At the InterOp show this week, Sun Microsystems Inc’s SunConnect is expected to unveil three new high-speed communications products for the international set. They include SunLink ISDN, SunLink Frame Relay and SunLink PPP Point-to-Point Protocol and enable applications traditionally bound to local networks, such as client-server databases, multimedia, X Window systems and Network File System applications to run faster and more economically over global networks. Used in conjunction with SunNet Manager, Frame Relay and SunLink Point-to-Point Protocol enable management of high-speed wide-area connections. The new products are part of a major SunConnect initiative to address the growing demand for tightly interconnected local networks and wide area networks. Frame Relay and SunLink PPP, an alternative to dedicated routers, will be unbundled and made available for $1,150 each starting next month. SunLink ISDN is for users working at home or at remote sites accessing corporate computing resources over ISDN phone networks and transmitting images and graphics at high speeds. Beginning in the first half of 1993, SunLink ISDN, certified in France, Germany, the UK, Japan and the US, will be offered free to all Sparcstation 10 users. It will also be available to OEM customers for the Sparc. The new products have expanded SunConnect’s Partners Programme to include British Telecommunications Plc and Telecom Finland, which are particularly interested in SunLink ISDN, as well as distributors like Access Graphics Inc and developers like Oracle Corp and Networx Inc. They expect to attract other PTTs and the Baby Bells.
