McDonnell-Douglas Information Systems Ltd launched its new 2Series X range of multi-processor systems last week, providing a claimed range of performance from 33 to 1,056 MIPS. Based on the Encore 93 line, launched by Encore Computer Corp two weeks ago (CI No 1,688), the machines use one to four processor Motorola 88000-based boards, and not the National Semiconductor Corp NS32000-based hardware used in its previous RX Series (CI No 1,341). They do, however, use the same high-speed dual bus architecture, which first emerged in Encore’s Multimax computer family, and run Encore’s multi-threaded Umax operating system as well as McDonnell Douglas’ Reality/X version of Pick under Unix. There are three mid-range models and six super-computing Enterprise models, with the top-of-the-line model configurable to 32 processors. Aside from Reality, databases supported include Informix, Ingres and Oracle. The company expects to sell around 80 systems over the next year to the corporate marketplace looking at mainframe-level systems. For transaction processing, the company is looking at Unix System Laboratories Inc’s Tuxedo, but plans to add transaction processing features to its Pro-1V applications environment in the future. Entry-level prices start from UKP55,000, with an upper limit of around UKP8 million. The machines will be on show for the first time during the European Unix User Show at London’s Olympia this week.
