Amdahl Corp has made great strides in marrying Unix to current top-end IBM mainframe architecture in the latest release of its UTS Unix, version 2.0, which is derived from Unix System V.3.1 and runs on 370 and 370 Extended Architecture machines. The new version incorporates symmetric multiprocessing capability, enabling it to run on Amdahl’s own 580, 5890 and 5990 Series multiproceesor machines in a system using its Multiple Domain Feature. UTS 2.0 takes the basic elements of System V.3.1 and combines them with features from Sun’s Network File System and Berkeley Software Distribution 4.3. It is networked through a Streams-based TCP/IP via Ethernet, uucp, or Network Systems Corp’s Hyperchannel. File sharing can be achieved with machines that support Network File System, and file transfers between UTS and MVS systems are also possible via a bisynchronous remote job entry connection. Running native on an Amdahl mainframe, UTS provides up to 1Gb of virtual storage per user process and uses 31-bit addressing for real main storage. It can also use as many as 128 channels on supported processors at data transfer rates up to 4.5Mbytes per second. Added Unix features include System V’s shared libraries and Regions facility, BSD’s network sockets and ‘r’ commands, the Korn shell interface – and the number of possible open files has been increased to 400 from 20. Licence fees for UTS range from $4,000 to $14,000 per month depending on the size of the processor and there is an initial installation charge of $20,000 for new UTS users; it will be out in the third quarter. Future versions of UTS will remain compatible with Posix and X/Open, will support the X-Window System, and will move towards becoming an SNA host, according to Amdahl UK’s marketing manager, Andrew Fox. And Amdahl says it will be working closely on the development of reliability and greater numbers of users under Unix through the working groups that are to be set up by Unix International Inc. Amdahl says it sold a dozen or so mainframe systems with UTS over the last year, and claims to have several unspecified government contract currently under negotiation. UTS is still the only native Unix implementation for IBM mainframes – IBM’s AIX can still be run only under VM.
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