The Neighbors -- Microsoft and IBM

By Avalyn Pace

Kirkland Programming Center -- IBM's Link to Microsoft
As director of IBM's Kirkland Programming Center (KPC) located outside of Redmond, Washington, Roy Clauson developed the center from initial concept to its present role--ensuring the compatibility of IBM hardware with Microsoft software. Avalyn Pace, IBM Personal Systems Competency Center interface to KPC, talks with Clauson about the center's objectives and development.

This Q&A; was conducted by Avalyn Pace

Pace: Roy, let me first thank you for agreeing to this interview. Our audience for this issue of Personal Systems includes current and prospective PC Server customers. With the increased focus on implementing Windows NT as a network operating system (NOS) platform, our relationship with Microsoft and, more importantly, the added value we gain from that relationship becomes a crucial point. Would you give us a general overview of your mission at the Kirkland Programming Center?

 Clauson: Our responsibility in Kirkland is to ensure that all Microsoft software works well on IBM's hardware platforms. This means early involvement in the design cycle, timely adaptation and porting, development of complementary software and drivers, extensive testing, and performance optimization.

Pace: I was surprised to learn that Kirkland was established several years ago. Give us a little history on the center's origins and some of your accomplishments.

Clauson: The Kirkland team was initially formed to work on porting NT to the PowerPC. The work started in January 1993, using Windows NT 3.1. We successfully shipped Windows NT 3.51 on IBM's PowerPC-based machines last June [1995]. We also ported Microsoft's Word, Excel, and Visual C++ products to the PowerPC architecture.

Pace: That doesn't sound like a small effort. Please describe your organization for us.

 Clauson: The organization comprises six functional units: planning, business operations, development, testing, customer technical support, and defect support. The planning group is responsible for interlocking Kirkland's software plans with IBM's hardware groups' plans. The operations unit keeps the physical facility running in a cost efficient manner and manages my budgets.

The development and test teams are responsible for the porting efforts, as well as developing and testing new software, drivers, and HALs [hardware abstraction layers]. Our technical support people help IBM's marketing and sales teams "win" NT--no pun intended--business for IBM, and our defect support team provides Level 3 support to IBM's HelpCenters around the world.

Approximately 120 people worked on our PowerPC team last year. With the addition of the PC Server mission, we are currently hiring and should be at 190 people by the third quarter this year.

Pace: What about the facilities to house and support Kirkland personnel?

 Clauson: The Kirkland facility is located five miles from Microsoft's Redmond campus, allowing quick access to the Microsoft team. This is important, since many of my team members are on the Microsoft campus daily attending "bug fix" meetings, diagnosing problems, writing code, etc.

KPC's facility currently covers 30,000 square feet and is expanding to 50,000 square feet by year end. It houses offices, test labs, porting labs available to independent software vendors and customers, and customer briefing facilities.

We have intentionally tried to recreate the Microsoft work environment at our facility, and we have direct, high-speed data links between Microsoft and our facility that allow for instant access to key databases residing on Microsoft servers. I believe that because of this, we have been able to build a strong team that is well integrated with Microsoft.

Pace: Let's talk about how you work with Microsoft. Can you describe the relationship?

 Clauson: Overall, the relationship between Microsoft and Kirkland is very strong. As I mentioned earlier, we are very much a part of the Microsoft team. We attend and receive work from the daily "bug" meetings. Microsoft relies heavily on the testing that we do--the results are recorded in Microsoft's databases by KPC people. We have key contacts in their organization that help keep the communications channels between our companies open and information flowing.

Pace: Do you view your relationship with Kirkland as a competitive advantage?

 Clauson: Absolutely, there is no question about it. Good systems are made up of good software and good hardware. Each component has to know what the other is doing in order for the system to perform well and appear integrated to our customers. Without the kind of relationship we have here with Microsoft, our systems would never perform as well as they could.

Pace: Can you share some of your current plans/efforts?

 Clauson: We have spent the last few months heavily engaged with the PC Company development teams to synchronize Microsoft's Windows NT plans with the future PC Company product plans. We are developing driver support and new HALs. We are working on easier install procedures. We are also looking outside for software value-add packages that will make our systems more attractive to our customers.

Pace: Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?

Clauson: Establishing the Kirkland Programming Center has been one of the best assignments I've ever had in IBM. The team members are great people and among the best I've ever had the opportunity to work with. We are committed to the concept that "the marketplace is the driving force behind everything we do," and we are here to provide what IBM's customers want.

Our motto is "just do it," and our team members exercise this kind of spirit daily. We are fully committed to making IBM a success by making our customers totally satisfied with our work products.

Pace is an Advisory Marketing Support Representative in IBM's Personal Systems Competency Center (PSCC), Dallas, Texas. She is currently part of the PSCC PC Server Team providing pre-sales technical support and assistance. Avalyn also serves as interface to the Kirkland Programming Center for the PSCC and is responsible for information sharing.