TOP END is a robust middleware product providing distributed, platform independent client/server support including transaction management, asynchronous queueing, high availability, and application management. TOP END has traditionally been a UNIX server based product, ported to a wide variety of UNIX platforms. In 1995 the TOP END Develeopment group embarked on a major project to port all of its functionality to the Windows/NT platform. As NT and UNIX have significant differences in functionality and OS offerings, this port required a significant amount of re-engineering of TOP END internals and our development environment to take advantage of the capabilities of the Windows/NT operating system, while maintaining equivalent functionality on UNIX platforms. This presentation covers the rationale for our porting methodology and the difficult issues we faced in the process.

Steve Fanshier
Architect, TOP END Product Center, NCR Corp.
17095 Via del Campo
San Diego CA 92127-1711
(work) (619) 485-2437
(fax) (619) 485-3408
(email) steve.fanshier@sandiegoca.ncr.com