Tandem Computers Inc this week unveils the first implementation of its 300Mbps ServerNet router interconnect in home-grown Integrity symmetric multiprocessing Unix boxes called the S4000-CM line, with from one-to-four 200MHz MIPS R4400 processors. They are Tandem’s first home-grown Unix symmetric multiprocessing units. S4100s are general purpose systems; the S4200 FT achieves fault-tolerance by replicating hardware (three- and four-way fault-tolerant units require two cabinets). Both ship in December. They accommodate 256Mb RAM per processor and two ServerNet input-output systems, starting at $59,000. ServerNet allows copper connections over distances of 20 feet, with FDDI for local network clustering to come. By the end of 1996 Tandem promises to have super-clustering for connecting remote systems over ServerNet, creating System Area Networks. Currently up on Unix System V.4.2MP, it claims it will have a single system image and microkernel technologies to support System Area Networks. Meantime, it is also wo rking on what looks like an OEM product: a CPU-independent ServerNet-in-a-box to which a variety of CPUs could be attached. It will bring PCI to the Integrity line by mid-1996. Tandem’s new naming scheme will see Unix symmetric multiprocessing boxes carry S4000, S5000 and S6000 tags, delineated by fault-tolerance – FT, commercial – CM, or other annotations. Tandem’s R10000 Windows NT machines will be S1000, S2000 and S3000s with ServerNet Himalayas going through S7000, S8000 and S9000.
