Stratus Computer Inc will next Monday launch its next generation line of fault-tolerant machines – the ones based on Hewlett-Packard Co’s Precision Architecture RISC. It promises the Continuum machines will shatter the myth that fault-tolerant computers are not competitive with so-called high-availability systems. With them, Stratus hopes to win back impetus from the likes of Hewlett, IBM Corp, Pyramid Technology Corp, Sequent Computer Systems Inc and Sun Microsystems Inc, which have spawned a new breed of low-cost, high-availability hardware-software combinations. Traditional fault-tolerant rivals such as Tandem Computers Inc have already taken off into the parallel stratosphere, but Stratus has no plans to follow. Continuum will be the first fruit of a development strategy Stratus mapped out back in June 1992 and the Marlborough, Massachusetts company claims they will offer three to four times the price-performance of its ageing Intel Corp 80860-based XA/R Series, which were introduced after its plans to use the Motorola Inc 88000 RISC were abandoned. Stratus’s low-end XA/R 50 delivers 18 SPECint92 for $99,000.
