The telecommunications world is not far behind the computer industry in moving to RISC processors, and in another indication that those obituaries of the Motorola 88000 RISC may have been premature, AT&T Co is reportedly planning to move to a chip set thought to be based on the 88000 RISC for high-end models of its Definity PABX line. According to Electronic News, the Definity Ones use the Intel Corp 80286 and the Definity Generic Twos use a proprietary AT&T 501CC complex instruction set processor. The company plans to offer Definity Generic One customers the opportunity to upgrade by string three Generic One cabinets together and adding the new processor and new software. The Generic Two would then likely be phased out to eliminate overlap. The 88000 has already found favour in the telecommunications world with GEC Plessey Telecommunications Ltd rewriting the System X software to run on it – under the control of Chorus Systemes SA’s Chorus Unix-derived kernel. GEC Plessey is also sounding out RISC vendors for a new CPU for the iSDX PABX. Northern Telecom Ltd has moved to RISC in its DMS 10 rural exchange and will do so with its DMS 100 Supernode large exchange, but it has opted for the MIPS Computer Systems Inc R-series.
