Maxim Inc of Colorado Springs has announced an accelerator board, based on the 32-bit Intergraph, ne Fairchild, Clipper processor, for compute-intensive applications on IBM ATs and compatibles. The Quantum board features a 33MHz Clipper, 4Mb or 16Mb memory, a timer, a buffered 32-bit expansion bus that allows high resolution graphics boards and co-processor boards to be attached, and an on-board security device for hardware copy protection of applications. Four gate arrays, designed by Maxim, allow peak data transfer rates of 64Mbytes-per-second between the cache memory units that are an integral part of the Clipper architecture, and the Quantum on-board memory array. The board is claimed to produce 10-fold throughput improvements for graphics, image processing, signal pro-cessing and other engineering tasks. The processor runs under CLIX, an implementation of Unix System V.3 optimised for the Clipper. Maxim says a real-time operating system will also be available shortly. C, Fortran 77 and Pascal compilers from Greenhills Software Inc, Glendale, California are ready now. Unit pricing for a 4Mb Quantum is $4,995, CLIX is $695, compilers are $495 each. Discounts for quantity are available.
