InformationWeek

January 26, 1998

Windows NT For Tw o

Increased cooperation between Microsoft, Digital is precursor to other arrangements

By Stuart J. Johnston and Marianne Kolbasuk McGee , with Bob Francis

icrosoft and Digital Equipment will detail an expanded technology and services partnership this week that includes a plan to use Digital technology to enable Windows NT to run on computers that have as many as 32 processors. This relationship will be the first in a series that Microsoft intends to introduce this year to help bolster its position in the enterprise.

The agreement will give Digital the title of "Worldwide Prime Integrator" for Microsoft technology, sources say. The expanded partnership, the second phase of an agreement the companies signed more than two years ago, includes increased cooperation in hardware, software, and services.

For example, Digital will build new servers-both Intel- and Alpha-based-designed specifically for Windows NT. "With this announcement, we're more tightly integrating our servers with our NT strategy," says Duane Dickhut, VP and general manager of Digital's NT group. Digital will begin selling "ready-to-go" NT clusters, cluster kits, and application templates through its resellers and distribution partners. Also, Digital will begin factory-installing high-availability application packages that run on NT, Digital officials say.

On the software side, the companies are expected to reveal that Digital will port much of the middleware it developed for its OpenVMS operating system to run on NT. Also, a key component of the deal, sources say, will enable Microsoft to incorporate Digital's upcoming Galaxy architecture for OpenVMS into Windows NT. Galaxy improves scalability in multiprocessing con figurations, up to 32 processors, the sources say. Digital is expected to release Galaxy for OpenVMS later this year.

The agreement also will expand the companies' services relationship. That will include training more Digital engineers to build and support NT and Microsoft BackOffice-based solutions. Digital already has trained 2,000 Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers worldwide and has installed more than 1 million seats of Exchange Server.

Digital may be first but not the only Worldwide Prime Integrator."There's a number of announcements that are going to hit in the next couple of months," says Ian Rogoff, Microsoft's general manager of enterprise partnerships. Among those expected to be expanding their partnerships with Microsoft are services and consulting firms such as Ernst & Young, Vanstar, and Wang Laboratories as well as computer vendors that have service practices, such as Hewlett-Packard, NCR, and Unisys.

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