ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 10, 1996 TAG: 9604100047
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SEATTLE
SOURCE: Associated Press
MCI Communications Corp., Digital Equipment Corp. and Microsoft Corp. said Tuesday they would jointly market products for companies that want to apply World Wide Web technology to their internal data systems.
The companies are building on their existing marketing relationships in hopes of playing a big role in an area of system and program design that has become very important.
IBM, AT&T Corp. and Netscape Communications Corp. have formed a similar alliance.
They are part of a growing field of dozens of companies now providing software design tools, network connections and other products for so-called ``intranets,'' which let companies use Web pages and links for internal information rather than the global public Internet.
In the newest alliance, MCI is handling design and marketing through its recently formed Enterprise Network Solutions. Digital is providing Alpha server systems and Microsoft the software, including Windows NT, BackOffice, Exchange Server and Internet Information Server.
General rollout is tentatively set for late June or early July as the alliance moves to ``capture market share and turf before anybody else gets their act together,'' said Bert C. Roberts Jr., chief executive of MCI.
The first round of customers probably will be businesses with at least $50,000 to $100,000 in annual telecommunication costs, but within two years intranet sales ``could be driven into the consumer marketplace,'' Roberts said.
Microsoft, based in Redmond, Wash., already is in other partnerships with both of the companies.
In January, MCI and Microsoft agreed to market each other's products, including Microsoft Network. In August, Microsoft and Digital made a deal for Digital to install networks using computers with Windows NT, and last week that arrangement was extended to Microsoft Exchange Server for message handling.
In most companies, the addition of Internet technology to existing data networks will be slow, the executives said. Changes will be ``handled plant by plant, office by office, until it's finally all integrated,'' Roberts said.
LENGTH: Short : 49 linesby CNB