Several people have asked for a little more detail on the IBM Antivirus press release, announcing a new partnership with Symantec's Norton Antivirus product line. In particular, many people have asked what support for additional "IBM platforms" means in the press release.
Indeed that does mean OS/2 Warp. As many of you know, Symantec does not yet have a version of Norton Antivirus for OS/2 Warp. While I cannot speak for Symantec, the information I have is that Symantec intends to develop and release Norton Antivirus for OS/2 Warp. In the meantime, Symantec has been given rights to offer IBM Antivirus for OS/2 Warp to its customers until they can close this gap in their product line.
In addition to that good news, this is also good news for Macintosh users. IBM did not have a Macintosh version of IBM Antivirus, and it was a gap in the IBM product line. Symantec does offer Norton Antivirus for Macintosh, a well respected product. It's also great news for Lotus Notes users, because Norton's got that covered, too.
Finally, many people are wondering what happens to their Upgrade Protection Option and Subscription Plan contracts with IBM Antivirus. If you do have such a contract, keep an eye on your mailbox. IBM and Symantec will be sending you official notice of this partnership and will provide details on how you can take advantage of Norton Antivirus should you wish to do so.
If you missed the press release you can find it on the Internet at http://www.av.ibm.com/.
Plans Include New Versions of Both OS/2 Warp Server and WorkSpace On-Demand
AUSTIN, TX, USA (May 5, 1998) - IBM today announced several enhancements for the OS/2* Warp Server family of products improving system management and back-up and recovery capabilities. In addition, IBM has outlined plans for a new version of OS/2 Warp Server and the next release of WorkSpace On-Demand, IBM's server-managed client operating system.
IBM plans to introduce this next release into the OS/2 Warp Server family of products in early 1999 and will serve as IBM's entry level server platform for running e-business applications. In addition, IBM's new release of WorkSpace On-Demand is also targeted for early 1999 and will offer customers support for a broader range of hardware devices.
"We continue to strengthen the OS/2 Warp Server platform as a true enterprise solution to meet our customers needs today," said Jeff Smith, director of IBM's OS/2 Business Unit. "As more companies become e-businesses, we want to offer an entry-level server platform that will provide all of the features and functionality needed to build a network computing architecture that can grow to meet customer's expanding e-business demands in the future."
New Features for Today's OS/2 Warp Server
OS/2 Warp Server systems management provides network administrators with a highly flexible tool that allows them to configure, monitor and manage local and remote systems in a heterogeneous environment. This new update offers administrators management of Windows NT 4.0 clients, expanded hardware support, and added functionality such as continuous resource monitoring, utilization reports for all servers, and report generation ranging from hourly to monthly. IBM's backup and recovery feature in OS/2 Warp Server provides users with non-stop system backup and recovery functionality through an easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI) or a new command-line interface. This enables users to schedule backups to run with minimum intervention and allows for lost files to be restored in minutes with its unique indexing facility. New features included in OS/2 Warp Server's backup and recovery include:
Large Network Administration and Backup - In addition to the easy-to-use graphical interface, the new command-line interface now offers network administrators flexibility to automate and customize the backup process for large networks.
Dual Device Backup Set and Removable Media Support - Administrators can now backup data on one or more different backup devices allowing for full system backups to a tape drive, with incremental backup on a quick access drive. The tape drive can be used for disaster recovery while the removable drive, such as IOMEGA JAZ and ZIP drives, can be locally available for quick recovery. This allows an administrator to take advantage of the price, capacity and speed characteristics of different storage devices, minimizing the time needed to recover an up-to-date system.
The new systems management and backup and recovery functionality that has been added to OS/2 Warp Server is available today from Software Choice, IBM's Internet software delivery site, at http://www.software.ibm.com/os2warp.
Roadmap Includes New Version of OS/2 Warp Server and WorkSpace On-Demand
The next release of OS/2 Warp Server is planned for beta availability in late 1998 and will be IBM's entry level e-business server and an ideal platform to help reduce the total cost of management with WorkSpace On-Demand. In addition to all of the feature and functionality found in today's OS/2 Warp Server, the new release will offer customers out-of-box support for Year 2000 and Eurocurrency -- two critical issues businesses are facing today. It will also include a high-performance Journaling File System offering faster performance, improved scalability, and enhanced Web serving capabilities. General availability is planned for early 1999.
The plans for the new release of WorkSpace On-Demand include support of a broader set of hardware using standard IP Protocols allowing customers to continue to build upon their existing hardware investments. IBM also plans to provide additional pre-configured machine classes for hardware that has broad appeal to today's customers. One example of the extended pre-configured machine class support, will be WorkSpace On-Demand's support for select IBM Network Stations. Additional planned enhancements will focus on continued ease-of-use for administrators by enhancing WorkSpace On-Demand's application installation and machine class creation tools. This release will also include Java 1.1.6 with support for additional releases as they become available. General availability is planned for the fourth quarter of 1998.
IBM Software
IBM creates, develops and manufactures some of the industry's most advanced information technologies, including computer systems, software, networking systems, storage devices and microelectronics. IBM offers information about the company and its products through the World Wide Web. The fastest, easiest way to get information about IBM software is through the IBM software home page at http://www.software.ibm.com/.
*IBM and OS/2 Warp are registered trademarks of International Business Machines
Corporation.
**Windows 95 and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
Please be advised that Java 1.1.6 for OS/2 Warp Pre-Release is now available at the following URL: http://service5.boulder.ibm.com/pcpd.nsf
For more information, contact:
Nicky Hartless
512/838-4549
TL 678-4549
IBM Corp.
11400 Burnet Road
Austin, Texas 78758
Java 1.1.6 adds significant performance, security, reliability, and scalability enhancements. IBM's early preview of Java 1.1.6 for OS/2 Warp is in keeping with the company's commitment to providing the latest Java technologies to its customers as quickly as possible. (IBM has released this preview in the same month that JavaSoft has released the Java 1.1.6 reference version.)
Please continue to monitor IBM's Software Choice web site at http://www.software.ibm.com/swchoice for information on the formal release of the production version of Java 1.1.6 for OS/2 Warp.
Both the preview and production releases of Java 1.1.6 for OS/2 Warp are designed to work with the latest currently available version of Netscape Navigator for OS/2 Warp, also available for download from the IBM Software Choice site.
For the latest Java news from IBM, including information on VisualAge Java for OS/2 Warp and other platforms, please be sure to visit http://www.ibm.com/java