REDMOND, Wash., and TOKYO, Aug. 26, 1997 — Microsoft Corp. and NEC Corp. today announced their intent to establish a worldwide, comprehensive technology alliance to offer solutions to enterprise customers. The agreement will ensure tighter integration of NEC’s leading mainframe and server technologies with the Microsoft® BackOffice® family platform, including the Windows NT® Server network operating system. Customers are offered economical and effective network servers with the high reliability, functionality and scalability provided by traditional mainframe and UNIX servers. By using leading mainframe and server technologies from NEC integrated with the Microsoft BackOffice platform on Windows NT Server, enterprise customers will gain more versatile server products for the 21st century.
Mission-Critical Systems
Microsoft will support NEC ‘ s development of a new product code-named ” Express Server for Enterprise.” Built on Windows NT Server, Express Server for Enterprise will support large, mission-critical systems. To offer increased performance, NEC and Microsoft will develop eight-way and 16-way SMP and large clustered systems, with over 64 nodes, incorporating technologies such as virtual interconnect architecture (VIA). In addition, NEC and Microsoft will work on defining requirements for supporting 64-bit technologies in large servers. Together, NEC and Microsoft will maximize performance of clustering systems with BackOffice technologies, such as transactioning, availability and clustering, along with NEC middleware technologies.
Network Servers for Internet and Intranet Usage
NEC and Microsoft will also collaborate on hardware and software for the product code-named ” Express Network Server” aimed at addressing the needs of small to medium-sized businesses. The server offers customers a turnkey hardware and software solution that is preinstalled and preconfigured. Express Network Server will use key, emerging technologies such as Intelligent Input/Output (I2O). Designed for the Internet and intranet environment, Express Network Server will be optimized to Web-enable smaller businesses and branch offices with ready-to-run solutions. At delivery, Express Network Server will include various Microsoft BackOffice server products.
Services and Support
NEC and Microsoft will work together on an array of technology efforts to ensure that customers’ problems are identified accurately and resolved more quickly. For example, NEC will participate, as part of the beta process, in early testing for current and future versions of Windows NT Server. NEC will further test and evaluate Windows NT Server and related BackOffice products with Microsoft, expanding its existing quality-assurance process. Other initiatives include improved robustness, additional analysis tools and expanded debugging programs. In addition to enhancing the server support at NEC ‘ s BackOffice Center, which was established in Tokyo in May 1997; another facility is now established in Redmond, Wash. NEC and Microsoft will work toward defining an engineering center focused on even greater levels of service and technical support for mission-critical systems.
“This agreement demonstrates our commitment to working with leaders in the industry to deliver to our customers complete business solutions based on Microsoft Windows NT Server and the Backoffice family,” said Bill Gates, chairman and CEO of Microsoft. “We are pleased that NEC has strongly endorsed our BackOffice environment for enterprise computing, and we will be working together to offer comprehensive solutions to our customers.”
“The new alliance established today is based on a long-term trusting relationship between NEC and Microsoft, and I believe that corporate customers will be highly satisfied by enhancements to Windows NT Server and BackOffice through this alliance,” said Hisashi Kaneko, president of NEC. ” I also believe this is a significant step in expanding NEC ‘ s Express Server business worldwide.”
Corporate Profiles
NEC Corp., founded in 1899, is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, and had net sales of
4.9 trillion yen (U.S. $39.9 billion) in the 1996-97 fiscal year. NEC manufactures and markets a broad range of products, including computer systems, communications systems, which extends from switching systems to cellular phones, and electronic devices, which extends from microprocessors to memory chips.
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.
Microsoft, BackOffice and Windows NT are either 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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