Sequent’s new 5000 SE30, SE70 and SE100 models come in to replace existing 66MHz SE20, SE60 and SE90s, but these machines can also make use of the new processor and other technologies. Sequent says they offer 1.3 times better performance on transaction processing applications – 1.5 times on decision support – than the 66MHz models. The new mid-range Sequent Symmetry 5000 SE30 is designed for large relational database environments and supports hundreds of users across from two to 10 100MHz Pentiums, up to 3.5Gb RAM and 504Gb disk. It starts at $166,000 with two processors, 64Mb RAM and 11Gb disk rising to $823,000 as an eight-way with 768Mb RAM and 110Gb disk. Sequent reckons that an average configuration of six processors, 256Mb RAM and 20Gb disk will go for $456,000. The SE70, for enterprise transaction processing, decision support and data warehousing, has from two to 30 Pentiums, up to 3.5Gb RAM and 1.7Tb disk. It starts at $438,000 with two processors, 256Mb RAM and 34Gb disk, rising to $2.5m with 22 processors, 3Gb RAM and 407Gb disk. An average system is expected to cost around $1.26m with 10 processors, 1.5Gb RAM and 110Gb disk. The clustered SE100 comes with two or four SE30s or SE70s, shared disk and software. It costs $566,000 with two dual-processor SE30s each with 256Mb RAM and 2Gb disk, plus 20Gb shared disk. Two dual-processor SE70s with 256Mb RAM and 2Gb disk each linked to 47Gb shared disk cost $1.046m. Users of Sequent’s previous generation of systems, the Symmetry 2000 can get up to the new 5000 models via an Advance 5000 upgrade programme. Sequent is additionally bundling Symmetry 5000s with high-availability software and professional services targeted at organisations seeking high-availability data management centres. A new data centre rapid start programme is aimed at getting large organisations moved over to open systems, and covers all aspects of planning and management. The programme takes four to six months and is from $150,000. Sequent cites Computer Intelligence InfoCorp numbers which give it 19% of the high-end commercial symmetric multiprocessing Unix market, with Hewlett-Packard Co at 16%, Amdahl Corp 14%, Tandem Computer Inc 12%, Pyramid Technology Corp 10%, IBM Corp 6%, others 23%.
