Open Network Advantage

TS 8 Ss. a 3 pe a cm a NETWORK di giltlal “Today's market conditions make it clear that computer products must meet standards. Don't let that fact lead you to the misconception that all computer vendors are the same. Only Digital provides The Open Advantage.” Bill Johnson Vice President, Corporate Marketing Planning EMORAN TO: IS Executives RE: Changes, Challenges, and Choices You're looking for ways to increase profitability while tightly controlling costs. You're concerned about quality — quality of your products and quality of services. You're pressing forward with efforts to improve customer satisfaction. You need to innovate. To do all this, you face difficult challenges and even tougher choices. You must evolve into a leaner, more efficient organization. You're probably making a conscious move toward “empow- ered” employees and self-directed teams. You may be putting more responsibility in the hands of the workgroup. And all this changes the way work gets done. ; lee resources no matter who manufactured them or where they reside. And we are constantly working to enhance our open business practices with software licensing programs, technol- ogy agreements and strategic alliances with hardware and software partners. Not only do we bring all the elements together, we integrate them and make them work together. We put together this package of information so that you and others in your organization would have easy access to some _ Straight talk as you face the difficult challenges ahead. Each of the pieces in this package addresses a different networking — ™ quirem is = = At the same time, you’re being forced to take a more global view of your markets, your competition, and your network. You need tighter links to suppliers and distributors worldwide. And you need to respond quickly to competitive challenges wherever they crop up. The natural result of these efforts is an ever-increasing require- ment to use technologies as enabling tools to link people to the resources they need to work independently and collaboratively. And too, the evolution is toward a greater reliance on technology to provide the communications infrastructure needed to compete in a changing world anda global economy. As you face these changes, challenges, and choices, Digital's open networks can provide you with real advantages. At Digital, we are committed to open technology based on standards, so you can integrate your networking environment. We have pioneered the concept of open services to plan and design your network and to manage all your information “Desktop Networks” speaks to the Workgroup Managers and the IS Specialists who are responsible for tying PCs, workstations, and terminals together and linking them to the enterprise. “Site and Campus Networks” looks at solutions available to Facilities Managers who need to install, consolidate, manage, and link local area networks. “Enterprise Networks” is for the Data Comm Manager or Telecom Manager who has responsibility for designing, building, and maintaining the wide area network backbone. “Networked Applications” allows Department Managers and MIS to use multivendor, multiprotocol services and utilities to enhance communications and improve productivity. I think as you investigate your options here and elsewhere, you'll realize just what we mean when we say Digital is the Open Advantage. Gail Daniels Director, Networks Marketing Your network is a critical asset of your business. So, as you set about developing a comprehensive information strategy, one of your most pressing challenges will be to plan, develop, implement, and manage a fully integrated network infrastructure — to establish a truly open environment from the desktops to the departments to the entire enterprise. ... truly open technology — a transparent networking environment of products and services based on standards and supported by open business alliances and business practices. ... Scalable and powerful products that provide consolidation and planned growth from small workgroups to local area networks to multisite wide area networks. ... complete capabilities to integrate multivendor, ... the ability to combine FDDI, Token Ring, Ethernet, Frame multiprotocol solutions locally and globally. Relay, and X.25 to meet the needs of various groups and to enhance your existing investment. ... Solutions that give you the flexibility to choose the appropriate applications and best platforms, and to locate them wherever they need to be to get the job done. .. . Strong alliances between Digital and its partners to deliver and support the total network solution. The impact of your network on your business is enormous. You need networking partners who know what they’re doing — a company with a long, successful track record planning, designing, installing, and managing sophisticated networks. Networking is more than just current products and services— it’s a mindset that recognizes the importance of communica- tions and understands the subtleties of systems integration. At Digital, we have been thinking this way for almost two decades. We pioneered distributed processing — defining networking for the world. We have been thinking about networks longer, have planned and installed more networks, and have more networking solutions than anyone else. Since the early ’70s and across five generations of networks, Digital has evolved its open networks solutions to today’s award-winning ADVANTAGE-NETWORKS. Digital’s networks started as simple file transfers in 1975 and evolved into fully distributed systems. As always, Digital responded with network integration capabilities as many vendors entered the market with new products and protocols. Now, Digital’s ADVANTAGE-NETWORKS offers solutions for FDDI, OSI, TCP/ IP, and enterprise management — the latest solutions to the challenges of the 90s. ADVANTAGE-NETWORKS Performance Leader in Open Networks Today, Digital is the Performance Leader in Open Networks— providing flexible solutions to technology and business chal- lenges. Digital lets you start small and grow, or consolidate to reflect your needs by applying as few or as many scalable capabili- ties as you want whenever and wherever you need. You get the flexibility of incremental growth. No one vendor has all the solutions you need. You face a multivendor reality, with products from many suppliers, resources distributed over multiple sites, and systems that use different protocols. Because Digital understands this point, we have open business practices with many networking suppliers. This provides our customers with the best possible networking solutions available. Digital’s open networking gives you the advantage of a full spectrum of choices in connectivity, interoperability, distrib- uted applications and management options to combine your individual networks from different suppliers into a cohesive Enterprise Network that you can control. You need to confront and manage technology growth throughout your organization — to administer your proliferating PC LANs and link them together; to make intelligent choices about local area networks for facilities and campuses; and to look at the overall issues of networking your entire enterprise. Across all of these technologies, you need to provide users with the tools — the networked applications — to be more effective. Digital has the expertise — developed over two decades of networking — to provide the total solution. Our commitment to standards gives us the ability to integrate multiple vendors’ products, multiple operating systems, and multiple protocols. Combine this commitment with solutions from third-party alliances and you get the freedom to choose from a range of technologies and applications, plus the power