This stoyr a day old - but the WSJ angle. Note the last para:
Xerox's services unit, Xerox Connect, and Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) will be the primary sellers of the Exchange and Document Centre product.
May 19, 1999
-------
DJ Microsoft, Xerox Pact Promotes Paperless Office
By MARIA V. GEORGIANIS
Dow Jones Newswires
(This repeats an item published in part late Tuesday)
NEW YORK -- Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) and Xerox Corp.'s (XRX) technology alliance will take corporations one step further toward the "paperless" office, the companies said Tuesday during a press conference.
Xerox earlier said it will license Microsoft's Windows NT Embedded 4.0 operating system for use in Xerox Document Centre devices, which scan, fax, print and copy documents.
Xerox's Document Centre will also be integrated with Microsoft Exchange Server software to allow scanned documents to be shared over a computer network. The product is expected to be available during the third quarter.
For Microsoft, the agreement is part of the company's continuing push to broaden the distribution of its Windows operating system and other software beyond the PC market.
Microsoft President Steve Ballmer said the company wants to provide the operating systems and other software for "information handling devices." Ballmer said Microsoft's Windows NT Embedded software provides a platform for devices such as copiers and printers.
The market for operating systems built into, or "embedded in," devices is a significantly larger opportunity for Microsoft's Windows operating system than desktop and server computers, analysts say. Upwards of 250 million embedded operating software systems shipped last year, according to International Data Corp. This compares with shipments of 5 million server operating systems and about 85 million client operating systems.
Microsoft has been pitching Windows NT Embedded for devices such as point-of-sale systems, avionics systems, and network routers and switches, Ballmer said.
The idea of the paperless office has been around since at least the 1970s as a vision of scientists at Xerox's Palo Alto (Calif.) Research Center, or PARC. More than 25 years later, businesses still largely rely on paper documents.
Managing documents is a key focus for Xerox, which has been emphasizing services around its copiers and other devices. For example, company is building smarts into its Document Centre systems such as networking and Internet software, and Web server functions, according to analysts.
Xerox's Document Centre is the company's flagship product and has driven most of its growth in digital product revenue, according to analysts.
The Xerox and Microsoft partnership is not exclusive. Xerox's Document Centre systems have also used messaging software from International Business Machines Corp's. (IBM) Lotus Development software unit.
Microsoft and Xerox are hoping that software developers will create applications that take advantage of Windows NT Embedded and the Xerox Document Centre.
Xerox's services unit, Xerox Connect, and Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) will be the primary sellers of the Exchange and Document Centre product.
In a separate agreement, Microsoft licensed Xerox PARC's WebForage Internet technology.
By Maria V. Georgianis; (201) 938-5244; maria.georgianis@dowjones.com
|
