US and Pacific Rim companies building workstations compatible with Sun Microsystems Inc’s Unix-based Sparcstation series left a disappointing impression of the so-called Great Strategy that Sun and its Sparc International supporters club have for the RISC part at last November’s Comdex extravaganza in Las Vegas. Now UK company AFE Computers Ltd, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, is setting out to show that it can do better, launching what it believes to be the only European-designed workstation using the LSI Logic-Opus Systems Inc Sparckit. The OpenStation S20 is the first member of a planned series of workstations, and uses a 20MHz version of the Sparckit in what AFE Computers’ Ian Smith calls an expanded pizza box design. Running SunOS 4.1-compatible Unix, with from 8Mb to 64Mb RAM, up to four 213Mb disks, CD-ROM, 3.5 floppy and a 19 colour screen, a base configuration with 8Mb memory, one hard disk and 19 monitor starts at UKP7,000. Although the workstation is being targeted at the European market, AFE Computers will launch the S20 OpenStation on Sparc International’s stand at the Uniforum show in Dallas later this month. AFE Computers is currently setting up value-added reseller channels across Europe for its box, and claims it will deliver a service and support organisation for OpenStation that the US and Pacific Rim Sparc-builders cannot match – though it emphasises it won’t compete head-on with Sun. AFE Computers – part of the 10 year-old AFE Group – was set up last year specifically to bring a Sparc system to market. It will also offer the OpenStation to the US market through its parent’s subsidiary in Charlottesville, Virginia, and in Europe via a German operation just getting off the ground. AFE Computers has a team of 20 working on the Sparc project and is currently recruiting sales and support staff. The machine is manufactured in Sutton Coldfield and AFE Computers expects to ship 2,000 S20 OpenStations in the next 12 months. It is also preparing a Sun GX-compatible graphics accelerator board for the workstation which will be out in April. The AFE Group employs about 100 and does UKP8m a year.
