EDITORIAL CONTACTS: PRCS4700307 Kelly Emo (408) 447-5334 Dave Kroll (408) 447-0985 HP ANNOUNCES SNAPLUS RELEASE 2; EXPANDS CLIENT/SERVER CONNECTIVITY FOR SNA ENVIRONMENTS PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 16, 1993 -- Hewlett-Packard Company today announced Release 2 of the HP SNAplus family of communications products. The new release is based on a client/server model, which allows HP business systems, servers and workstations to access SNA(1) networks. Release 2 expands communications capabilities by supporting a greater range of wide area networks and local area networks. It also enhances usability and ease of application development in an SNA environment. SNAplus Release 2 significantly increases the functionality of the SNAplus program previously announced in March 1992, which delivers a wide range of SNA networking capabilities. With this announcement, the HP 9000 Series 800 business systems and servers and HP Apollo 9000 Series 700 workstations become easier to integrate with the mainframe. They also are more useful for customers migrating applications to the client-server model. The HP 9000 family now has additional capabilities for communicating with traditional IBM environments, including the mainframe and IBM midrange systems. "The SNAplus program enables HP customers to integrate UNIX(2) system-based computers into IBM networks," said Randall R. Meals, general manager of HP's Information Networks Division. "Release 2 greatly expands this capability, positioning the HP 9000 as the premier UNIX solution for mainframe rightsizing. This will significantly help customers and application developers integrate applications in an SNA environment." HP SNAplus Release 2 Capabilities SNAplus Release 2 incorporates many enhancements that strengthen the HP 9000 family's offering in IBM communications. This includes products that allow greater choice in connectivity with SNA over Token Ring, SNA over X.25, interactive graphics and the NetView API(3) and LUA(4) API for application development. The SNAplusLink product has been expanded to support SNA over Token Ring. This allows an HP 9000 to communicate with an IBM system when both are connected to Token Ring networks. SNA over Token Ring supports both 4 Mbps and 16 Mbps speeds, a dramatic increase over the previous communications speeds. As a result, customers will find significant increases in throughput with SNA over Token Ring. Customers with installed X.25 networks or those planning to install standards-based networking now have a solution with SNA over X.25, also known as QLLC(5). SNA over X.25 allows SNA traffic to go over an X.25 network, providing customers with greater communications flexibility and a bridge to standards-based networking. SNAplus Release 2 supports several new IBM 3270 emulator enhancements, including Motif(tm) and seven-color support. With Motif and color support, users will find it easier to differentiate parts of their screens, increasing their overall productivity. Release 2 also includes SNAplusAPI, a collection of APIs that makes it easier for application developers to develop SNA programs. Enhancements to SNAplusAPI for Release 2 are NetView API, which allows programmers to build network- management support into their applications; and LUA API, which allows access to different logical units including LU0, 1, 2 and 3. Using these programming calls, application developers can now build specific commands to printers and terminals. Also included in the SNAplusAPI is LU 6.2, which was available with SNAplus Release 1. LU 6.2 allows program-to-program communications for applications like file transfer, remote database queries and electronic-mail access. SNAplus Release 2 also includes SNAplus3179G, which emulates IBM's 3179G color graphics display station, provides cut-and-paste capability and supports three window sizes. SNAplus3179G increases customers' terminal-connectivity options for SNA environments. In addition, SNAplus Release 2 includes SNAplusRJE, which emulates an IBM 3770 terminal and supports batch processing to IBM mainframes. HP SNAplus: A Multiphase Program Today's announcement increases the functionality of the SNAplus program. Future phases are planned for the end of 1993 and will include HP server support for PC clients, CPI-C support and 16-bit character support for Asian languages. Subsequent phases of SNAplus under investigation include APPN end-node capability and integration of SNAplus into the HP 3000 Series 900 MPE/iX business systems and server product line, which offers extensive SNA capabilities today. U.S. Prices and Availability The SNAplusLink product is available for the HP Apollo 9000 Series 700 workstation product line and the HP 9000 Series 800 business system and server product line. The SNAplus3270, SNAplusRJE, SNAplusAPI and SNAplus3179G products are available on the HP 9000 Series 300, and HP Apollo 9000 Series 400 and 700 workstation product line and the HP 9000 Series 800 business system and server product line. HP SNAplusLink starts at $3,300 HP SNAplus3270 starts at 850 HP SNAplusAPI starts at 1,600 HP SNAplusRJE starts at 1,200 HP SNAplus3179G starts at 1,545 All SNAplus products are available now. Hewlett-Packard Company is an international manufacturer of measurement and computation products and systems recognized for excellence in quality and support. The company's products and services are used in industry, business, engineering, science, medicine and education in approximately 110 countries. HP has 92,600 employees and had revenue of $16.4 billion in its 1992 fiscal year. # # # (1)SNA stands for Systems Network Architecture. (2)UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX System Laboratories Inc. in the U.S.A. and other countries. (3)API stands for Application Programming Interface. (4)LUA stands for Logical Unit Application. (5)QLLC stands for qualified link-level control. Motif is a trademark of the Open Software Foundation in the U.S. and other countries.