Specific Q&A's targeted for LanManager Customers 1. Is HP changing it's commitment to LanManager? Not at all. HP is continuing to make investments in providing LanManager based solutions to it's customers. HP supports the top PC NOS's in the industry and LanManager is one of those. HP's strategy is to partner with the industry leaders to provide the best solutions to our customers. On the HP9000, in Spring, 1992, we will be delivering LM/X server which supports Microsoft LanManager 2.1 clients as well as allow file locking/sharing between DOS and Apple MAC clients. We have partnered with Pacer Software to provide Apple MAC client connectivity to our LM/X server. Additionally, we have plans to provide LanManager 2.x server capabilities by the end of 1992. We have just completed extensive performance benchmarking on the S8x7 systems and the results look great! A copy of the performance information can be obtained from the GSY Hotline under the subject "LMX8X7". Our HP3000 solution consists of LanManager Named Pipes for client server application development and Resource Sharing/XL for file and print sharing. We are continuing to support the current versions of Microsoft's clients to access our servers. For potential new customers, you should utilize the consultative approach to determine the solution that best meets your customers' needs. The marketplace did not respond as quickly as analysts/Microsoft would have liked, therefore LanManager is not the leading PC NOS, but is among the leaders in the industry. Microsoft is committed to LanManager and continues to invest in it. HP believes that LanManager is an integral part of our client/server offering and is therefore continuing to invest to enhance LanManager. 2. When should customers buy LanManager vs Netware? HP's goal is to make as many system server sales as possible. With the offering of the top PC NOS's we want to allow the customer to choose. We have established the following key criteria: The application may dictate the NOS - if an application only runs on one network and that application is mandatory, then the network choice is made. The network is already installed and the user is happy - by offering the choice PC NOS, HP will work with the customer to add the new capability he/she is looking for to the existing network. If the installed network is MS-NET, then migration to LanManager is the obvious choice. There is no network currently installed - if the customer is undecided and there is no network constraints imposed by the application being considered and enterprise wide networking is thought to be an important capability, then a TCP/IP based network should be recommended. Today, LanManager is the only native TCP/IP implementation HP offers. Novell will be shipping NetWare with v3.11 (386) and has announced intentions to support it on Portable Netware in the future. At this time, LanManager is the better enterprise wide TCP/IP solution. If a system sale is not involved, then the customer should be sent to a Vectra dealer, that is, is the network is a PC only network. 3. What new features will be available in the upcoming release of LM/X? The next release of LanManager (internal name release C) will include support of LanManager 2.1 clients and file locking to allow MAC and DOS clients to share files. This release will be available Spring 1992. An exact date will be communicated once we complete the checkpoint meeting scheduled for mid-January, 1992. The LM/X 2.0 release is targeted for the end of 1992. It will include all functionality included in Microsoft's LanManager 2.0. More detail will be published on the hotline. 4. What is HP's relationship with Microsoft? HP did the initial implementation of LanManager on a UNIX platform for Microsoft. This version and a follow-on upgrade release were delivered to Microsoft for licensing to the rest of the industry. HP has an OEM relationship with Microsoft which means that HP licenses the core LanManager technology from Microsoft and completes the port to the HP- UX platform. This allows HP to minimize its investment in core LanManager technology and maximize investment in adding value to this core technology.