Alliant Computer Systems Corp, of Littleton Massachusetts today launches its first RISC machine – the 80860-based FX/2800, available in 90 days. The new minisupercomputers, at between UKP350,000 to UKP1.2m in the UK, support the recently announced Parallel Architecture eXtended standard developed between Alliant and Intel Corp and now supported by around 50 independent software vendors, and include a low-end eight processor FX/2808 and high-end 28 processor FX/2828. Alliant claims the new systems provide equivalent performance to a single processor Y-MP, twice the performance of a VAX 9000 Model 440 and two and a half times the performance of a high-end Convex C-240, with five times the price-performance; it’s10 times faster than Alliant’s own FX/80.
