Unisys Reaffirms Its Commitment To Unix System V, Release 4.0

Blumenthal Continues to Urge Industry to Unite Behind A Truly Open Application Environment

BLUE BELL, Pa., Oct. 18, 1988 -- PRNewswire -- W. Michael Blumenthal, chief executive officer of the Unisys Corp. (NYSE: UIS), today announced that Unisys is continuing with its plans to build products that conform to Release 4.0 of UNIX System V.

He said Unisys is also acting in conjunction with other major suppliers to protect the UNIX System community and is proceeding with those suppliers toward the formation of an industry organization that would drive UNIX System development and ensure that suppliers, developers and users would participate fully in the evolution of open systems.

Substantially all current UNIX System customers use versions of the operating system that can migrate easily to Release 4.0.

The Unisys reaffirmation of UNIX System V, Release 4.0 came as the companies continued discussions with the Open Software Foundation (OSF) over the issue of the continuation of technology from UNIX System V, Release 4.0 that would be used in future product from OSF. "We felt compelled to act emphatically with other UNIX System suppliers to protect our users," said Jan Lindelow, senior vice president, Marketing and Services. "As it currently appears, OSF's announced direction would fail to protect substantial industry investments in System V technology.

"Release 4.0 is a technically excellent and progressive system," said Lindelow. "It merges the major variants of the UNIX System into a single operating system based on industry standards. Release 4.0 protects the investment that hundreds of thousands of users have made in open systems; in effect, it opens the UNIX System in new and exciting ways."

Blumenthal, who has been vocal about the need for a single UNIX System as the basis for open systems, reiterated the need for industry to come together behind a single standard. Emphasizing that today's action does not close the door to OSF, he noted that, from a technical point of view, it is feasible to offer customers all the benefits of the different versions of the UNIX System in ways that protect their investments. He urged all suppliers to move toward a neutral development environment that would best meet customer needs.

"This action in no way precludes the coming together of OSF and the System V group to form a single standard. We will continue to encourage dialogue with OSF," Blumenthal said. "It is clear that AT&T and OSF have identified many mutual interests and principles. We hope that before long the entire industry will be united behind the cause of openess."

UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T (NYSE: T).

/CONTACT: Charlotte J. LeGates of Unisys, 215-542-4213/