AT&T to Enhance Unix Operating System

New York -- September 19, 1990 -- (Wall Street Journal) -- American Telephone & Telegraph Co. announced plans to add features to its Unix operating system that will increase its security and let it work on computers using more than one central processor.

The data-protection features will be available in the first half of next year. Some multiprocessing capabilities will be provided in the first half; more advanced features will become available in 1992.

These capabilities had already been promised, as a group led by AT&T vied for control of the Unix standard with the Open Software Foundation, led by International Business Machines Corp. and Digital Equipment Corp. But the announcement of a timetable for their availability is still important because so many companies are betting their futures on Unix. They hope to appeal to customers who don't want to be tied in to one hardware supplier by their reliance on software that runs only on that company's proprietary operating system. And Unix requires features such as improved security if it is to rival those other operating systems.

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