Bull has also come out with a new line of Honeywell Bull Italia’s 24-bit DPS 4000 family, six uniprocessors that support seven to 16 users – and can be used alongside Unix machines. The new GCOS4-X version of the operating system enables the same terminal to be used to access GCOS4 and Unix applications such as Uniplex II Plus or Informix, and the two environments can exchange data. At the bottom end, there are two subcompacts, the DPS 4000/120C and 130C, which come in a cut-down cabinet that includes disk and streaming tape. The new models cut the entry price to the GCOS4 family in half, to the equivalent of about $38,000: hospitals like the DPS 4000, but up to now, few with fewer than 150 beds could afford one: now a nursing home with only 80 beds can fit them into its budget. The new line increases low-end performance by 40% to 45%, high-end by 20% to 25%. There are still nearly 5,000 GCOS4 sites in Europe – the box is the direct descendent of Honeywell’s Level 62, 800 in France.
