Microsoft Ships Remaining Members of BackOffice Enterprise Family

REDMOND, Wash., Dec. 1, 1997 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the shipment of Microsoft® SQL Server
™, Enterprise Edition 6.5 and Microsoft SNA Server 4.0. Along with Microsoft Windows NT® Server operating system Enterprise Edition 4.0 and Microsoft Exchange Server Enterprise Edition, these products deliver the scalability, interoperability, availability and manageability that enterprise customers require.

Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition improves scalability and availability with support for larger symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) servers (up to eight-way systems in the retail product and up to 32-way systems in OEM offerings), support for 50 percent more application memory, support for the clustering services in Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition, and it simplifies the retrieval of information with Microsoft English Query, providing a platform for deploying distributed, mission-critical database applications.

“Enterprise systems need high performance, high availability and easier manageability,” said Rich Tong, vice president, personal and business systems group at Microsoft. “Building on the strong foundation of Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition, the BackOffice® family of server products delivers the enterprise capabilities that customers like First Union Bank and USF & G Corp. demand.”

The ability of Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition to provide higher performance is demonstrated by its first eight-processor TPC-C benchmark result, submitted today . With fully audited results of 14,501 tpmC @ $78.73/tpmC achieved on an eight-processor Northbridge NX801 server from Axil Computer, Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition set a new performance record on the Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition platform. The result demonstrates that the enterprise editions of Microsoft SQL Server and Windows NT Server scale over 75 percent higher compared to the standard editions.*

Microsoft Ships Microsoft SNA Server 4.0

Microsoft SNA Server 4.0 preserves your investments in mainframe or AS/400 applications by allowing customers to reuse CICS and IMS transactions as components of new Windows DNA applications. In addition, SNA Server provides access to data stored in VSAM files or on an AS/400 to OLE/DB applications. SNA Server gateway enhancements also double capacity to 30,000 simultaneous sessions per server and add features that ease the transition to TCP/IP networks. These improvements demonstrate Microsoft’s continued commitment to interoperability between the BackOffice family and customers’ existing infrastructure.

Microsoft SQL Server and Windows NT Server Continue Rapid Acceptance

Shipments of Microsoft SQL Server grew by over 125 percent in the first fiscal quarter compared to last year, reaching the milestone of more than 4 million user licenses shipped. Microsoft SQL Server continues to surpass expectations in product shipments, industry support and customer demand, making it the industry’s fastest-growing database. In addition,
Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition recently became one of the first Microsoft products to win the Crossroads A-List award from Open Systems Advisors, an enterprise computing analyst firm. The A-List, which receives its nominations from customers, identifies the best new enterprise solutions.

Enterprise ISVs voicing their support for Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition and Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition include Altris Software Inc., Aurum Software Inc., The BAAN Company, Clarify Inc., DataStream, DataWorks Corp., Documentum Inc., FileNet Corp., Gilbarco Inc., Great Plains Software Inc., Ibertech Inc., ICL Retail Systems, J.D. Edwards & Co., ONYX Software Corp., PC DOCS Inc., Platinum Software Corp., SAP, SAS Institute Inc., Scopus Technology Inc., Siebel Systems Inc., Solomon Software, State of the Art Inc., Synon Corp., Systems Union and Turnkey Solutions.

“Today, nearly half of all new R/3 customers implement on the Windows NT platform and the number of R/3 customers using R/3 on Microsoft SQL Server has doubled in the last 12 months,” said Guenther Tolkmit, vice president Corporate Marketing at SAP AG. “The new release of Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition and it’s support for high-availability, more processors and more memory, makes this attractive solution available to a significantly increased number of R/3 customers.”

Enterprise hardware vendors are strongly endorsing Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition and Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition for their high-end offerings based on Windows NT Server. Companies that are exploiting the products’ advanced capabilities include Axil Computer Inc., Compaq Computer Corp., Data General Corp., Dell Computer Corp., Digital Equipment Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., NCR Corp., NEC Technologies Inc., Tandem Computers Inc. and Unisys Corp.

“HP has a long history of high-performance enterprise computing,” said Maria Cannon, general manager, HP’s enterprise NetServer operation. “Combining great computing power with the worldwide service and support of HP, HP NetServer systems are ideal for large database work, large Microsoft Exchange Server implementations and server-consolidation projects. HP

and Microsoft continue to work together to bring high-performance enterprise solutions to the market. HP’s new eight-way NetServer system will take full advantage of the enterprise editions of Windows NT Server and Microsoft SQL Server.”

Availability and Pricing

Both Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition and Microsoft SNA Server are scheduled to be released to manufacturing before the end of the year, with general availability anticipated in January 1998.

Pricing for Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition starts at approximately $7,999 for a 25-user system. For more information on Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/sql/ .

Pricing for Microsoft SNA Server starts at approximately $1,339 for a five-user system. A 90-day evaluation version is available for order from the Web at http://www.microsoft.com/sna/ .

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.

*Comparison based on the highest TPC-C result achieved by the enterprise editions of Microsoft SQL Server and Windows NT Server vs. the highest for the standard editions, as of Dec. 1, 1997.

Microsoft, Windows NT and BackOffice are either a registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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