Court Bars Microsoft From Shipping Networking Feature

SAN FRANCISCO--A federal court is blocking Microsoft from using a networking feature planned for the company's future operating system code-named Longhorn and a service pack for Windows Server 2003 that had been scheduled to come out last year, according to a company that's suing Microsoft over the technology.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco granted Alacritech's request for a preliminary injunction to prevent Microsoft from using a TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) offload technology that Microsoft has code-named "Chimney," Alacritech said in a statement today. The technology was to have been included in the Scalable Networking Pack for Windows Server 2003, which was formerly slated for release in the second half of 2004, according to information on Microsoft's Web site.

Intellectual Property Dispute

TCP is the key protocol used in most IP (Internet Protocol) data networks. TCP offload technology shifts the burden of handling TCP tasks from the main processor of a server or workstation to a network interface card or other component, leaving the main processor more capacity to handle application processing. Alacritech promotes its patented SLIC Technology architecture as scalable enough to meet future networking and I/O needs at 10 gigabits per second and beyond.

Alacritech claims that it discussed its technology with Microsoft in 1998 and that Microsoft subsequently cut off communication with the company. In May 2003, Microsoft demonstrated a technology it called Chimney, which Alacritech said resembled its own intellectual property. Alacritech offered Microsoft a license, but Microsoft rejected Alacritech's terms, and in August of 2004, Alacritech filed suit claiming patent infringement. In November, it filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to block Microsoft from infringing the patent or inducing others to do so, according to Alacritech's statement.

Microsoft spokesperson Stacy Drake said Wednesday that Microsoft engineers independently developed Chimney. The company has just received the documents on the injunction and is reviewing its options, she said. Drake said that the Scalable Networking Pack has not yet shipped, but she did not know whether the lawsuit had stalled its release. She declined to comment on a possible licensing deal to resolve the dispute.

The preliminary injunction prevents Microsoft from "making, using, offering for sale, selling, importing, or inducing others to use" Chimney, according to Alacritech's statement Wednesday.

Alacritech, based in San Jose, California, makes network interface cards, iSCSI controllers and ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits), and sells products through both its own channels and other vendors.