SUMMARY: NTRIGUE from Insignia

From: Peter Kim (peterk@jdc.csg.mot.com)
Date: Thu Jun 27 1996 - 13:08:08 CDT


This was my original posting:
>
> Hi.
>
> Our users use Solaris 2 but they still need to use MS products. In the
> past we used Wabi but it crashed on some users constantly and other
> users demand full Windows 95/NT access. So we have been looking into a
> product called NTRIGUE from Insignia(http://www.insignia.com/). If you
> are using NTRIGUE or other similar products, I would like to know how
> you like or dislike the product.
>
> Thanks.
>

I received several replies on NTRIGUE from Insignia, WinCenter from
NCD, WINDD from Tektronix, Wabi, and SoftWindows from Insignia. In
general people were quite happy with NTRIGUE, WinCenter, and WINDD.

Thanks you for your input.

On WinDD
========

Scott.Brooks@svmail.supervalu.com
---------------------------------
We are using WINDD from Tektronix/Citrix. We also have been testing
NTRIGUE too. Both products are an improvement from WABI!!! WINDD and
NTRIGUE have a client part on the Sun's so it is more effecient across
the network. ICA (compression algorythm for network traffic) vs. plain
XProtocol are the two "modes" you can run NTRIGUE in. WINDD takes
advantage of ICA only.

Both products are a flavor of NT server, so one needs to know about
Bill Gates' world to set this up. We have not had any problems
directly with the products. The only problems have been related to our
exiting Novell environment. We do not load MS products from NT but
instead from the existing Novell 4.1 server using the gateway product.
In this manner, we reduce our administration and investment costs to
support MS products on two different platforms.

hxktb0@svmail.supervalu.com
---------------------------
Currently we are evaluating a product called "WINDD" from tecktronics.
Great product. It runs NT. Highly recommend it.

On NTRIGUE
==========

bbyoung@amoco.com
-----------------
We like it. Users can have a single desktop, which can be an Xterminal,
or a Unix workstation. Fewer PC problems. It runs the standard stuff
pretty well; I was impressed. We're still looking at it. Some of our
groups have to support 300 Windows and DOS apps, and nobody seems to
know how NTRIGUE will handle this..

birger@Vest.Sdata.No
--------------------
Have a look at NCD's WinCenter solution as well.

terzic@mda.ca
-------------
we used this and switched to NCD's "wincenter" that does all + more.
it's been very good and stable!

Glenn_McCarthy@Access.COM
-------------------------

We are looking at Ntrigue also, I would appreciate any input you
recieve.

smosto01@ilab.c4.gmeds.com
--------------------------
Well we used SoftWindows from Insignia on sparc20 running Solaris 2.3
and it was very very slow. We could click to bring up a Word while we
got our coffee. After a while we just stop using it and got PCs for
that sort of stuff.

paul.joslin@sdrc.com
--------------------
We're prototyping it to roll out to ~800 users. I use MS Excel and MS
Project several times a day each. On a modest P-90 server with 10-12
other concurrent users, I see better performance than my 486DX2-50 at
home. I can't give this up. Per seat cost is reasonable, except for
the MS Application software.

serdinsn@psa.pencom.com
-----------------------
We are using the product and have nothing bad to say. As a matter of
fact, we believe that NTrigue will become the industry product of
choice when it comes to bridging NT & UNIX.

drink@sei.com
-------------
wabi 2.1 and 2.2 running on Solaris 2.5 has been reliable for us here.
We run 2.2 on a Solaris x86 machine.

Of course, all we run on it is M$ Office, Wordperfect Suite, and
Visio...

More info on NTrigue from paul.joslin@heimdall.sdrc.com
=======================================================
We're prototyping it to roll out to ~800 users. I use MS Excel and MS
Project several times a day each. On a modest P-90 server with 10-12
other concurrent users, I see better performance than my 486DX2-50 at
home. I can't give this up. Per seat cost is reasonable, except for
the MS Application software.

I've included John Engel, the engineer running the project, so you can
get better answers. My understanding is that the rollout machine will
be a dual-pentium (P-166 or P-200?) machine with 384 Mb of RAM. John
found that using Intel's smart networking card dropped CPU utilization
radically. We have a separate file server, and expect to serve ~ 400+
people (up to 75 concurrent users).

My understanding is that we plan on purchasing 35 MS Office licenses,
and 10-12 MS Project licenses. (The MS Office licenses act as 35
instances of each program: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.). We will use
NT's built in licensing manager. I think it allows more instances of
the program to run, but the system administrator can review concurrent
use. Licensing MS Office and MS Project is done on an honor basis, but
as a software developer, we toe the line quite strictly. We'll buy
more licenses as needed.

Comparisions between NTrigue and WinCenter
==========================================

paul.joslin@heimdall.sdrc.com
-----------------------------
Yes - HP500 was technically deficient, but Hewlett-Packard now
recommends NTrigue. Tektronix WinDD only supported 16 colors and was a
little slower. They've addressed some of that, but pricing and the
number of packages we needed (most options are extra cost products).
NCD looked ok, but we're getting better support (sales and technical)
from Insignia.

Final decision hasn't been made, but we'll probably go with Ntrigue,
but could live with any of them.

serdinsn@psa.pencom.com
-----------------------
WinCenter Pro. NCD and Insignia were partners in the development

of NTrigue. As some point, when NCD wanted to tune the application for
NCD Xterminals, they broke the partnership up.

Thus, you have WinCenter Pro and NTrigue 2 very similiar products. I am
told that WinCenter Pro is still tweeked for NCD Xtermials, but have
not verified that..

terzic@mda.ca
-------------
we used this and switched to NCD's "wincenter" that does all + more.
it's been very good and stable!

basically whole idea is by NCD (Network Computing Devices - they make
good x-terminals). they sold it to insignia.com and these guys
developed NTRIGUE. but as it went wery well, NCD started making the
same product. this one seems to be faster and more stable. you can
visit www.ncd.com and read why. these are the reasons we switched.
(there is a comparison between these two)

-- 
Peter Kim                             Motorola Cellular Subscriber Group
PHONE: 847/523-3127                   IL93, AS320
FAX  : 847/523-8534                   600 North U.S. Highway 45
EMAIL: peter_kim@csg.mot.com          Libertyville, IL 60048



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