The agreement under which AT&T Co will market Tandem Computers Inc’s Integrity S2 three-processor MIPS Computer Systems Inc RISC-based fault-tolerant Unix machines as part of its 3B family (CI No 1,332) is finally signed, sealed and ready to go. The decision confirms AT&T’s commitment to the MIPS series of RISCs as the successors to its WE32000 series of proprietary microprocessors for the 3B family, and casts further doubt on whether AT&T’s proclaimed commitment to Sun Microsystems’ rival Sparc will ever be converted into hard ware. The agreement has no announced value, but seems certain to lead to enormous sales of the S2s into the captive market of local US telephone companies as it succeeds AT&T’s much more expensive fault-tolerant 3B20D. AT&T gets worldwide marketing rights to the machines, and the pact also involves a joint development effort aimed at accelerating the availability and acceptance of Unix System V-based fault-tolerant systems, including new hardware and software for the Unix system market; advancing the delivery of Unix System V Release 4.0 on the companies’ RISC-based fault-tolerant machines; development of Open Systems Interconnect protocols; and enhanced interoperability between AT&T and Tandem products. The partners also plan to est ablish enterprise solution centres which will review customer require ments and formulate specific solut ions best addressed by integration of AT&T and Tandem products in the development and porting of applica tions, and serve as focal points for working with Independent Soft ware Vendors in the development of fault-tolerant Unix applications.
