New Products

Quantum Announces Major Update for QNX

Quantum Software Systems, Ltd. has announced a major update for QNX, its POSIX-compliant, real-time, distributed operating system for Intel-based PCs. QNX 4.1 features greater functionality, Ethernet support, network fault-tolerance, enhanced disk I/O, and improved real-time performance.

QNX 4.1 includes a dedicated Pipe Manager that can implement high-speed pipes without the presence of a filesystem. In addition, QNX 4.1 comes standard with a network-distributed make utility and the VEDIT Programmer's Editor. The new release introduces FLEET networking technology (Fault-tolerant, Load-balancing, Efficient, Extensible, and Transparent). The Network Manager supports multiple networks (both Arcnet and Ethernet) simultaneously, and will automatically reroute data from one network to another in the event of hardware failure. The Network Manager will also dynamically load balance data transmission. QNX 4.1 is based on a microkernel architecture -- the microkernel occupies only 7Kb of memory, and uses message passing for interprocess communication.

Contact Quantum Software Systems Ltd., 175 Terrence Matthews Crescent, Kanata, Ontario, Canada K2M 1W8, (613) 591-0931; FAX: (613) 591-3579.

UNIX International Finalizes System Management Requirements and Notes Desktop UNIX SVR4.2

UNIX International (UI) noted UNIX System Laboratories' launch of UNIX System V Release 4.2 (SVR4.2) and "celebrated the release of technology which fulfills UI's requirements for a standardized UNIX System V desktop implementation." The requirements for SVR4.2 were provided to USL and the industry in May 1991, and resulted from the efforts of UI's Desktop Work Group -- including Apple, AT&T, Fuji Xerox, ICL, Intel, Interactive, Motorola, NCR, SCO, SPARC International, Unisoft, and USL. UI has designated 1992 as the "Year of the Desktop" and plans to promote desktop implementations of UNIX System V through programs for end users and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs).

UI has finalized its system and network management requirements (which allow users to manage heterogeneous distributed networks as a simple unified system), and announced that its approach will be compatible and interoperable with the Open Software Foundation's (OSF) Distributed Management Environment. UI plans to provide early access through USL to an object-oriented framework for distributed system and network management. The framework, outlined in UI's 1992 Roadmap for System V and Related Technologies, and integrated by USL, is expected to be generally available in early 1993. The requirements call for an object-oriented framework that supports applications including network management, printer service and management, backup, archive and restore, and user and group management; and, eventually, storage device management, software installation and distribution, system initialization and shutdown, and license management.

For additional information, contact UNIX International, Waterview Corporate Center, 20 Waterview Boulevard, Parsippany, NJ 07054, (201) 263-8400 or (800) 848-6495; FAX: (201) 263-8401.

Companies Commit Early Support for Univel's UNIXWare

Several companies, including Cadre, Syntactics, DMS Systems, and Systems Strategies, have committed their support to Univel's UNIXWare and Univel's Early Access Program. UNIXWare is Univel's product family of UNIX operating systems for Intel-based desktop and server systems. The Early Access Program is designed to produce applications software that will be available with first planned shipments of Univel's UNIXWare in late 1992.

Cadre Technologies, Inc. endorsed Univel's UNIXWare and is participating in the Early Access Program to bring their Teamwork family of software development automation tools to a new market. Syntactics is participating, porting Crystal DMS, CrystalLaser, CrystalWrite Plus, and Edge Office. DMS Systems, Inc. announced that its Disk Backup & Recovery System (DBR) will support Univel's UNIXWare. Systems Strategies, Inc. will provide its EXPRESS family of products for data access and file transfers between UNIXWare systems and IBM host systems, including mainframes and AS/400s.

Univel, founded in December of 1991, is a partnership between Novell, Inc. and UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. The company's charter is to grow the UNIX system and network computing market by providing open system software solutions for distributed enterprise-wide computing. Univel's UNIXWare family of products will integrate a graphics-based UNIX operating system (USL's UNIX SVR4.2) with Novell's NetWare. Univel is located at 2180 Fortune Drive, San Jose, CA 95131, (408) 473-8788; FAX: (408) 473-8774.

Maxa Introduces UNIX Diagnostics and Monitor

Maxa Corporation has introduced REVEAL, a UNIX diagnostic and system monitor for network system resources and active processes. The monitor maintains three dynamic information screens: the main screen, the process screen, and the tunables screen. The main screen provides information about memory usage, disk activity, and terminal I/O. The process screen displays information about active processes and their resource use. The tunables screen shows critical system files and parameters that can be adjusted to tune a system to a particular profile of activity. REVEAL documentation includes a troubleshooting section dealing with typical system problems such as heavy swapping, intensive CPU use, or heavy data base searches. REVEAL can be customized, and includes settings for disk and terminal I/O transfer rates, as well as reporting intervals.

