Hitachi brings out the 68040-based laptop it previewed at UniForum show in January…
Last week in Japan Hitachi Ltd announced the laptop workstation that it showed at the UniForum Show in San Francisco in January. The 3050LT incorporates a 25MHz 68040 processor with 16Mb memory standard, rising to 48Mb, and runs two Hitachi Unix implementations, HI-UXC/WE2 and HI-UX/W. The models feature a eight grey-scale monochrome thin-film transistor LCD display with a resolution of 1,120 by 780 pixels. The machines also incorporate 16M-bit memory chips – eat your heart out, IBM that world lead with the AS/400 didn’t last long! They have a 50% smaller footprint than the 3050 desktop type workstation, and cost $10,900.
…introduces Forefront concept for integrating its mainframes, other kit with aliens
At the same time, Hitachi made a range of announcements under a new piece of systems architecture flackery it is calling Forefront, which is intended to provide a framework for the provision of new hardware, software and services. The Forefront total systems concept espouses the strengthening of existing systems, the interoperability of open systems and the flexibility of distributed systems. Support of multivendor environments through provision of Solutions Services was mentioned, as well as the supply of an object-oriented standard operating environment for access from workstations and personal computers, integrated database access on mainframes, workstations and personal computers, communications services for support of transaction processing, mail processing and file transfer. Improved support for such environments in the VOS3/AS mainframe operating system were announced, including linking at the database level of host and workstations through products such as XDM/XT, XDM/DF/RDA – a distributed database function based on Open Systems Interconnection protocols; support of links between distributed systems and the host processor through products such as HOAPMOLS/PC and HOAPDBS/PC, VOS3 software for storage of, and access to, personal computer data on the mainframe; supply of distributed relational database products including Hitachi’s Unify2000/HSV and /HCT database server and client functions; support of LAN Manager in a 3050 workstation environment; support of the X Window System; and links between the VOS3 Network Management System and the AOMPlus automated operations system for Hitachi mainframes.
Ultra low-cost video-conferencing kit aimed at Japanese with overseas offices
Hitachi has caused a deal of heart-searching in the videoconferencing world with launch of its DP-200 desktop system that costs one sixth of previous generation products in Japan. The desktop system consists of a video coder-decoder, monitor, camera, an audio-video controller and an echo canceller in one box weighing 35 lbs. The one that you carry around with you, the CA-200, is designed to be dumped on top of a television and plugged into the aerial socket, using it as a monitor. In Japan, the DP-200 costs the equivalent of just $10,500 – rather cheaper than the American version, and the CA-200 costs $9,335, and Hitachi sees the low pricing leading to a revolution in the way people work: it looks to sell 2,000 of the things a year to start with. Both models work with Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp’s ISDN service INS Net 64, and can handle transmission speeds between 64Kbps and 128Kbps. The key to the technology lies in a VLSI chip that combines the video coder-decoder and the audio-visual communications controller on one chip. Both versions of the machine incorporate a Group III facsimile interface, a data interface, and an audio-visual interface to enable the transmission and reception of four types of data: video, sound, raw data and facsimile. Hitachi hopes that there will be demand for the new systems from Japanese companies with offices in other countries. The new videoconferencers will be out in April.
M-series mainframe lines expanded with six-way multiprocessor, new M860 line
On the hardware front, Hitachi announced a high-end and a lo
w-end model in the super-large M880 mainframe series, the M880/620, a six-way multiprocessor, and M880/180 single processor; plus nine models in a new mid-range M860 processor family, which replaces the previous M680 and M660 ranges. These go from the M860/420, a four-processor with maximum memory of 1024Mb, to the M860/20 single processor with a minimum memory of 1Gb, expandable to 2Gb.
Bundled personal computer-aided design system built around the 80486
Hitachi has a new 80486-based machine, the GMM-1500, for the growing personal computer-aided design market. At $44,800, it is bundled with proprietary software for drafting, architectural design and structural analysis, 14 screen, 80Mb disk, A3 tablet and A3 plotter. Hitachi looks to sell 7,000 of the integrated systems over the next two years.
Hitachi Zosen teams up with Control Data on computer-integrated manufacture
Following the recent tie-up between Control Data Corp and NEC Corp on supercomputers, Hitachi Zosen Systems (Hitachi Shipbuilding Systems) has also done a deal with Control Data for both technical assistance and marketing of Control Data’s computer-integrated manufacturing systems in Japan. In addition Hitachi Zosen has formed alliances with three other companies, Effective Management Systems of Wisconsin, Special Technologies of Colorado, and Strotinger of Germany, each of which have specialist skills in the production control, CAD/CAM and factory automation fields respectively. Hitachi Zosen has already tied up with eight companies from the US, Europe, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea in order to expand its market in the manufacturing field.
