DEC this week followed up its January announcement of the single board low-end VAXstation 3100 hardware (CI No 1,091) with a new server configuration, the PC LANserver 3100, said to boost performance by around 2.5 compared with the now superseded PC LANServer 2000. The new machine, with CMOS VAX chip, 8Mb memory expandable to 32Mb and up to 103Gb SCSI storage, can support up to 60 MS-DOS boxes in a single configuration, and includes enhanced versions of DEC’s DECnet/PC and VAX/VMS Services for MS-DOS software. DEC also cut prices on its PC Ethernet controllers by around 30%, and launched a new 3270 terminal server option card for the DECserver 550, which can support up to 32 IBM 3270 terminals or a mix of 3270 and DEC VT terminals, and allows hot-key switching between DEC and IBM applications. The company also added to its wide area networking products with three packages to run on its single-line synchronous communications server: DECnet/SNA Gateway, allowing personal computers and workstations to connect with IBM systems in an SNA environment; the DECrouter 100, running under both VMS and Ultrix for connecting local area Ethernet networks into a corporate wide area network; and X25 Router 100, for DECnet routing over the X25 packet switched service.
