Banyan Systems Inc.’s recent alliance with Microsoft Corp. signifies a big leap for Banyan away from its traditional network operating system business, according to industry observers.
And one analyst said he doesn’t blame Banyan one bit for making the deal.
“I think they’ve been hurting for a while financially, they’ve been searching for opportunities,” said Mark Levitt, analyst at Framingham, Mass.-based International Data Corp. “To recommend they keep fighting a losing battle at this point doesn’t really make sense.”
The official purpose of the alliance is to enhance interoperability of the two companies’ products and to provide a clear migration path from Banyan to Microsoft products.
The alliance will focus on the following areas: integrated messaging infrastructure, including interoperability and migration between Banyan BeyondMail and Microsoft Exchange; enterprise internetworking and directory services, including interoperability and migration between Banyan’s Vines/StreetTalk and Microsoft’s Windows NT Server/Active Directory; and Internet infrastructure and Web application solutions.
“The alliance is also intended to focus on helping Banyan rapidly expand its services organization to assist customers implementing these solutions,” added
Ian Rogoff, general manager of enterprise partnerships at Microsoft.