page index:

(red) Co-op

supermarket (1), (2), (3),

(4), (5), (6)

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LIZ MORRELL

The Co-op supermarket

chain's future network operating system (NOS) strategy is likely to

put IBM and Microsoft on collision course as the big two fight for

supremacy at the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS) headquarters.

The company

is to roll-out Windows NT Client to 1,200 users at the Manchester HQ

during the next couple of weeks - but a source at IBM claims that the

company is just putting NT on a couple of servers because of

an NT-specific application, and that the NT servers will sit

alongside OS/2 servers.

A Microsoft source insisted that the CWS would use NT Server

supported by Microsoft's SMS.

CWS is also rolling out OS/2 to 800 stores in a separate

networking project to which it is still 100 per cent committed,

according to IBM.

Though CWS refused to talk about the changes in

its NOS strategy, a spokesman said it was one of a number of projects

that is currently underway at the company.

In March the company

signed a contract with Mercury Communications to provide a virtual

private network (VPN) for the CWS across the UK, to provide a range

of Co-operative networking services.

The VPN is to be one of the largest in the UK and

will be used as a platform for a number of electronic trading and

EPOS initiatives in the future at the company.

Central and regional head offices, and selected regional

distribution centres were among sites linked in the first phase in

April. CWS's seven retail regions have been linked month-by-month

since then.

Network News 4/9/96