The PC version of REVEAL is priced at $399, while a RISC 6000 version is expected to be priced at $999. For information, contact Maxa Corporation, 116 Maryland Avenue, Suite 100, Glendale, CA 91206, (818) 543-1300; FAX: (818) 543-0104.

Raxco Announces Backup & Recovery Software

Raxco has released BART, its Backup & Recovery Software for heterogeneous UNIX networks. BART is menu driven and provides the following features: full network support, reliable file recovery, fast backup capability, multiple-volume backups, and multiple backups per tape. BART can backup both local and remote disks on TCP/IP networks, and provides over 180 configuration options to configure for media, data format, and UNIX variants.

BART generates on-disk indexes and supports fast file positioning for 8mm and 4mm devices. BART can also copy raw disk partitions to tape.

BART is available for a variety of UNIX platforms, including Digital Ultrix, SunOS, HP/UX, AIX on RS/6000s, Intergraph, Solbourne, MIPS, ICL, SCO-UNIX, DG/UX, UTS, Dynix (ptx) and Interactive UNIX. Fees range from $399 to $49,995 depending on configuration. Contact Raxco, 2440 Research Boulevard, Suite 200, Rockville, MD 20850, (301) 258-2620; FAX: (301) 330-5756.

Ontrack Provides Recovery Utilities

Ontrack Computer Systems has announced RecoverEase software, a toolbox of data recovery and protection utilities. RecoverEase provides four programs: Scan, Diagnose-N-Analyze, Disk Look, and File Look. These utilities run under MS-DOS, so may be able to access data in systems too corrupt to boot under UNIX or Xenix. Scan examines filesystems to detect and repair errors in the superblock, inode list, root directories, and data areas. Diagnose-N-Analyze can non-destructively update the low-level format of ST506 (MFM or RLL) and many ESDI drives and can act as a test monitor for both hard disk and controller. Disk Look is a sector editor and File Look is a file editor.

RecoverEase is available for SCO Xenix, SCO UNIX, SCO ODT, and Interactive System V/386 Release 3.x at a price of $395. Contact Ontrack Computer Systems, 6321 Bury Drive, Eden Prairie, MN 55346, (800) 872-2599, or (612) 937-5161; FAX: (612) 937-5750.

DMS Supports ADIC DAT Autochanger

DMS announced a new version of its Disk Backup and Recovery System for UNIX which supports the DAT Autochanger from Advanced Digital Information Corporation (ADIC). Working with the ADIC DAT Autochanger, DBR can support unattended backups of up to 60Gb. Selection of tapes from the cartridge is based on new user options available for both dump and restore operations. During the restore, the DBR on-line index is used to determine which cartridge is needed and the cartridge is mounted without operator intervention. ADIC's DAT Autochanger uses standard SCSI-2 command sets for media changers to allow completely automated data backup and archiving to a removable magazine of 12 DAT cassettes.

System support includes AViiON DG/UX and other systems. For more information contact DMS Systems, Inc., 1111 Brickyard Rd., Salt Lake City, UT 84106, (801) 484-3333; FAX: (801) 484-3367.

SCH Upgrades Qprint

SCH, Inc. announced an upgraded version of Qprint, its replacement for the UNIX print spooler utility. Qprint replaces the UNIX lp command and provides job prioritization and convenient use of multiple forms and printers within a network. Qprint provides control through the printing process, including assignable security levels and interactive queue monitoring. Qprint's new features include quick printing by file name and job title; viewing by printer, user, priority, and paper forms; viewing and changing printer permissions; and easier use of printer chargeback and reporting features. New benefits for administrators include: a tighter set of permissions; text and binary file viewing from within Qprint; and configurable user class codes (for security).

Contact SCH, Three Centennial Plaza, 895 Central Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45202, (513) 579-0455; FAX: (513) 579-1064; Telex: 24-1665(SCHCIN).

Full Source Software Shipping UniShred

Full Source Software Corporation has begun shipping UniShred, a suite of media erasure applications which irrevocably delete one or more files and securely eliminate the data contained in the files. Once deleted, files cannot be retrieved in any form. UniShred conforms to standards, including DOD 5200.28-STD, National Security Agency, National Computer Security Center (NCSC-TG-025 and CSC-STD-005-85), and pending Air Force FSI 5020 guidelines. UniShred replaces the rm utility, providing additional functions. UniShred may be used on disks, tapes, floppies, and all writeable media, as well as across networks. UniShred includes a fail-safe protocol to confirm deletion instructions.

