Gates and Wang work together

Computer Associates' CEO Charles Wang and Microsoft's Bill Gates announce a partnership involving Windows NT and Web-based management standards in corporate environments.

CNET News staff

See full bio

CNET News staff

Aug. 28, 1996 9:30 a.m. PT

2 min read

Many industry observers say that Microsoft Windows NT operating system is not ready to handle mission-critical applications in large corporate environments. Computer Associates is working to dispel that notion.

At CA World in New Orleans yesterday, company CEO Charles Wang and his counterpart at Microsoft, Bill Gates, announced a partnership involving Internet Explorer 3.0, Web-based management standards, Microsoft "Wolfpack" clustering extensions and CA-Unicenter TNG.

CA plans to use Internet Explorer 3.0 and ActiveX object-based technology as the standard method to access Unicenter, a network and systems management package, over the Web. CA is also embracing Microsoft's "Wolfpack" initiative, the code name for a set of clustering extensions to Windows NT that offer PC-based networks high availability and scalability options to roll out in early 1997.

"There is a natural synergy between CA and Microsoft," proclaimed Charles Wang, chairman and CEO of CA at a press conference.

CA and Microsoft also affirmed their support for the Web-based Management initiative that will result in the definition of a HyperMedia Management Schema (HMMS) and a HyperMedia Management Protocol (HMMP). Numerous vendors are supporting the initiative across the industry. CA will use the protocols in Unicenter and Microsoft will adopt the specification for Systems Management Server (SMS).

Corporate network administrators know CA, and they are embracing NT by the boatload. The combination is yet another indication that Microsoft executives want to make NT a true enterprise-class operating system similar to the various flavors of Unix on the market.

"CA is obviously getting more intimate with Microsoft," observed Paul Mason, an analyst with International Data Corporation, a Framingham, Massachusetts-based consultancy. "It's all part of what has to be done to make NT prime time."

CA will distribute Internet Explorer 3.0 in an upcoming developer's kit.

CA's Wolfpack announcement follows Monday's embrace of Tandem's ServerNet clustering technology, a technology Microsoft has already said will be supported in Wolfpack clustering extensions.