DEC scrapped the micro tag from its fast-selling MicroVAX line yesterday with the new VAX 4000 Model 300, introduced at DECworld in Boston. With a performance of 8 VAX MIPS and 22 transactions per second, the new machine doubles the CPU speed and triples the memory of the MicroVAX 3800 and 3900, which it replaces. More importantly, the new range outperforms IBM’s 17 transactions per second AS/400 range in a far smaller package for almost half the price. The 4000 Model 300 can cope with up to 124 active office automation users or 50 software developers: it has from 32Mb to 128Mb memory, up to 15Gb storage (28Gb in the near future), and includes RISC processors on the motherboard to handle disk and communication traffic. A new 40Mbyte-per-second memory bus increases data throughput, with a Q-Bus used to attach extra peripherals. Prices for the VMS-only systems start from UKP78,000, while time sharing systems cost from UKP113,800: the machines are already shipping. DEC claims to have sold over 150,000 MicroVAX units since launch in May 1983, with sales still growing at around 10% per annum: it says the new mid-range VAXes fit well with its increasing emphasis on the distributed client-server computing model, allowing more flexibility of customer configurations, and integrating DEC’s Ultrix and VMS offerings with MS-DOS personal computers and Apple Macintoshes. And DEC has moved ahead of IBM in the networking world, coming early to market with a full set of Fibre Distributed Data Interface network ing products, something that IBM is still two years away from offering (CI No 1,455), and expanded its Enterprise Management Architecture: details see today’s back page.