UniShred is priced at $149 per license and is available for UNIX systems including SCO, SUN, HP, and Addamax. Evaluation licenses are available. The programs are available on 1/4" cartridge, 1/2" magnetic tape, 3.5" diskettes, and 8mm tape. Contact Full Source Software Corporation, 346 Costello Court, Los Altos, CA 94024-4707, (800) 999-8649 or (415) 949-4567; FAX: (415) 949-4825; email: fss@btr.com or uunet!btr!fss.

Quick Restore Now Available

Workstation Solutions, Inc., an HP-Apollo Domain/OS system software vendor, has entered the UNIX market with Quick Restore, a network backup and restore program. Quick Restore uses a client-server model plus a device driver that exploits the direct-to-block positioning capability of Exabyte tape drives. Quick Restore accesses both local and remote file systems and tape drives from any point on the network without requiring the presence of NFS. Quick Restore uses online catalogs to maintain backup histories, volume IDs, and positioning information for archived files. Quick Restore uses a backup description file to specify the collection of files for a backup, including wildcard characters for exclusions. Quick Restore provides full backups and 10 levels of incremental backups. When used with an EXB10 Cartridge Tape Handling System, Quick Restore can backup up to 250Gb without operator intervention. Quick Restore runs from cron, is compatible with the tar utility, and provides optional compression.

Quick Restore is available for HP 9000/700 Series, Sun SPARC Systems, and IBM RS/6000s, and is priced at $1995. Contact Workstation Solutions, Inc. , 15 Trafalgar Square, Nashua, NH 03063, (603) 880-0080; FAX: (603) 880-0696.

Arnet Provides FAX Package

Arnet Corporation has developed ArnetFAX, a UNIX FAX package that allows multiple users to send faxes concurrently to a Group 3 fax machine directly from a user's terminal. ArnetFAX supports Xenix and most varieties of UNIX for 386- and 486-based systems using the ISA architecture. ArnetFAX transfers faxes with any Group 3 facsimile machine at 9600Kbps. Output is transmitted directly from word processing or other applications using either ASCII, TIFF, PCL Level 4, or international ISO character text files. The circuit board features dual fax/model lines and a single parallel port for printing. ArnetFAX can generate personalized cover sheets, complete with company logos. The package spools all fax requests and sends them in the background. Faxes can be sent on demand, immediately or by using the delayed scheduler. The software supports multipoint broadcast and maintains a directory by user of frequently dialed faxes.

Retail price is $1295. Contact Arnet Corporation, 618 Grassmere Park Drive, #6, Nashville, TN 37211, (615) 834-8000; FAX: (615) 834-5399.

Vogon Announces PARPAK Backup and Interchange Packages

Vogon Enterprises Limited, a European supplier of software for tape equipment, has announced PARPAK, a family of industry standard 1/4" data cartridge backup and interchange packages. PARPAK attaches via the parallel port of a PC, supporting MS-DOS, DR-DOS, and multi-user DS-DOS, while reading and writing cartridges using either the SY-TOS or the UNIX tar format. Utilities are menu or command driven. The capacity to read and write UNIX tar cartridges permits data interchange with the many UNIX systems that use standard 1/4" tape cartridges. PARPAK COBRA-250 stores 250Mb on a DC6250 cartridge and PARPAK COBRA-525 can store up to 525Mb on a DC6525 cartridge. PARPAK joins Vogon's other products, QICPAK (1/4" cartridge interchange) and SCSIPAK (which supports 1/4", 1/2", DAT, EXABYTE, DEC TKxx drives, 3480). For details contact Vogon Enterprises Limited, 94 Easthampstead Road, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG11 2JD, UK, Tel: 44+ (0)734-890042; FAX: 44+ (0)734-890040.

Alida Releases GT Backup

Alida, Inc. has released GT Backup, a network-based backup, restore, and tape management system for UNIX networks. GT Backup is a portion of Alida's larger administrative tool, GURUtape. GT Backup performs both multiple backup jobs and writes to multiple tape drives, simultaneously and without the use of permanent .rhost and export permissions. Features include full-screen character-based user interface and standard UNIX tape formats. Should a portion of an automatic backup fail, it can be attempted again as part of another run. GT Backup allows any computer to backup any device on the network.

Prior to execution, GT Backup's master/daemon mechanism encrypts and verifies the source and permissions for each command passed. Every menu can be restricted to allow only specific individuals access to selected operations. GT Backup is priced at $395. Contact Alida, Inc., 27 McDermott Place, Bergenfield, NJ 07621, (800) 883-4878 or (201) 384-0080; FAX: (201) 384-3382; email: uunet!alida!sales.