Interoperability NCR & AT&T

[Novorolsky]

>From article <2067 at ssbn.WLK.COM>, by bill at 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 at ssbn.WLK.COM or ssbn!bill at 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.


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**paul novorolsky
( !att!iwtpm!pgn, pgn at iwtpm.att.com, attmail!pnovorolsky)
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