Global systems integrator announces opening of Windows NT technology and performance laboratories, application development centers Unisys Corporation has announced that it has achieved an important milestone in its on-going enterprise partnership with Microsoft, establishing a Technology Center in Redmond, Washington, and Enterprise NT Performance Laboratories in Mission Viejo, California, and Eagan, Minnesota. These facilities complement the Unisys Application Development Center of Excellence at the company`s headquarters here. Establishment of the Unisys centers is the latest step in the enterprise partnership between Unisys and Microsoft. Announced in October 1997, this joint initiative is designed to bring customers enterprise-class solutions based on the Windows NT operating system and Microsoft enterprise platform technologies combined with Unisys technologies, services and solutions. In addition to establishing the centers announced today, Unisys has also committed to train and certify up to 2000 Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers (MCSEs) on Microsoft enterprise products and will team with Microsoft to provide enterprise-class solutions for federal, state, and local governments as well as the financial services marketplace. "The new laboratories and centers will enable Unisys engineers, service professionals and application developers to work closely with Microsoft support and development teams to optimise the performance of Unisys symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) architectures, integrate Unisys technology with future Microsoft products, and demonstrate the value of Microsoft Windows NT Server, Microsoft BackOffice and other Microsoft enterprise products for industry-specific customer solutions," said Mike Dooner, marketing manager, Unisys SA. Center to advance technology developments The Redmond Technology Center will play a key role in the advanced research, development and prototyping of future Unisys enterprise-class Windows NT products and technologies. Through interaction with Microsoft`s support and engineering teams, the Redmond Technology Center will promote the exchange of information between Unisys and Microsoft. The center will also help Unisys and Microsoft provide the critical round-the-clock, worldwide support and speedy problem resolution needed by users of high-availability enterprise-class systems. The Redmond Technology Center will be headed by Roger Redding, an acknowledged expert in advanced software technologies. Redding is a Unisys Fellow, a designation reserved for the company`s top technical talent. The Unisys Enterprise NT Performance Laboratories optimize the performance of current Unisys enterprise-class server products based on Microsoft`s Windows NT Server and BackOffice enterprise platforms. The Performance Laboratories will work closely with Microsoft internal development teams, sharing characterization data and providing analysis of system improvement alternatives in high-performance SMP and clustered systems. The total system approach being taken by the Unisys Enterprise NT Performance Laboratories will use components from Unisys alliance partners and Unisys value-added software and hardware products to help create the most competitive, scalable systems in the industry. Work in the performance laboratories will allow Unisys solution partners to develop ever-more capable enterprise Windows NT applications and ensure that Unisys continues to produce industry-leading performance results in industry-standard and solution provider benchmarks. Unisys first Microsoft Application Development Center of Excellence, located in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, is being used to develop and test business-critical solutions, application development methodologies and services. The heart of this center is the largest Windows NT complex in the world with 16 Unisys Aquanta XR/6 10-processor SMP servers with almost four terabytes of disk storage. This system is used to test high availability, scalability, very large database handling and sophisticated interoperability with multi-vendor mainframe environments. As part of the enterprise partnership with Microsoft, Unisys will open four other Application Development Centers of Excellence at locations throughout the world. The next two are scheduled to open in the second quarter of 1998 in McLean, Virginia and Paris, France. Industry analysts validating Unisys capabilities for Enterprise-Class NT solutions "These technology, support and application centers manifest our commitment to our customers, to our solution partners, and to the viability of Windows NT for enterprise-class applications," added Dooner. "Our enterprise customers depend on mission-critical applications that provide the highest levels of scalability and availability. Our company-wide commitment to Windows NT draws on decades of Unisys experience in the technology, services, support and solutions necessary to support enterprise-class computing. This comprehensive approach to Windows NT solutions and services has been enthusiastically supported by leading industry analysts." Giga Information Group, one of the top analyst groups following the computer industry, recently published the report Microsoft`s Partners: Making NT and BackOffice Enterprise Worthy, which comments on the breadth of Unisys capabilities as a global systems integrator. "The chart from Giga Information Group," continued Dooner, "shows clearly that Unisys is unique among Microsoft`s enterprise partners in the breadth of its capabilities in infrastructure support, systems integration, and industry-specific solutions. No other firm provides customer solutions in all three areas."
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