Unisys Corp yesterday unveiled its Unisys Architecture set of standards and rules for multi-vendor interoperability. It consists of five sets of interfaces – services for applications and information, information management, distributed systems, systems interconnection, and systems management – and covers proprietary systems from Unisys and other vendors as well as open systems. Within this, Unisys includes three classes of software interfaces and services: open class such as Open Systems Interconnection, SQL, Presentation Manager and so forth; premium class for Unisys added-value, such as its development of transaction processing software using AT&T’s Tuxedo; and complementary class for interoperability with other vendors, such as SNA, Burroughs BNA and Univac DCA support. The schema is networked, rather than system-based, with the mainframe as the information hub of the network, linking up departmental servers and desktop workstations. A key element of the new strategy is compliance with the X/Open Portability Guide and with Posix, which Unisys promises to extend to its mainframes over the next few years.
