There will be a dramatic reduction in the number of components used in the Unisys 2200/400 machines when compared with their predecessors, US sources say. The 2200/400, due to be announced tomorrow, is expected to comprise a family with one to six processors – models 401 to 406, built of VLSI CMOS components, and, as reported, will replace the 1100/60, 1100/70 and 1100/80 (CI No 886). The 60 and 70 are both built of Motorola 10800 bit slice microprocessors and the 80 is a discrete logic ECL machine, and it is said that the basic 400 CPU will be built of just 96 components, as against 5,600 in the 1100/71 CPU. Unisys is also expected to stress savings in floor-space, with observers saying that the 2200/42 will offer a three-to-one reduction in floor space while offering 2.5 times the performance of the 1100/72. Overall, the range is expected to offer between 2.5 and four times the price-performance of the models being replaced, as well as lining up against the IBM 9370-90 through the 4381 to somewhere between the 3090-150 and 180. Main memory will go from 16Mb to 64Mb, and prices are expected to be in the $250,000 to $1.5m range, with the single and dual processor models coming later this year, and the rest in 1989.