Sun Microsystems Inc has added hardware and software enhancements to its high-end Sparcservers to improve Network File System performance at the lowest price. The company now has special configurations of the Sparcserver 470 and 490 that it says improve Network File System performance – measured by operations per second and response time – by 250% and are priced below comparable systems – but it had to go to Interphase Corp to get the boon. Dallas-based Interphase is supplying the the NC400 Network CoProcessor board and software now available exclusively for Sun’s high-end Sparcservers as a result of a joint marketing agreement between the two, and Sun says that adding two more NC400s to servers boosts Network File System performance 400% – they come with two as standard and also include Sun Prestoserve, a Network File System accelerator designed to improve server responsiveness by increasing disk input-output throughput, and the configurations will be priced 15% below the separate components combined. The NC400 Network CoProcessor consists of an intelligent Ethernet controller – a separate microprocessor on a 9U VME board – with networking software, and Sun reckons that the new configurations will particularly appeal to computer-aided design, geophysical modelling, software development and spreadsheet analysis users. With the NC400, a Sparcserver 490 can support multiple Ethernets and more than 100 clients with fast response times. The Sparcserver 470 NFS is $89,900 with 32Mb, 1.8Gb disk, 644Mb CD-ROM and tape, two NC400s and Prestoserve; the 490 NFS in the same configuration is $114,900; NC400s cost $8,000 each, Prestoserve is $6,000, to existing users.
