Honeywell Bull Endorses Open Software Foundation

MINNEAPOLIS, May 17, 1988 -- PRNewswire -- Honeywell Bull, the global information systems company owned by Groupe Bull, Honeywell Inc. and NEC Corp., announced today that it endorses the Open Software Foundation (OSF) and with Groupe Bull will participate in the foundation's efforts to create an open software environment.

"OSF is positive news for our customers," said Jerome J. Meyer, Honeywell Bull president and chief executive officer. "We believe the foundation will be an effective vehicle to give customers the standards they demand -- the ability to run a wide range of software, no matter what the size or source of the hardware."

Honeywell Bull's association with OSF adds another dimension to the company's UNIX(a) strategy, according to Meyer.

Honeywell Bull and Groupe Bull announced in November 1987 that they would unify their UNIX products around a common product line based on the UNIX operating system. The new line will be compatible with each company's current UNIX-based products and will complement systems the the two firms offer that are currently based on the GCOS operating system.

Meyer said the two companies will determine how to use the software developed by OSF as soon as additional product specifications and information from the foundation are available.

"Honeywell Bull is a proponent of computer standards on all fronts," said Meyer. The company, in partnership with Groupe Bull, was the architect for the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) model for computer networking that has gained wide acceptance as an international standard. Honeywell Bull also is a founding member of the Corporation for Open Systems (COS).

Honeywell Bull is global informations systems company with strengths in complex networking, data management and transaction processing and specialties in systems analysis, design and integration. The company was formed in March 1987 by Groupe Bull of France, Honeywell Inc. of the United States and NEC Corp. of Japan. The Minneapolis-based company has 19,700 employees worldwide and posted 1987 revenues of $2.06 billion.

(a) UNIX is a trademark of AT&T.

/CONTACT: Shelly Potter of Honeywell Bull Inc., 612-896-3855/