Unisys Corp plans to reduce the cost of developing and supporting two parallel and incompatible mainframe lines by handing over almost all responsibility for the top end of the 1100 line to Hitachi Ltd, according to the Nippon Keizai Shimbun. Oki Electric already builds the new 2200 mid-range machines and Mitsubishi the System 80s. The paper claims that Hitachi will design the architecture, develop and produce the processor for the forthcoming 1100 Super 90, while Unisys will assemble the machines. Hitachi will receive processor design technology from Unisys and will make custom circuits, and assemble them into boards with input-output and memory. Development is due to be completed in 1988, with shipments due to start in 1989. The projected computer is being designed to deliver two to three times the performance of the IBM 3090s.
