Distributors are being sought for Matra Datasysteme SA’s new artificial intelligence server in European countries where the French company is not represented. The X-MS 3000 station will be sold by Matra in France and by its subsidiaries in Belgium, Italy and Spain. The VLSI 32-bit processor board, which has been baptised with the curious name of Drake, is being produced from a Matra design by VTC, a Control Data Corp-owned foundry in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Matra hopes to shift production to its Matra-Harris SA joint venture next year. The Unix implementation used is based on Sun Microsystems’ SunOS with a driver added to control the Drakes. Machines with up to four Drakes are available at the moment, but seven of the co-processors are needed to deliver the 1 MegaLIPS performance claimed for the machine. The X-MS 3000 can act as a server to the Norsk Data 32 bit scientific mini, called the X-MS 5000 by Matra, as well as the Encore Computer machine that Matra sells as the X-MS 7000.
