bill@ssbn.WLK.COM (Bill Kennedy) (05/16/91)
Now that the banns of marriage are posted I'd like to pose a question to the
readers of these groups who work for NCR and AT&T. There are some meetings
coming up in the near future, maybe one/some of you might ask this question
on behalf of those of us who supported each firm by buying their equipment
when they were competitors.
I'd like to know if there will be any effort from the new venture to try
to achieve some interoperability among the products in place when the
merger was consummated. Just a couple of examples. An NCR Tower with Vr3
can not reliably run RFS on a network with an AT&T 3B2. An AT&T 6386 running
Lachman NFS will not cooperate with an NCR Tower. I am not repeating the
groaning that I've already done on each of those examples, I am asking if the
new firm has any interest or concern for the incompatibilities among the
products that they offered when they were competitors.
I'm not so naive as to think that this might interest the suits for whom
yesterday is ancient history. I would be interested (and delighted!) if the
technical contributors who made those products possible might insist that the
past be made as seamless as I'm sure the suits will promise the future. It
can't be all that difficult, a 3B2 gets along just great, RFS, with a 6386;
a Tower gets along just great, NFS, with a Sun. Since they interoperate amongst
several other vendors' products wouldn't it be a nice wedding present (to
those of us who gave them money) for them to interoperate amongst each other?
--
Bill Kennedy internet bill@ssbn.WLK.COM or ssbn!bill@attmail.COM
uucp {att,cs.utexas.edu,pyramid!daver}!ssbn.wlk.com!billpgn@cbnewsc.att.com (Novorolsky) (05/20/91)
From article <2067@ssbn.WLK.COM>, by bill@ssbn.WLK.COM (Bill Kennedy): > Now that the banns of marriage are posted I'd like to pose a question to the > readers of these groups who work for NCR and AT&T. There are some meetings > coming up in the near future, maybe one/some of you might ask this question > on behalf of those of us who supported each firm by buying their equipment > when they were competitors. > > I'd like to know if there will be any effort from the new venture to try > to achieve some interoperability among the products in place when the > merger was consummated. Just a couple of examples. An NCR Tower with Vr3 > can not reliably run RFS on a network with an AT&T 3B2. An AT&T 6386 running > Lachman NFS will not cooperate with an NCR Tower. I am not repeating the > groaning that I've already done on each of those examples, I am asking if the > new firm has any interest or concern for the incompatibilities among the > products that they offered when they were competitors. > > I'm not so naive as to think that this might interest the suits for whom > yesterday is ancient history. I would be interested (and delighted!) if the > technical contributors who made those products possible might insist that the > past be made as seamless as I'm sure the suits will promise the future. It > can't be all that difficult, a 3B2 gets along just great, RFS, with a 6386; > a Tower gets along just great, NFS, with a Sun. Since they interoperate amongst > several other vendors' products wouldn't it be a nice wedding present (to > those of us who gave them money) for them to interoperate amongst each other? > -- > Bill Kennedy internet bill@ssbn.WLK.COM or ssbn!bill@attmail.COM > uucp {att,cs.utexas.edu,pyramid!daver}!ssbn.wlk.com!bill I think it's too early yet to tell exactly what will happen w.r.t. your suggestion. One thing for certain; both companies (AT&T and NCR) have made public statements, and are, in fact, committed to supporting their existing customers. What I interpret this to mean (i.e., personal opinion), is that the products will somehow be merged, but in a direction which will provide migration pathes for existing AT&T AND NCR customers. This will take some time. How much? It is too early (for me) to tell. The transition team is moving incredibly fast. I don't want to say anything that would tip our hand, or be misleading, so I won't say anything further. Watch for the news releases, I am sure that as decisions are made, they will be formally anounced. It will be in the merged company's best interest to announce such product plans as soon as decisions are made. ======================================================== **paul novorolsky ( !att!iwtpm!pgn, pgn@iwtpm.att.com, attmail!pnovorolsky) ========================================================