Comparex Informationssysteme GmbH today announces the five- and six-processor models from the latest generation of Hitachi Ltd’s IBM plug-compatible mainframe line. The five-processor model appears as the 9/950 in Comparex colours: it is rated at twice the performance of the 8/98 and Gartner Group rates it at 184 MIPS. The six processor 9/960 is rated at 2.4 times the 8/98 and Gartner rates it at 214 MIPS, against 193 MIPS for IBM Corp’s five-processor 9021-860 and 225 MIPS for IBM’s six-way 9021-900. The 960 is a double triadic, the 950 a lopsided double triadic: each processor in the complexes has 256Kb of cache and each machine has a System Controller with 4Mb of fast memory on either side. Each model supports up to 2Gb of main and up to 8Gb of expanded storage using 4M-bit memory chips. The currently support up to 128 channels, up to 96 of which can be optical, and all support rates up to 6Mbytes-per-second. Channel capacity will later be expanded to 256. They will support Escon channels in increments of eight up to the maximum, and the other two types of channel supported are parallel and Comparex optical channels. A new Air Chiller Cooling Distribution Unix will avoid the need for a chilled water system for those that don’t want to call in the plumbers. The machines ship in the first half of next year. Comparex also said its 8620 Remote Operator Console is ready for delivery this quarter: it consists of a personal computer attached to the service processor and another at the end of the phone line. The company will also offer field upgrades to ESA/390 and Escon chan nels to all users of its 8/8X and 8/8XX machines starting in the fourth quarter.
