Having for several years given out strongly hostile messages about Unix, Tandem Computers Inc seems to have become an enthusiastic convert, and after adding the Altos Computer Systems 68020-based 3068 Unix micro to its line as the LXN last April (CI No 666), the Cupertino company yesterday announced that it had signed a development agreement with MIPS Computer Systems that will enable it to extend its embryonic Unix product line upwards. MIPS, Sunnyvale, California, is currently one of the most sought after partners for reduced instruction set microprocessors and boards to run Unix, and only last month, the company announced that the Rolm MilSpec unit of Loral Corp was using MIPS processors as the basis of a new ruggedised Shark machine (CI No 856). Other major companies buying MIPS processors OEM include the Prime Computer-Silicon Graphics partnership, while UK OEM customers include Racal-Redac Ltd and Whitechapel Workstations Ltd. Terms of the agreement with Tandem, and details of just what the two companies plan to design, were not given.
