DEC’s recent alliance with Apple Computer has spurred other computer companies on to look at the possibilities of a closer integration between Apple hardware and Unix-based servers. Amongst those companies is MIPS Computer Systems, which has reportedly been working in house on connecting its RISC servers with Apple Macs and workstations. MIPS is thought to be readying itself for an announcement, but meanwhile UK Unix systems house TIS Ltd has become Apple’s first value added reseller for Unix networks, and is aiming at the corporate computer market. TIS will sell Apple hardware to run in conjunction with servers from both MIPS and Convergent Technologies, using the suite of uShare networking software from Information Presentation Technologies Corp of Calabasus, California (CI No 845). TIS, from Bourne End in Buckinghamshire, has set up a new division called TIS Networking Services to handle the business, and will initially concentrate on installations using MIPS machines, connecting Apple workstations, terminals, MS-DOS micros and printers. Networked systems can use the MIPS systems as file server, disk server or application processor, and also access Unix applications on the host system with terminal and emulation software. TIS has also been appointed UK distributor of Information Presentation’s uShare products, which implement the complete AppleTalk stack above TCP/IP to run over standard Ethernet, and expects to have versions available for NCR, Computer Consoles, Arix, and the IBM RT by year end. Andy Huson, TIS Network Systems sales director, said a configuration of 40 Macs, 20 MS-DOS micros, six printers, and a MIPS 120 file server with 550Mb storage would cost under UKP90,000, plus UKP15,000 for the Ethernet controllers and cabling: for smaller networks, the MIPS system also supports Apple’s low-cost LocalTalk network. Apple UK managing director Keith Phillips insisted that the new agreement would not be a direct competitor for DEC-and-Apple solutions, with DEC aiming more at its existing customer base than towards new business, and said that there was still room for further deals with other vendors in order to open up Apple connectivity.
