HANOVER, GERMANY (02/24/2000) - Software AG today said it signed a deal with Microsoft Corp. to provide software that links mainframe applications to Microsoft's upcoming Host Integration Server 2000.
At a press conference today here, company officials said the global agreement will allow users of Microsoft's new operating system, Windows 2000, to access IBM Corp.'s CICS-based mainframe applications. CICS (Customer Information Control System) is a transaction monitor that manages high-volume transactions conducted on a mainframe computer.
"If you consider the size of the CICS installed base, and the importance of the Windows platform, you can understand the importance of this deal," said Erwin Koenigs, chairman of Software AG, at a press conference here today.
Details of the deal were sketchy, and Software AG executives said more details would be released shortly.
The partnership also includes support for Software AG's Natural programming language and its Adabas applications, Software AG said in a statement.
A development team will work both from Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, as well as in San Francisco, where Software AG has its U.S. headquarters, Koenigs said.
Microsoft's Host Integration Server 2000, expected to be launched in the second half of this year, is designed to let network administrators running Windows operating systems and server applications interact with various mainframe, minicomputer, and Unix interfaces and data.
Microsoft, in Redmond, Washington, can be reached at +1-425-882-8080 or at http://www.microsoft.com/.
(Alda Campos, a contributing editor for ComputerWorld Brazil, contributed to this article.)