intel(R) Itanium(TM) architecture in three main 64-bit operating environments In computing, an operating environment is the environment in which users run programs, whether in a command line interface, such as in MS-DOS or the Unix shell, or in a graphical user interface, such as in the Macintosh operating system. : AIX5L, 64-bit Windows 2000, and 64-bit Linux. This agreement will enable Bull to expand its offer with new Itanium(TM)-based servers, running AIX5L, 64-bit Windows 2000, and 64-bit Linux, thereby offering customers a widened choice of scalability, robustness and operating environment and access to a wider set of application solutions. The innovative AzusA server employs a NEC developed chip set, which provides optimum performance for 16-way Itanium(TM)-based servers. AzusA is the world's leading 16-way Itanium(TM)-based server and is the first with proven capabilities to scale beyond four Intel(R) Itanium(TM) processors. "Our experience of porting AIX5L to the AzusA platform has been very positive regarding both its quality and performance and the level of cooperation we have had with NEC," said Michel Guillemet guil·le·met n. Either of a pair of punctuation marks («) or (») used in some languages, such as French and Russian, to mark the beginning and end of a quotation. , vice-president of server R&D, Bull. "This is a significant first step for Bull in implementing its program of developing and marketing the next generations of advanced large-scale servers based on the Intel(R) Itanium(TM) architecture." "With NEC's server technology and Bull's enterprise-class operating system technology, both companies can now drive further their Intel(R) Itanium architecture strategy to expand their leadership in the forthcoming Itanium(TM)-based server market." said Tadao Kondo, Vice President and Executive General Manager of 1st Computers Operation Unit of NEC Solutions, an in-house company of NEC Corporation. "With Bull's distribution to its customer base worldwide, we expect shipments of NEC's AzusA server to expand into the global market." Bull and NEC have had a strong industrial alliance since 1984, principally in the area of large-scale mainframes. The alliance has included a series of very important reciprocal OEM supply agreements, cross license arrangements and related technology transfers. With this latest agreement, both parties aim to further expand their alliance in the area of enterprise servers, and to acquire a higher portion of the upcoming Itanium(TM)-based server market. About NEC Corporation NEC Corporation (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on : NIPNY) (FTSE FTSE A company that specializes in index calculation. Although not part of a stock exchange, co-owners include the London Stock Exchange and the Financial Times. Notes: The FTSE is similar to Standard & Poor's in the United States. : 6701q.l) is a leading provider of Internet solutions, dedicated to meeting the specialized needs of its customers in the key computer, network and electron device fields through its three market-focused in-house companies: NEC Solutions, NEC Networks and NEC Electron Devices. NEC Corporation, with its in-house companies, employs more than 150,000 people worldwide and saw net sales Net Sales The amount a seller receives from the buyer after costs associated with the sale are deducted. Notes: This amount is calculated by subtracting the following items from gross sales: merchandise returned for credit, allowances for damaged or missing goods, freight of 4,991 billion Yen (approx. US$48 billion) in fiscal year 1999-2000. For further information, please visit the NEC home page at: http://www.nec-global.com About Bull Bull is an international IT group that operates in more than 100 countries. In 1999, the company earned revenues of 3.8 billion Euros with over 65% outside of France, its country of origin. Bull's strategy is focused on the Internet and electronic business in three key domains: solutions with consulting and systems integration; infrastructure including "Internet-ready" enterprise systems, Smart Cards Example of widely used contactless smart cards are Hong Kong's Octopus card, Paris' Calypso/Navigo card and Lisbon' LisboaViva card, which predate the ISO/IEC 14443 standard. The following tables list smart cards used for public transportation and other electronic purse applications. and software for secure infrastructure management; and managed services An umbrella term for third-party monitoring and maintaining of computers, networks and software. The actual equipment may be inhouse or at the third-party's facilities, but the "managed" implies an ongoing effort; for example, making sure the equipment is running at a certain quality for Intranets and e-commerce sites and marketplaces. For more information, visit the Bull Web site: www.bull.com and Bull's Express5800 site at: www.servers.bull.com/express5800. Itanium is a trademark of Intel Corporation (company) Intel Corporation - A US microelectronics manufacturer. They produced the Intel 4004, Intel 8080, Intel 8086, Intel 80186, Intel 80286, Intel 80386, Intel 486 and Pentium microprocessor families as well as many other integrated circuits and personal computer networking . All trademarks, service marks and company names are the property of their respective owners. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion