Marlborough, Massachusetts-based Sequoia Systems Inc still has not made the transition to RISC, but it is so far down the learning curve on its 68040-based fault-tolerant Unix systems that it can undercut just about anyone in its market, and has come out with a new line intended to do just that. The 33MHz 68040-based Series 500 has an entry-level price of $86,000, the lowest ever offered by Sequoia. It also introduced a new high-end system, the 40MHz 68040-based 440ES, Extended System, with an entry price of $390,000. The Series 500 is at least 50% cheaper than similar configurations of past Sequoia products. The company accomplished the price reduction with tighter integration of components on boards, reducing the number of discreet components, using newer technologies and improving manufacturing efficiencies. The new multi-user Unix systems are pre-configured with the Sequoia Pick database for 32 users, and are expandable to thousands of users. An entry Series 500 is not really fault- tolerant because it has only one Processor Element, two Memory Elements and one input-output channel. It supports 32 users; a 400-user configuration has four Processor Elements, six Memory Elements and 16 channel controllers. The 440ES goes to 32 Processor Elements, 4Gb memory and 30 channels. They are out now.
