IBM Corp yesterday made a string of RS/6000 announcements including AIX 4.1 and launch of the long-promised database search accelerator from ICL Plc. The RS/6000 Models 250, 25T, 25W, and 25S are now available with an 80MHz PowerPC 601 processor rather than the existing 66MHz version. The faster chip is also available as a field upgrade. A new Artic960 Co-processor is available for the RS/6000, being a 25MHz Intel Corp 80960CF RISC processor for 32-bit Micro Channel machines, designed to relieve the host from compute-intensive tasks associated with input-output communication applications and protocols. It costs $5,100 with 1Mb memory. The ICL Search Accelerator for RS/6000 servers is hardware that runs with the ICL Search Accelerator for AIX software to increase throughput, decrease query response time or both on supported RS/6000 systems used as database servers. It works with Informix 6.0, Ingres 6.4 and Oracle7. Available September it’s a Request Price Quotation option. AIX 4.1 is the most significant enhancement to AIX since initial introduction, and is only largely compatible with AIX 3. Middleware and applications with kernel extensions must be evaluated individually for compatibility. It is claimed to exploit the latest in Power2 and PowerPC chips as well as running on the earlier ones and supporting the emerging PowerPC Reference Platform. It comes in AIX 4.1 for Clients and for Servers versions, and it comes with a new graphical user interface based on the Common Desktop Environment, in both versions. It supports multiprocessing, and is to be available on August 5. Other new offerings include a Megatek Mg24 graphics adaptor with 24-bit True Color capability; prices were not given; and the Ultimedia Audio Adaptor designed to provide cost-effective 16-bit audio for business, multimedia desktop authoring, presentation audio and desktop collaboration. It costs $300. The 7134 High Density SCSI Disk Subsystem now provides 4Gb to 32Gb storage on an RS/6000 running AIX 4.1.
