---

Picking the best cluster

Analysts are divided over which vendor has the best combination of server clustering features.

To succeed, ''a vendor has to have both a best-of-breed Unix clustering solution and a solid port of that to NT,'' says Brad Day, an analyst at Giga Information Group in San Jose, Calif. His picks are IBM, Tandem Computers, Inc., Digital Equipment Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. ''The Tandem architecture is awesome, but could be a boon for Compaq if it can deliver it in a PC-class product.'' Tandem has agreed to work with Compaq and Microsoft on porting the Tandem Server Net clustering architecture to the Intel/NT space.

''Tandem is in a pretty good position, especially if it can port ServerNet to the Intel platform,'' agrees Jerry Sheridan, director of client/server computing for Dataquest, also based in San Jose, Calif.

Amy Wohl, president of Narbeth, Pa.-based Wohl Associates, would remove Digital from Day's group of top clustering vendors. ''There is nothing a high-end customer hates more than uncertainty about a vendor, and Digital's PC business strategy has had a spotty record,'' she says.

Jane Wright, an analyst for DataPro Information Services Group of Delran, N.J., thinks NCR has a chance. She says NCR's LifeKeeper has more features and functions than current NT products from Compaq or Digital.

As for the fight against Unix, Wohl says, ''NT isn't being taken seriously enough at the high end, and clustering will help change that. But the Unix guys can really take advantage of NT's relatively immature clustering applications right now.''

''NT is taking more and more market share in the mid-range area,'' notes Sheridan, who thinks the emergence of strong NT clustering products will help grow the clustering market for both Unix and NT vendors.

- David Strom