Despite its flirtation with IBM Corp over CICS and DB2 for Unix (CI No 2,667), Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG remains committed to its Universal Transaction Monitor and has come out with a new version that is identical for Unix, BS2000/OSD and Windows operating systems. Siemens Nixdorf senior director for middleware products Joachim Feldmann says the openUTM breaks new ground and is a new direction for the company and complements its existing product line. This is because openUTM includes the X/Open interfaces XATMI and CPI-C, which enable heterogenous applications to be interlinked between different makes of computer with different transaction monitors, Feldmann said. The OpenUTM interface can handle distributed transactions using Informix, Sybase and Oracle databases. In addition, transaction-protected processing with openUTM is possible on computers from Siemens Nixdorf, IBM Corp, Compagnie des Machines Bull SA, Hewlett-Packard Co and Sun Microsystems Inc. It will soon be made available for ICL Plc’s computers as well. Siemens Nixdorf also wants to introduce the product into the US market with the help of its recent acquisition of Pyramid Technology Corp. In the client-server architecture the openUTM enables networks to be expanded into large configurations, says Feldman. The goal is to enhance interoperability with competitors’ transaction monitors.
