Acorn Computers Plc, Cambridge, UK yesterday launched several new machines in its RISC-based personal computer family as part of a strategy to change tack and raise its market profile. It is aiming the new range not only at its traditional educational market, but also at the consumer and professional market. The new products said to have been designed with these sectors in mind are the A3010, a model based on the existing entry-level A3000 range; a new A4000 series of mid-range computers; a new 4Mb A5000, a new Pocket Book computer and a range of Acorn Universal Networking products. The A3010 is aimed at the home user and is driven by Advanced RISC Machines Ltd’s new ARM250 microprocessor. Like all of the new machines, it runs under the proprietary multitasking RISC OS 3 operating system and comes with 1Mb or 2Mb. The A4000 series is conceived to bridge the gap between the A3000 and A5000 ranges. Using a 12MHz ARM250, it comes with 2Mb expandable to 4Mb, and VGA screen. It can be had either on its own or as part of a new home office system, with EasiWriter II and Desktop Database. The home office pack, with monitor costs UKP1,000; educational institutions can buy the A4000 without a monitor for UKP900. The A5000 range has been expanded to include a 2Mb model with 80Mb disk for UKP1,400, and 4Mb with 120Mb disk for UKP1,600. Two new diskless network models are offered as client stations for Acorn’s proprietary Econet and for Ethernet – the former costs UKP1,300, the latter UKP1,400. The new Acorn Universal Networking offers a link between Econet and Ethernet via a backbone Ethernet system, using RISC OS computers as Gateway stations. There is a new version of Acorn’s Level 4 Fileserver networking applications for Ethernet and parallel Acorn package TCP/IP Protocol Suite that enables a RISC OS computer to talk to a Unix computer over Acorn Universal Networking. The networking product pack containing site software and the Fileserver costs UKP400. Acorn claims to have been number one supplier to the education sector over the past 10 years, with an installed base of 150,000 machines, and is eager to maintain this stronghold position. It has opened some 20 Acorn in Education centres around the country to try and offer information technology to support to schools. Each will have a representative sample of Acorn’s computers on show, a reference library of software applicable to the National Curriculum, and staff, qualified to advise teachers on how best to implement Acorn kit in the classroom. The centres will ally with education dealers offering schools sales, installation and technical support.
