IBM adds RT support via TCP/IP in Data Communication Service for mixed CAD/CAM

IBM’s last shreds of credibility in the Unix world are tearing away with every week that the company fails to introduce anything more competitive than the existing RT machine, not least because it is widely believed that the designers completed work on the new machine at least 12 months ago, and designed it to compete with the products that came out from the likes of Sun Microsystems and DEC last September, which have now been superseded by faster, cheaper models twice over by both companies, while Hewlett-Packard Co is gearing up for a blitz just as soon as it can get its merged HP-Apollo family out. The latest Sun and DEC machines are substantially cheaper than top-end models in the PS/2 line, and IBM is not given to trying to blast the competition out of the water with rock-bottom prices, which leaves amazing performance as the only option to give the forthcoming machines any credibility, and given the time lapse since the design was completed, it is difficult to believe that raw IBM performance will give the competition much to worry about. Nevertheless, the company continues to announce minor products for use with the RT, notably release 2.4 of Data Communication Service for 370-type mainframes, designed to facilitate integration among different Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing applications. It provides data communications and consolidated design file database for CAD/CAM applications and the new release adds support – at last – via TCP/IP for the RT, as well as improving user control over the saving of data in SQL/DS tables, providing shared screen support for up to four concurrent sessions on one screen with Interactive System Productivity Facility, and VM shared segment operation. Supported under MVS/SP, MVS/XA and VM/SP, it costs a one-time $5,975 on a baby 9370 to $29,790 on a 3090-600S, or $1,685 and $617 a month on any 370, and is planned to be available on September 29 in the US.

Applix’ Alis gets IBM’s vote on the RT

Even in the US, IBM has pretty much given up the fiction that the RT is nothing but a technical workstation and should not be allowed within 100miles of the commercial office, and an earnest of this is that it has adopted version 2.0 of the Alis office automation system software from Applix Inc, Westborough, Massachusetts for the RT. Alis offers multi-font word processing that integrates text, spreadsheets, graphics, and database information into a compound document; networking facilities to provide electronic mail, diary management and shared filing; and a graphics editor that combines freestyle drawing with the ability to create business graphics. Its spreadsheet capabilities include business graphics, mathematical and financial problem solving and inter-spreadsheet references, and the database supports files that can contain up to 8,000 records; the multi-user version will support up to eight concurrent users. The single user version costs a one-time $2,500, the multi-user version for up to eight seats sells for $6,000 and both are available at the end of the month in the US.

6091-023 is a 23 RT colour display

There is a new 23 6091 Colour Display Model 023 for the RT and also for the 5080 Graphics System, providing large-screen, high-resolution colour on a raster scan analogue display that can put up both 1,024 by 1,024 and 1,280 by 1,024 pixels, the options being user-selectable. It has RS343 red-green-blue analogue interface so it can be used with non-IBM systems with RS343 interface, there is a video/sync redrive capability, and anti-reflective, neutral density faceplate. It costs a daunting $6,500 and is out at the end of the month.

Facility management from CADG for AIX

Alis is being offered by IBM itself, but CADG+FM, which comes in AIX versions for the RT and MS-DOS on the PS/2 is published and licensed by the developer, The Computer-Aided Design Group and IBM markets it under the Cooperative Software Program, which means that if you don’t like it, complain to the developer, not IBM. CADG

+FM Workstation Edition and Personal Edition are described as enterprise facility management systems that provide decision support for on-going management of built facilities. Fully upwards compatible with the host version, the Workstation Edition costs $7,500; Space Inventory is $4,000; Equipment Inventory is $3,000; Lease Inventory is $1,500; the Personal Edition is $3,000; Space Inventory is $2,000; Equipment Inventory is $1,000; and Lease Inventory is $500; both the versions are available immediately in the US.

Management Sciences’ Predictor series

Also offered under the Co-operative Software Program is the Predictor series of products from Management Sciences Inc, designed to enable manufacturers offering a warranty programme to assess design quality parameters; reliability, failure rates, repair rates, maintenance, support costs, and other warranty parameters. Costing a one-time $5,000, Predictor-BDE is a C program that models complex reliability, maintenance and support relationships such as those found in oil fields, aircraft, electronics, and other deployments. It uses rate equations, heuristic (self-learning) and stochastic (random distribution) methods to solve problems that include induced effects, wear-out, load-sharing, sequenced events and other real-world situations. Predictor-FMECA, $10,000 is a tool for multi-phase system and mission effects analysis. It can model Functional as well as hardware and software mission effects and Management Sciences says it has been successfully applied to aircraft, ships, electronic systems, radios, radar, and telecom systems. Predictor-M, $5,000, performs complex maintenance scenario analysis of operations of a complex system, calculating mean times between predicted events. Predictor-217E, $10,000, is a member of a large integrated suite of reliability analysis programs that include Maintainability, Mission-R and Failure Modes Effects analysis. Predictor computes failure rates at loaded stress and temperatures as affected by environment, quality, application and usage. And the $10,000 Predictor-Mission-R – for reliability – is used in analysis of scenarios for aircraft, vehicles, ships, and satellites, where the product is cycled, used stored, moved, or otherwise affected by varying multiple environments. Also, the equipment content can change from phase to phase. They run on the RT 6150 Models 20, 25, 125 and 135 and are out now.