Microsoft and Xerox have announced an agreement to enable Microsoft's Windows NT networks and Exchange servers to connect to Xerox multifunctional office equipment such as scanners, copiers, fax machines and printers.
Xerox also announced tan agreement with Compaq Computer under which Xerox customers will be able to use Compaq's Work Expeditor tool to manage documents created with Xerox Document Centre Systems products and to connect to Microsoft software.
Xerox has licensed Windows NT Embedded 4.0 as the operating system for the next generation of Document Centre Systems products, Xerox and Microsoft said in a joint statement. Using Microsoft's Exchange Server, users will be able to scan documents directly into the server.
"We'll see emerging the convergence of the paper and digital worlds, opening up access to knowledge that had been limited to paper and therefore less accessible throughout a company," Robert Marcus, a Microsoft manager for the Exchange Server marketing group, said in a telephone interview.
The Xerox equipment will enable workers to more easily communicate and share information, Marcus said.
Microsoft's Exchange Server will be available in the United States in the third quarter of 1999, with worldwide distribution next year. No date has been set yet for the introduction of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system with Document Centre products.
Microsoft, Redmond, Washington, can be reached at 1-425-882-8080, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.microsoft.com/. Xerox Corporation, in Stamford, Connecticut, is at +1-800-334-6200, or at http://www.zerox.com/. Compaq Computer Corp., in Houston, Texas, is at +1-281-370-0670, or at http://www.compaq.com/.