Compagnie des Machines Bull SA has six new DPX/20 variants of IBM Corp’s RS/6000 – variants based on the new PowerPC 601 and Power2 microprocessors (CI No 2,271). The new boxes will all be manufactured by Bull in Angers. The group has also extended its portfolio of distributed computing software integration tools, and declares its distributed computing model almost complete. Furthermore, it says, it will no longer rebadge the BOS/X operating system – henceforth, it will be simply called AIX to reduce confusion in the marketplace – except that under the new rules of the game, Unixes should be called Unix. The new machines are the Model 155 compact desktop server at UKP7,523; the Model 150S server and the Model 155W workstation, both costing UKP5,948. All are based on 66MHz PowerPC 601 chips. Bull also has three new models incorporating the Power2 chip – the Model 680 deskside server is based on a 55.6MHz Power2 and is UKP62,711; the 690 deskside server uses a 66.6MHz chip and is priced at UKP76,979; and the Model 890 rack-mounted server, which uses a 71.5MHz version of the chip, costs UKP122,362. The new machines will start shipping in November, and current DPX/20 users can upgrade by simply slipping a new board or chip into the motherboard into their existing boxes – 210 series customers can move to the 155; 260 series users to the 680 or 690; and 800 series users to the 890.
