In the UK, Barclays Bank Plc is now said to be evaluating the use of AlphaWindows terminals, reportedly after finding the cost of implementing its X-terminals with RS/6000s strategy across the organisation in one fell swoop prohibitively expensive. AlphaWindows terminals could suit Barclays’ interim needs, not only due to the lower cost of the technology when compared with X-terminals, but because much of its banking software is written in Cobol, which although unsuitable for re-writing in X, should in theory run unchanged on AlphaWindows screens. Barclays is thought to be re-developing its applications using the Ingres database on IBM’s RS/6000. Proponents of the Alpha technology claim that an RS/6000 can support up to five AlphaWindows terminals for every X-terminal that hangs off it. Digital Equipment Corp, which will apparently manufacture an AlphaWindows terminal later in the year, is said to be in on the race to supply Barclays.
