MENLO PARK, Calif. August 10, 1993 -- Cisco Systems, Inc., has announced it will no longer seek from IBM the patent rights necessary to implement Advanced Peer-to-Peer Internetworking (APPI), the open-systems alternative it proposed a year ago to IBM's Advanced Peer-to-Peer Networking (APPN). Cisco will propose that the multivendor APPI Forum decide to either halt development of the APPI architecture or further pursue the opening of APPN.
Cisco will address its customers' requirements for SNA peer-to-peer networking through a newly-signed agreement to license APPN technology from IBM (see accompanying release). The company will also continue to pursue approaches that combine SNA and TCP/IP technologies -- e.g., switching APPN through IP backbones -- and to offer a variety of solutions based on such open-standards architectures as TCP/IP, OSI and ATM.
"In the past year Cisco and other vendors have realized significant gains for the industry and the user community with the APPI initiative," said Michael Zadikian, Cisco SNA product manager. "IBM has published the APPN specifications, licensed the related patents, and set up the APPN Implementors' Workshop [AIW] as a means for sharing APPN developments with users and other vendors.
"At the same time it became increasingly clear that we would not be able to bring a viable APPI product to market because of the patent restrictions on APPN," he added. "These patents still restrict the evolution of the specifications, keeping the APPN architecture proprietary and requiring that all enhancements be approved by IBM through the AIW."
In bringing APPN solutions to its customers, Cisco will work with IBM within the structure of AIW, a valuable source of up-to-date technical information about APPN and IBM's plans. Cisco will actively participate in AIW activities and encourage the group's evolution into a true multivendor decision-making body.
APPI was conceived as an open SNA networking solution that combines the sophisticated internetworking features of TCP/IP networks (dynamic adaptive routing, high performance and support for multiple media and protocols) with SNA peer-to-peer communications. The APPI Forum, formed in October 1992 to promote APPI development and standardization, will next convene at a members-only meeting during Interop Fall.
Cisco Systems, Inc., is the leading worldwide supplier of high-performance, multimedia and multiprotocol internetworking products, including routers, bridges, communication servers and router management software. Cisco technology is used to build enterprise-wide networks linking an unlimited number of geographically dispersed LANs, WANs, and IBM SNA networks. In the United States, Cisco is traded over the counter under the NASDAQ symbol CSCO.
