Oceanport, New Jersey-based Concurrent Computer Corp has has opted to take Unix System Laboratories Inc’s Unix System V.4.2 MP as the operating system for its next generation of real-time Unix systems, which are due out by the end of this calendar year. The new multiprocessors, using the MIPS Technologies Inc R4400 chip, will initially be offered with Concurrent’s existing Unix implementation, with the System V.4.2 MP version becoming available six months later. Concurrent is curently working on integrating the system with its own real-time and multiprocessing technology, which goes beyond the simple symmetric multiprocessing features offered by the Unix Labs version – Concurrent customers using the machines for applications such as simulation, measurement and control, weather and aerospace and signal intelligence analysis often need more control over how applications use the multiple chips. Despite the extensions, Concurrent says it likes to stick to the standards wherever it can. It is also a leading member of the MIPS Application Binary Interface initiative (along with other MIPS users such as NEC Corp, Tandem Computers Inc, Pyramid Technology Corp and Silicon Graphics Inc), and says it is perfectly happy with its choice of chip. The company has also announced a real-time version of X Window, which it says it is perfectly happy to licence to other interested parties. RealTimeX brings determinism to X applications, says the company, meaning that Windows containing high-priority information can be given pop to the top priorities so that important warning messages are displayed. And the company also rolled out the second generation of its fault-tolerant Redundant Array of Inexpensive Systems environment, which it claims extends the RAID redundant disk array to a higher level.
Edinburgh Portable Compilers
Using the RAIS software, based on Sun Microsystems Inc’s Open Network Computing distributed computing and with a Motif-based front-end, users can tie VAX/VMS, Unix workstations, MS-DOS and Macintosh client systems to pairs or groups of Concurrent servers, with automatic re-routing in the event of failure. This provides fault resiliency at the systems, network and disk level, says Concurrent, with software intelligence to manage the resilience. Up to four redundant networks and unlimited redundant systems can be supported. Open Systems Interconnection networking extensions and distributed computing tools based on the NetWise-Sun Open Network Computing remote procedure call. Its RTnet-OSI V 3.0 networking software suite has been enhanced to include expanded support for a larger number of X25 wide area and Ethernet local area connections. The enhanced Distributed Transaction Recovery System-based distributed computing application that provides ensured integrity for distributed computing transactions. The application is based on X/Open’s Transaction Demarcation technology and supports transactions with X/Open XA interface-compliant databases. The company has gone to Scotland, to Edinburgh Portable Compilers Ltd, for compilers: Edinburgh will put its ANSI C, C++ and Fortran 77 compilers and tools on the new MIPS R4400-based systems. Concurrent also launched the AD16V, a 16-channel simultaneous sampling analogue input board that delivers 16-bit resolution with sampling rates up to 150KHz per channel; and the DA16V four-channel digital-to-analogue module for analogue control and signal generation, with 16-bit resolution and update rates of 100KHz per channel. The products, combined with Concurrent’s Intelligent Bus Interface Module for VMEbus provide an intelligent data movement subsystem that gives a Concurrent data acquisition system enormous data capture capability.
