SPECIFICATION RELEASED FOR TCP/IP APPLICATIONS RUNNING UNDER MICROSOFT WINDOWS Windows Sockets API Endorsed by 20 Leading Vendors SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- June 10, 1992 -- On behalf of the Windows Sockets Committee, FTP Software, Inc., JSB Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, and SunSelect, a Sun Microsystems, Inc. business, today announced the availability of Windows Sockets API, a public interface specification for TCP/IP applications running under Microsoft Windows. The Windows Sockets API specification defines a standard interface between a Microsoft Windows application and a TCP/IP protocol implementation. An application written to this interface will be able to run unchanged over TCP/IP implementations from many different vendors under Windows and Windows NT. The interface is based on the popular "sockets" paradigm, which facilitates the porting of software from UNIX and other environments. It includes a number of Microsoft Windows-specific extensions that let application writers integrate the networking portions of their applications into the message-driven Microsoft Windows programming model. The specification is intended to be used with all current and future versions of Microsoft Windows, including Microsoft Windows versions 3.0, 3.1 and Windows NT. The Windows Sockets API effort began at a birds-of-a-feather session at the 1991 fall INTEROP conference in San Jose, California. The session, chaired by Martin Hall of JSB Corporation, brought together representatives from major PC networking and network applications development firms. The group met and agreed that a standard interface should be created to which both application developers and network software providers could adhere. Later that year, Microsoft hosted a design preview with vendors and influential users, at which the major outstanding issues were resolved. A working group of representatives from FTP Software, JSB Corp., Microsoft and SunSelect was then established to formalize the agreed-upon architecture specification on behalf of the Windows Sockets Committee. Already, some 20 vendors have endorsed the effort (for complete listing, see attached sheet). "It's no secret that Windows is an important consideration in today's internetworking marketplace. The market for Windows has been growing and Windows has proved to be the means for less technically- sophisticated end users to receive access to leading edge networking technology," said Bruce Campbell, director of product marketing for FTP Software. "Even our development kit customers have requested a sockets DLL." "We are very excited by the overwhelming endorsement Windows Sockets has received," said Martin Hall, technical manager for JSB Corp. "A single specification for running TCP/IP applications under Microsoft Windows will expand the market for TCP/IP applications." "Microsoft is delighted to see the cooperation of so many vendors in this element of the open Windows environment," said Jim Allchin, vice president of Advanced Systems at Microsoft. "Standard network APIs are the key for application developers as well as transport providers. We expect broad support of Windows Sockets which will result in Windows being an even stronger platform for distributed applications." "The key to the success of open networking is transport independence," said Carl S. Ledbetter, vice president of Sun Microsystems, Inc. and general manager of SunSelect. "As long as each vendor has a proprietary interface, ISVs have to spend valuable time and resources porting multiple environments, which is inefficient and wasteful. SunSelect has enthusiastically supported this work." Availability The Windows Sockets API specification is available in a number of forms. Internet users can receive it via FTP from several archive sites, including vax.ftp.com. and ftp.uu.net in the /vendor/microsoft directory. Microsoft will make the Windows Sockets specification available in its forthcoming development kits including the preliminary Win32 SDK for Windows NT and on these electronic bulletin boards: CompuServe, in the Microsoft Software Libraries - "go msl" - and in Microsoft Online in the Software Libraries. The authors of the specification also will make available limited copies of the printed specification; the contacts listed above can provide additional information. Future Plans Arrangements are now being made for a meeting of key vendors and ISVs in October 1992, at which time experiences with implementation of the Windows Sockets API will be shared and possible revisions discussed. It is also intended that at a suitable time the specification will be published under the auspices of a standards body. More details will be released at a future date. Spider Systems & Microsoft have committed to making available their jointly developed