AT&T Expands Unix Trademark Licensing Program

NEW YORK, Oct. 31, 1988 -- PRNewswire -- AT&T today announced a major expansion of its UNIX trademark licensing program to cover UNIX(R) System V products for all types of computers.

The new program was unveiled at the UNIX Expo trade show here.

Under the new plan, vendors who base their products on AT&T's UNIX System V Release 3.2 and who meet AT&T's trademark license requirements will be able to use the trademark UNIX in the names of their products.

The program is an expansion of a program AT&T announced in August 1988. That trademark program applied to products based on UNIX System V/386 Release 3.2 for machines that use the INTEL 80386 microprocessor.

"From now on, customers will be able to see 'UNIX System V' on products from a variety of different vendors," said Mike DeFazio, director of systems software at AT&T data systems group. "Customers will be sure they are getting consistent, high quality products.

"Trademarked products will benefit customers and systems vendors by providing binary compatibility within an architecture," DeFazio said. That means that customers will be able to move their current software applications from one machine to another within a vendor's architecture as easily as they move programs from one PC to another today.

The trademark program will benefit independent software vendors, too, DeFazio said. "For independent software vendors, the trademark UNIX means compatibility across different computer architectures. Software developers will be able to assure customers that their applications programs will behave in a uniform and consistent way on any computer running a trademarked UNIX operating system," DeFazio said.

AT&T said it expanded the trademark licensing program to cover all computer architectures in response to requests from current UNIX System V vendors.

"Our licensees want to use the trademark UNIX because it stands for commitment to quality, to industry standards, and to the protection of customer investments in applications software and training," DeFazio said.

Jan Lindelow, senior vice president-corporate marketing and services at the Unisys Corporation, welcomed the expanded trademark program.

"We are very pleased that AT&T has agreed to licensing changes its customers have requested. A new, more responsive AT&T is emerging. This is good for the whole industry. Unisys will be offering our customers a wide range of trademarked UNIX System V products as part of our product line," Lindelow said.

Tom Beaver, vice president and general manager of the Motorola Microcomputer Division, said, "The UNIX System V trademark is an integral part of both our 68000- and 88000-based microcomputer product plans. Our customers will recognize and appreciate the assurance of quality the UNIX trademark program will provide."

"Customers who buy a trademarked UNIX System V operating system will know they're getting a stable, industry standard product," said Hugh J. Lynch, vice president, general purpose systems development and production division of NCR Corporation. "NCR will offer trademarked UNIX products."

"SCO XENIX System V has become the most popular operating system based on AT&T's UNIX System V sold worldwide today because it has met the standards of the marketplace," said Doug Michels, vice president of The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. "SCO welcomes AT&T's new UNIX trademark license because the 'SCO UNIX System V' name will tell it like it is: SCO's version of UNIX System V."

Under the terms and conditions of the trademark program, products bearing the trademark UNIX must meet AT&T requirements for quality, functionality, packaging, labeling, naming and applications portability.

In conjunction with the trademark program, AT&T also announced that it would support X/OPEN's recently announced branding program. The program provides a way for computer and software vendors to assure users that their products comply with X/OPEN standards.

Vendors who wish to take advantage of the trademark licensing program can call 1-800-828-UNIX for more information.

CONTACT: Dick Muldoon, 201-221-2694, or home: 201-277-6114, or John Skalko, 201-221-2888, or home: 201-729-8202, both of AT&T, both also at UNIX Expo Booth 101/ JS -- NY054 -- 0028 10-31-88 11:31 EST