Groupe Bull SA Bull will not develop Posix compliance for its proprietary GCOS 6 operating system from the Level 6, DPS 6 and DPS 6000 minicomputer line, Ian Fowler, Bull UK’s product marketing manager, told our sister paper Unigram.X. Instead its Boston, Massachusetts-based unit is developing an emulator called HVX, which will enable GCOS 6 applications to run under AIX Unix on the forthcoming multiprocessor RS/6000s that Bull is developing in conjunction with IBM Corp. HVX will be out in the fourth quarter of next year, by which time the long-promised multiprocessing RS/6000s should be on the street. HVX is currently in alpha test on uniprocessor RS/6000s, but it will be delivered only for multiprocessors, Fowler says, because GCOS 6 applications need the power multiprocessors can offer. Bull evaluated translation tools from UK firms Sterling Business Systems Ltd, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and from Liverpool-based Fraser Williams Ltd, but decided it needed an emulator to enable the substantial base of GCOS 6 applications to function fully. Bull’s rebadged RS/6000s are said to be 5% cheaper than IBM’s and it will add more peripherals for the mid-range market.
