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HP tools unify Unix, NT efforts

The company seeks to simplify the process of building applications in companies supporting both Unix and Windows NT-based systems.

Mike Ricciuti Staff writer, CNET News
Mike Ricciuti joined CNET in 1996. He is now CNET News' Boston-based executive editor and east coast bureau chief, serving as department editor for business technology and software covered by CNET News, Reviews, and Download.com. E-mail Mike.
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Mike Ricciuti
Hewlett-Packard is attempting to simplify the process of building corporate applications in the growing number of companies that support both Unix and Windows NT-based systems.

The company today announced HP Domain Foundation Tools, a set of tools for building C, C++, and Java applications. It also debuted FoundationWare, a set of APIs (application programming interfaces) and technologies, for building applications on Windows NT and deploying those applications on Unix.

HP has partnered with Iona Technologies and Netscape Communications to supply technology for the new tools.

Iona will supply object request broker technology that HP will bundle with FoundationWare to provide a cross-platform framework for deploying component-based Internet applications. HP will use Netscape's Directory Server in FoundationWare to link cross-platform applications through a common LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol)-based directory service.

The tools scheme is also intended to make HP's Unix-based system an attractive option for companies building e-commerce and other Net-based systems.

HP will ship FoundationWare free of charge with its HP-UX operating system. Foundation Tools are priced from $95.