Windows Sockets validation suite. This will help vendors prove interoperability at an earlier stage in their development of Windows Sockets compliant transports. About FTP Software FTP Software, Inc. develops and markets TCP/IP networking products for IBM PCs and compatibles as well as a software-based network analyzer. TCP/IP is the industry standard protocol suite for communicating between disparate computer types. Considered one of the pioneering developers of TCP/IP technology for PCs, FTP Software became an industry leader with its introduction of PC/TCP for DOS in April 1986. Incorporated in January of 1986, FTP Software's headquarters are located at 26 Princess Street, Wakefield, MA 01880. The company can be reached at (617) 246-0900. About JSB JSB Computer Systems Ltd. develops user interface and integration software for UNIX systems. JSB were pioneers in delivering a windows based environment on character based terminals, with their initial JSB MultiView product. The JSB MultiView Family has been extended to Microsoft Windows to provide seamless integration of PCs and UNIX systems. JSB's headquarters are located at Cheshire House, Castle Street, Macclesfield, Cheshire, England+44-(0)- 625-433618 and its US subsidiary, JSB Corporation is based at 108 Whispering Pines Drive, Suite 115, Scotts Valley, CA 95066, (408) 438-8300. About Microsoft Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ "MSFT") has become the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day. About SunSelect SunSelect was formed in April 1992 to develop and market products that integrate personal computing resources into open, client-server environments. A business of Sun Microsystems, Inc., SunSelect is headquartered in Billerica, MA and can be reached at (508) 671-0010. -------------------------------------------------------- Vendors Endorsing Windows Sockets API Specification 3Com Corporation Donna Stein 5400 Bayfront Plaza, PO Box 58145 Santa Clara, CA 95052 Tel: 408-764-5960 Fax: 408-764-5032 Stein@3Mail.3Com.COM AGE Logic Inc. Craig Schmidt Tel: 619-455-8600, x150 age!miami!rice@ucsd.edu Beame & Whiteside Software Ltd. Carl Beame PO Box 8130 Dundas, Ontario Canada L9H 5E7 Tel: 416-765-0822 Fax: 416-765-0815 beame@ns.bws.com Digital Equipment Corp. Stephanie Parish 146 Main St. Maynard, MA 01754 Tel: 603-881-0341 parish@ssgv01.enet.dec.com Distinct Corporation Chris Apap-Bologna PO Box 3410 Saratoga, CA 95070 Tel: 408-741-0781 chris@distinct.com FTP Software, Inc. Bruce Campbell 338 Main Street Wakefield, MA 01880 Tel: 617-246-0900 Fax: 617-246-1512 bruce@ftp.com Frontier Technologies Corp. Ann M. Finkler 10201 N. Port Washington Rd. Mequon, Wisconsin 53092 Tel: 414-241-4555, x209 DRP@Frontiertech.com Hewlett-Packard Melodie Sherwood 3404 E. Harmony Road Fort Collins, CO 80525 Tel: 303-229-6296 m sherwood@cnd.hp.com Hughes LAN Systems K.C. Clawson 1225 Charleston Road Mountain View, CA 94043 Tel: 415-966-7405 kcc@hls.com IBM Corporation William T. Nelson 4205 South Miami Blvd. Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 Tel: 919-254-4099 Fax: 919-254-4027 wtnelson@ralvmm.vnet.ibm.com Ingres, an ASK Computer Systems Company Glynnis Sears PO Box 4026 Alameda, CA 94501 Tel: 510-748-2803 GSEARS@ingres.com JSB Corporation LeeAnne French 108 Whispering Pines Drive, Suite 115 Scotts Valley, CA 95066 Tel: 408-438-8300 Fax: 408-438-8360 Leeanne@JSBUS.com Microsoft Corporation Alistair Banks One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052 Tel: 206-882-8080 Fax: 206-936-7329 Alistair@Microsoft.Com NetManage Inc. Dan Geisler 20823 Stevens Creek Blvd., Suite 100 Cupertino, CA 95014 Tel: 408-257-6404 dan@netmanage.com Network Research Corp. Lee Murach 2380 N. Rose Ave. Oxnard, CA 93030 Tel: 805-485-2700 lee@nrc.com Novell, Inc. Bob Waterman 2180 Fortune Drive San Jose, CA 95131 Tel: 408-434-2300 bob@novell.com SunSelect, Inc. Beth Byer 2 Federal Street Billerica, MA 01821 Tel: 508-671-0271 Fax: 508-671-0262 Beth.Byer@East.Sun.Com The Wollongong Group, Inc. Dick Miller Tel: 415-962-7100 h2j2@twg.com Ungermann-Bass, Inc. Jim Delany Tel: 407-994-6330 Walker, Richer & Quinn, Inc. Evan Kaplan 2815 Eastlake Ave. East Seattle, WA 98102 Tel: 206-324-0350 eli@wrq.com +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | From the America Online New Product Information Services | +===============================================================+ | This information was processed with OmniPage Professional OCR | | software (from Caere Corp) & a Canon IX-30 scanner from data | | provided by the above mentioned company. For additional info, | | contact the company at the address or phone# indicated above. | | All submissions for this service should be addressed to | | BAKER ENTERPRISES, 20 Ferro Drive, Sewell, NJ 08080 U.S.A. | +---------------------------------------------------------------+