to use these solutions across your entire enterprise. Desktop Networks A fundamental networking requirement is the need to link various desktop devices. Digital has desktop networking solutions for PCs, workstations, and terminals. Now you can allow users to be more productive by integrating them through PATHWORKS — our corporate network operating system that allows users to share information across DOS, OS/2, Macintosh, UNIX , and VMS platforms throughout the enter- prise. Digital also provides a full range of PCs, workstations and terminals. And we have a complete line of products for making the physical connections among these systems. With the most robust corporate network operating system, a comprehensive suite of desktop platforms, and the most flexible choices in modular connections, only Digital can offer you a complete desktop networking solution. Site and Campus Networks At times, business growth necessitates network expansion. At other times, you may need to provide broader connectivity that will promote better communications and collaboration throughout an existing site or campus. Digital offers flexible network solutions, including open local area networks (LANs) and high-performance FDDI networks. When you need high-performance connections within workgroups Or across an entire campus, you can turn to Digital’s newest solutions — a suite of award-winning FDDI products. You get network speed where you need it along with the flexibility to handle image, video, and data. These high-performance solutions complement your existing LANs — easily integrating with Ethernet and Token Ring and providing a flexible network infrastructure with a combination of fiber and copper media. These solutions provide the ability to grow and extend LANs, to integrate multiple network protocols, and to manage the network effectively. Enterprise Networks Digital integrates your entire enterprise with its multiprotocol ADVANTAGE-NETWORKS products and capabilities. We offer a full array of bridges, routers, and gateways to provide the network infrastructure you need in today’s competitive global environment. This includes multiprotocol support across your entire network. We also provide the means to effectively manage all your information resources with our Enterprise Management Architecture (EMA). You get a truly worldwide solution. Networked Applications Digital is committed to providing networked application solutions that give people and departments access to the information and resources they need. From the office, to the lab, to the shop floor, Digital provides a comprehensive suite of networked applications — electronic mail, computer conferencing, file and print services, EDI, and much more. These are scalable solutions that reside on systems from the desktop to the mainframe. We want to help you build systems supported by a solid network infrastructure in which people can communicate and collaborate as needed, even with those outside the enterprise. To achieve your business goals, you need the freedom to choose the solutions that are best for you and to be sure that they will work together. Scalability Whether your current interests tend toward the desktop, the department, or the entire enterprise, the one truth about networks is that they grow and change. With Digital, you get the scalable systems and applications that best suit your current needs — with the full confidence that they will work with existing systems, but grow as your needs change. Connectivity The key to business success today is easy access to informa- tion, applications, and resources, no matter where they are on the network or who developed them. Digital networks provide broad connectivity that enhances current investments and improves the effectiveness of individuals, workgroups, departments, and whole companies — from local to world- wide systems. Integration and Management Network integration and management is another clear business advantage for your organization. Being able to operate, Profitability Investment Protection manage, and service products from multiple vendors, through a single management system and a single support organization, maximizes the availability of these valuable resources and makes your business more successful. Investment Protection The advantage underlying all these benefits is that you enhance your existing investments in systems and applications, and you can easily integrate the latest technologies to take advantage of new benefits. We also provide backwards compatibility and multivendor integration so that your full investment is opti- mized. Profitability When you overlay your business needs and challenges with Digital’s technology solutions, you'll see how Digital’s open networks help you improve the effectiveness of your organiza- tion and enhance your competitive position. Yours is a multi-vendor reality. Today, across the entire enterprise, your systems have to interoperate and share data and applications. Digital's open networks are possible today through Network With NAS you get a suite of standards specifications that allow Application Support (NAS) — Digital’s open system foundation applications to conform and work together. Ultimately this for integrating your company’s applications across distributed, simplifies the application development process, improves multivendor environments and platforms, recognizing the users' productivity, and protects your technology investments. mixed platform realities of today’s companies. NAS is not only a blueprint for application integration, it is a suite of software In Digital, you have a single vendor with the broad frame of products based on standards — including application program- reference needed to recognize your multivendor reality and ming interfaces, run-time services, and documentation. the experience to provide truly open solutions. Everything from desktop systems to large computing resources is tied together using NAS — a client/server model based on the concept of peer-to-peer computing. Digital’s Network Integration Services provides consulting, implementation, and management support for multivendor networks. Network consulting servic st you in pls ng and designing open networks; implementation services help your organization set up and integrate multivendor networks into open computing environments; and management servic support your business in maintaining peak performan open networks. Digital believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date; such information is subject to change without notice. Digital is not responsible for any inadvertent errors. The following are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corpora- tion: the DIGITAL logo, ADVANTAGE-NETWORKS, VMS, DECnet, ALL-IN-1, DECwrite, DECserver, DECagent, DECconnect, DECNIS, eXcursion, MOBILIZER, DEC, PATHWORKS, ULTRIX, DECquery, DEChub, DECbridge, VAX, DECconcentrator, DECmcc,VAXcluster, LAT. The goal of Network Integration Services is to help your company maximize its resources and protect its investments. That’s because Digital’s strategy is based on an open environ- ment —Open Technology, Open Services, and Open Busin Practices. Digital . . . The Op vantage. OS/2, IBM, PROFS, and SNADS are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. Macintosh, LocalTalk, AppleTalk, and AppleShare are registered trade- marks of Apple Computer, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. NetWare and Novell are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. NFS is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. ProNET is a registered trademark of Proteon, Inc. AT&T is a registered trademark of American Telephone & Telegraph Company. MCI is a regis- tered trademark of MCI Communications Corporation.