Need XNS on 3Com ethernet for 4.2bsd

[BJackson.PA at XEROX.ARPA]

Martin,
     I'd like present you with a few of my own personal observations
that are based upon a wide ranging survey of existing "XNS" software.
To start, I'd like to focus on you're statement:
     
     "I have  25 SGI Iris workstations talking XNS on an Ethernet."
     
     If you have Silicon Graphics Iris workstations, then they are using
the low levels of the XNS protocol standards (mostly Sequenced Packet
Protocol), but they currently do not and cannot coexist with Xerox
workstations running the higher level XNS protocols.   The least
compilcated explaination of this is that the SGI software uses single
net broadcast and name/address caching instead of an internet name
service.  SGI does have a software package which might help solve your
problem, but my view is that this package DOES NOT CONFORM to Xerox NS
principles due to its incomplete conformance to upper levels of the
standards & lack of interneting capabilites.
     
     Chris Torek & James O'Toole and many others associated with the
Xerox University Grants program are in the midst of trying to build an
XNS package for 4.2 BSD which may provide the ability for 4.2 Vaxen to
be full member on a Xerox NS Internet, but their solution will not be of
much use to you because of the non-compilance of the Iris workstations.
     
     In other words, there are lots of hacks around that suggest that
they do "XNS", but so far I have not seen any software that lives up to
this expectation.  I reccommend that anyone purchasing equipment which
makes this claim look deeper than the sales literature at what's going
on inside the software.
     
Bill Jackson
Computer Science Laboratory
Xerox PARC
     
These views are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my
employer.