Innosoft extends reach of its Internet standards-based solution to Sun Solaris on Intel.

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 3, 1997--

Release of new version of PMDF e-Mail Interconnect for

Solaris/Intel platform follows on heels of PMDF for Solaris/SPARC

Innosoft International this week announced at the ComNet Expo the release of a new version of PMDF e-Mail Interconnect for Intel computers running the Sun Solaris operating system.

As an SMTP/MIME-based messaging backbone, PMDF expands its approach for integrating disparate mail systems using Internet standards by giving Solaris users the choice of running PMDF as their enterprisewide mail hub on either SPARC or Intel servers.

With the release of PMDF for Solaris on SPARC in September 1996, Innosoft first brought to the UNIX community the only commercially supported messaging backbone that exclusively uses the Internet's Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) as its standard canonical and intermediary message format.

This format enables end users to benefit from seamless interconnectivity among the myriad of standard and proprietary formats used by other mail systems. Mail system administrators also benefit from a solution that is easier to install and manage, and is less costly than X.400 or proprietary alternatives.

According to Dean Hidalgo, marketing manager at Innosoft International, the release of PMDF for Solaris on Sun/Intel gives Sun users more choices. "After first making the jump into the Sun market last September, Innosoft plans to continue providing mail system administrators with the freedom to pick and choose the platform that best fits their particular budget and environment."

Hidalgo stressed that this new version of PMDF is backed by Innosoft's unparalleled reputation for providing the market with proven Internet standards-based solutions.

"Whether PMDF is running on Intel, Sun SPARC, or Digital Equipments VAX or Alpha AXP servers, users will still benefit from the same seamless interconnectivity that comes from implementing a bullet-proof e-mail integration product that has been developed, and is supported, by mail system experts with more than ten years of experience," he said.

A Real World Implementation

E.C. van Rhee, senior systems manager at the Hogeschool van Utrecht, a major university in the Netherlands, had been running PMDF for years on an older Digital Equipment VAX before recently stepping up to a more powerful Sun SPARC server.

This upgrade occurred at a time when van Rhee was faced with a rapidly increasing message load as a result of merging several servers from three separate educational institutions into one enterprise mail hub at the Hogeschool van Utrecht. PMDF now supports more than 25,000 students and another 3,000 university personnel, with an average load of more than 10,000 messages per day.

Following his successful migration to Sun Solaris on SPARC, van Rhee agreed to field test PMDF for Sun Solaris on Intel, to be timed with setting up an enterprise mail system for another organization.

Taking advantage of the lower hardware costs Intel had to offer, van Rhee currently uses an Intel x86 machine to push more than 2,000 messages a day through the PMDF-MTA, which includes exchanging messages over the Internet.

"PMDF is all that I need in an e-mail package," van Rhee said. "PMDF's configuration files are easy to edit and test; and afterwards, the product is easy to maintain. In addition to its great performance, the response I receive from technical support has almost always been immediate in spite of the difference in time zones.

"And, due to its flexibility to be multi-platform, I'm able to take advantage of all of these things with whatever operating environment I've chosen to use."

In addition to its e-mail integration capabilities, PMDF serves as a highly scalable and robust SMTP/MIME-based message transfer agent (MTA). In many cases, PMDF-MTA is also being sought out by system administrators as an alternative to overcome several concerns associated with free mail services, which come bundled as part of various UNIX operating systems.

"Over the entire Internet you hear a lot about the use of sendmail and how it is difficult to configure," explained van Rhee. "Although I can manage in the UNIX environment, for an inexperienced UNIX administrator, the configuring rules can be a real pain.

"But the way PMDF copes with address rewriting is charming and easy to learn. Installing and configuring PMDF software is a piece of cake, and if you do exactly what is written down in the manual, you'll have it up in less than a day."

PMDF for Solaris: The Product Set

Each PMDF for Solaris (either SPARC or Intel) customer site will run at least one PMDF-MTA system to serve as the e-mail integration engine a backbone, store-and-forward, distribution and routing system capable of interconnecting with a wide range of networks, protocols and messaging environments.

PMDF-MTA provides a multitude of built-in features such as multi-threaded POP and IMAP servers, MIME-compliant user agents and support for document converters, thus allowing for a high level of customization to accommodate each customer's unique needs.

PMDF-ACCESS cost-effectively extends the services of PMDF-MTA to users on other Solaris, Digital UNIX or OpenVMS systems that are either clustered or networked with a machine running PMDF-MTA.

Direct channels to support all major LAN-based mail systems Lotus Notes, cc:Mail, Microsoft Mail, GroupWise and Novell MHS-based mailers are all contained in PMDF-LAN.

This optional product can be added to PMDF-MTA to seamlessly integrate PC mail systems without having to resort to cumbersome and costly point-to-point gateway products. Customers who license PMDF-LAN may integrate any or all of these PC mail systems by paying a single license fee.

Pricing and Licensing

Software licensing fees for a typical installation range from $6,000 to $15,000 or more, depending upon the level of PMDF functionality required by the customer. PMDF licensing fees are the same for all three platforms offered Solaris (SPARC and Intel), Digital UNIX or OpenVMS (VAX and Alpha AXP).

Current PMDF licenses for Digital UNIX or OpenVMS can be transferred to Solaris at no added cost.

About Innosoft International

Innosoft's founders have played leadership roles in pioneering the development of Internet standards-based messaging technologies for over ten years. Since one of Innosoft's co-founders, Ned Freed, co-authored the initial MIME specification, Innosoft was able to ship the world's first commercial MIME implementation in May of 1992.

PMDF e-Mail Interconnect products are marketed directly to end users by Innosoft in North America, and are available throughout Europe, New Zealand, Australia and Japan through a network of international distributors.

PMDF products are presently installed at more than 2,200 sites in 49 countries throughout the world. The company is located at 1050 East Garvey Avenue South, West Covina, Calif. 91790; telephone [phone]; FAX [phone]. -0- NOTE: PMDF is a registered trademark of Innosoft International Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owner.

CONTACT: Innosoft International Inc., West Covina

Dean Hidalgo, 818/919-3600

[e-mail]

http://www.innosoft.com

or

The Townsend Agency, San Diego

Carol Foster, 619/457-4888