tony@ingr.com (Tony Wood) (03/29/89)
George Ralls
Intergraph Corporation
One Madison Industrial Park
Huntsville, Alabama 35807
205-464-8303
Intergraph Adopts Standard Software Development Environment
Huntsville, Alabama, February 28, 1989 -- In keeping with our
policy of implementing the standards leading to a truly open
system, Intergraph Corporation announces the adoption of X
Windows and the Open Software Foundation (OSF) Motif as its basic
Application Program Interface (API). The OSF/Motif is an
extension of the industry-standard X-Windows which facilitates
portation of applications programs.
Intergraph has supported X-Windows for some time in a co-
operable environment with Environ V, an Intergraph-proprietary
windowing system. Environ V was developed to provide the
performance necessary for intensive graphics requirements in
Intergraph applications. X-Windows has not, to this time,
achieved the required level of performance. The present and
future API configurations for Intergraph platforms are
illustrated on the attached diagrams.
Adoption of the OSF/Motif will make available to Intergraph
users the many third-party applications which will be written to
conform to the standard. Existing third-party applications
running on our platform will be assisted in migrating to the new
API, if they choose to do so.
There will be a migration period from Environ V to the
OSF/Motif API. Intergraph plans to have the new API implemented
in the third quarter of 1989. Equally important is the necessity
to preserve the performance benefits of Environ V for some
applications until the performance enhancements can be migrated
to the new API. Intergraph will coordinate closely with OSF to
assure that the performance enhancements are compatible with the
OSF/Motif.
Intergraph is also announcing the availability of an
additional capability to enhance the implementation of
applications on our platform. The new product is the Relational
Interface System (RIS). The new product allows applications to
interface to multiple relational data bases (RDB) with a single
user interface. The product is based on ANSI-standard SQL, and
interprets the unique extensions to SQL from each relational data
base to a common interface. It allows applications to write one
RDB interface, yet allows the user to adopt the relational data
bases of his choice. RIS now supports Informix and Oracle, with
support for Ingres under way. In the future, additional
relational data bases will be supported.
RIS also provides networking capabilities to allow
applications to place their data on different network nodes or to
isolate all their data on one central node. The application may
run on one node while the data base exists on another node. This
is especially useful in a networked environment where the data
base is on a central server node which is accessed by numerous
applications running on workstations which all need to access the
same data. With the central server node configuration, only one
copy of the relational data base is needed for the server node.
Currently RIS supports the XNS and TCP/IP communications
protocols with future support planned for DECNet and ISO/OSI.
These powerful new application development tools are further
enhanced by the binary compatibility across Intergraph's full
line of Clipper-based workstations and servers. Binary
compatibility ensures that the investment in software development
and implementation by users, including training, will be
preserved through evolution of Intergraph-supplied systems.
With the endorsement of the OSF/Motif and availability of RIS
on a binary-compatible family of products, Intergraph is uniquely
positioned to support applications implementation. Intergraph
has, in addition, a substantial library of additional tools
created to enhance our own development, which will be made
available on our platform. These include an advanced object-
oriented programming development platform and a library of NURBS-
based graphic primitives, among others. Intergraph has long been
a leader in development of applications. In keeping with our new
thrust into the generic workstation and server market, we are
beginning to make the tools which have helped us become leaders
available to other developers.
Intergraph and CLIPPER are registered trademarks of Intergraph
Corporation. Other brands and product names are trademarks of
their respective owners.
--
Tony Wood | Intergraph Corporation
Clipper Systems Marketing | One Madison Ind. Park
uunet!ingr!tony!tony | Huntsville, AL 35807