Sunsoft Inc has launched Version 3 of its Network File System protocol, a key component of SunSoft’s ONC Open Network Computing schema. The long-awaited new release of Sun Microsystems Inc’s file transfer protocol is claimed to improve significantly the performance, reliability and scalability of ONC+ in enterprise network environments, providing enhanced security and support for high bandwidth networks and multi-Gigabyte files. Additional capabilities include local disk cacheing, a new automatic mounting facility and support for sharing files over wide-area network protocols such as TCP/IP. Several manufacturers have already said they will use the technology, including Cray Research Inc, Digital Equipment Corp, IBM Corp, HaL Computer Systems Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co, and Sun Microsystems Inc. DEC, HaL and IBM are said to have successfully tested their Network File System Version 3 implementations for interoperability at the Connectathon 93 Testing Event in San Jose last week. The NFS Version 3 specification is available immediately free via the Internet Server and implementations will be generally available in 1994.
