NCR Corp, headquartered in Dayton, Ohio has two new hardware interface adaptors for the System 3000 family of Unix machines, which are designed to create local area networks and wide area networks for use with personal computers and workstations. The Token-Ring Adaptors, based on the Texas Instruments Inc TMS380C16 chip set, are switchable between 16Mbps and 4Mbps and there are two versions, AT bus and Micro Channel-compatible. Both adaptors provide Busmaster interfaces and support 128Kb on-board memory for data buffering, as well as 16-bit on-board memory addressing and configuration data packet sizes. The twisted pair cabling can be either shielded or unshielded, and using an appropriate software driver, the boards support a variety of network applications for personal computer operating systems. The boards are packaged with drivers for NCR LAN Manager, PC LAN and Novell NetWare for NCR System 3000, which supports OS/2 and MS-DOS. Also, the Micro Channel adaptors function with NCR’s Integrated LAN Driver which operates with and is packaged as an option for Unix System V.4. The adaptors cost around $900 and the Micro Channel-compatible adaptor is currently available, while the AT version will be available in September 1991. The multi-protocol adaptors act as interfaces between personal computers or workstations and the network, and they simultaneously support a standard line set of protocols that includes asynchronous, Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code bisynchronous, and Synchronous Data Link Control/High-level Data Link Control synchronous. Each adaptor is designed with two ports for twice the communications capability, and various speeds may be specified for each line up to 9,600 full duplex bps or one line running 19,200 full duplex bps. Multi-Protocol Adaptors cost $600 with a one-year service warranty.
